The Best American Player of All-Time

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Big Phil

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To me its Pat Lafontaine or Leetch. After that Chelios is right there. My reasons are that of all of them, Langway, Mullen, Lafontiane are already in the Hall. Mullen is borderline, but the other two are in for sure. Plus Leetch and Chelios are in the Hall without a doubt. That leaves Modano, Roenick and co. on the outside who I dont think should be in the Hall, at least not if I was voting today. So to me its narrowed down to Leetch, Lafontaine and Chelios. Leetch and Chelios are neck and neck but I couldnt take either of them over Lafontaine. Think about it, some people have the nerve to say he isnt Hall worthy. The guy would have won the scoring title in '93 if not for Lemieux. He had 148 points that year! Yeah he only had 105 one other time but he just scored wherever he went. He's better than any American ever.
 

John Flyers Fan

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Big Phil said:
To me its Pat Lafontaine or Leetch. After that Chelios is right there. My reasons are that of all of them, Langway, Mullen, Lafontiane are already in the Hall. Mullen is borderline, but the other two are in for sure. Plus Leetch and Chelios are in the Hall without a doubt. That leaves Modano, Roenick and co. on the outside who I dont think should be in the Hall, at least not if I was voting today. So to me its narrowed down to Leetch, Lafontaine and Chelios. Leetch and Chelios are neck and neck but I couldnt take either of them over Lafontaine. Think about it, some people have the nerve to say he isnt Hall worthy. The guy would have won the scoring title in '93 if not for Lemieux. He had 148 points that year! Yeah he only had 105 one other time but he just scored wherever he went. He's better than any American ever.


While Lafontaine was a very very good to great player, Chelios is arguably a top 10 all-time defenseman.

Also Roenick and Modano are/were both significantly better than Joey Mullen. Mullen was never considered a great player, and shouldn't be in the HHoF.
 

sunb

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markov` said:
At the end of his career, I'm pretty sure Jack Johnson will be remembered as the best American to ever lace them up. I'm gonna say Pat LaFontaine for now.

You could also make the same argument for Phil Kessel.

Rick Dipietro could still carve himself a great career.

And don't forget Blake Wheeler, "he's got tremondous upside*." ;)

*Quote by the great, but not always the best judge of talent, Gretzky.
 

Ogopogo*

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John Flyers Fan said:
Frankie Brimsek, Neal Broten and John Vanbiesbrouck should be on the list.

1. Chris Chelios
2. Brian Leetch
T3. Jeremy Roenick
T3. Mike Modano
5. Pat Lafontaine

Joey Mullen is the most overated of all the Americans and shouldn't be in the top 10, he'd be borderline op 15.

** My top 5 doesn't consider Brett Hull.


Modano is very overrated as well.
 

Rabid Ranger

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Ogopogo said:
Modano is very overrated as well.


How so? I think when it's all said and done Modano will have met the most important qualification for entry into the NHL Hall of Fame, and that is being recognized as one of the very best at his position for a long period of time.
 
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Ogopogo*

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Rabid Ranger said:
How so? I think when it's all said and done Modano will have net the most important qualification for entry into the NHL Hall of Fame, and that is being recognized as one of the very best at his position for a long period of time.


He has never hit 100 points in a season. He has never been in the top 7 scorers in the league. He has never won a Hart or Conn Smythe. Never been runner up for the Hart. Never been a first team all star and was a second team all star only once. He has one cup.

Nowhere near HOF status, IMO.

When you say one of the very best at his position we are talking about top 10 or 15. A top 5 guy year in and year out is someone to consider for the Hall.

The guy is a good player but, a bunch of 80 point seasons and two 90 point seasons are not hall of fame worthy. He has simply not accomplished near enough.
 

KH1

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When I saw the name of the thread I immediately thought Chelios or LaFontaine. If the question was "Who has had the best career" then I would probably vote for Chelios. But LaFontaine was such an amazing talent that it's impossible for me to say no to him, even if his career was short.
 

God Bless Canada

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For once, Ogopogo, we agree. Modano is very overrated. Right now, I place Modano at a similar level to Vincent Damphousse in terms of overall career and accomplishments. Damphousse isn't a HHOFer, neither should Modano be one.

I believe this question was posted in the poll section a few months ago, and LaFontaine won in a much more convincing fashion. Likely the most talented American-born forward over the past 30 years, and a guy who was absolutely fearless. Only injuries keep him from being thought of as one of the top 50 players ever. Chelios, though, is my pick, and would be my pick even if LaFontaine was healthy. Chelios is, IMO, one of the 10 or 12 best all-round defencemen ever. The guy could control the game in any way imaginable. He could change the tempo of a game with a big goal or a thundering hit. He made crisp, heads-up passes and was terrific defensively. Could play in the last minute of the game in both offensive and defensive situations. Yeah, he could be a jerk sometimes, but who wouldn't want him on their team in Game 7 of a playoff series. A better all-round defenceman than Leetch.

PS: Why is Hull, born in Canada, left off the list, but Rod Langway, born in Taiwan, is on the list? Not that it matters, Chelios and LaFontaine were both better all-round players than Hull.
 

Rabid Ranger

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Ogopogo said:
He has never hit 100 points in a season. He has never been in the top 7 scorers in the league. He has never won a Hart or Conn Smythe. Never been runner up for the Hart. Never been a first team all star and was a second team all star only once. He has one cup.

Nowhere near HOF status, IMO.

When you say one of the very best at his position we are talking about top 10 or 15. A top 5 guy year in and year out is someone to consider for the Hall.

The guy is a good player but, a bunch of 80 point seasons and two 90 point seasons are not hall of fame worthy. He has simply not accomplished near enough.


Valid points, except you ignore the fact that the system Modano has played under for the majority of his career has undermined his offensive production considerably.
 

reckoning

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LaFontaine has always been recognized as one of the classiest players around. We all know what a jerk Chelios is. If you switched their personalities but their on-ice career accomplishments stayed the same, would the poll results be a lot different?
 

Ogopogo*

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Rabid Ranger said:
Valid points, except you ignore the fact that the system Modano has played under for the majority of his career has undermined his offensive production considerably.

True but, the guy could have excelled in that role. Other players have been all stars, won Selke trophies and been Hart finalists while playing an all-around game.

I don't think Modano has excelled enough to be considered.
 

doc5hole

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How about a little love for Bobby Carpenter ... scored 50 in the NHL, then transformed into one of the game's best defensive forwards, helping the Devils win the '95 Cup, and Curt Bennett, an All-Star when there were barely any Americans in the NHL.
 

sunb

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Rabid Ranger said:
Valid points, except you ignore the fact that the system Modano has played under for the majority of his career has undermined his offensive production considerably.

Modano was in a relatively loose system in his first couple of years with the Northstars / Stars organization, yet he never scored more than 93 points in his entire career. New Jersey has a more rigid system but even Patrik Elias has scored 95+ points once.

Modano's PPG will fall below 1.00 sometime in the next season if his downward trend continues.
 

JCD

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Jovanovski = Norris said:
Modano was in a relatively loose system in his first couple of years with the Northstars / Stars organization, yet he never scored more than 93 points in his entire career. New Jersey has a more rigid system but even Patrik Elias has scored 95+ points once.

Modano's PPG will fall below 1.00 sometime in the next season if his downward trend continues.

It was more than that. In his early years, Modano was gunshy. He never went within 20 feet of the net and would avoid contact at all costs. Plus, he was a liability in his own end, rarely venturing far from the red line.

A soft, 1-dimensional player who wasn't very good at it.

He turned his game around after a while, but that doesn't erase the first four years. He was a 1st overall pick that didn't crack the 1st line until his 5th season.
 

Sonny Lamateena

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Brian Leetch, i believe he is one of only 5 defensemen ever to score 100 points in a season. Very underated defensively. Rookie of the year, multiple norris trophys. Captain of the 96 World Cup champs. Could of had an even better career if he had got out of New York sooner, hopefully he has enough sense to not come back because on the right team, he could still lead all defencemen in scoring. Amazing play during the 94 cup run. I was wondering other than Leetch has any other non canadian won the Conn Smythe?
 

reckoning

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Asking who the 1st non-Canadian was to win the Conn Smythe is a pretty good trivia question. Usually they`ll guess Jagr, Kurri or Fedorov, guys who never won it, and totally overlook Leetch.
 

Ogopogo*

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reckoning said:
Asking who the 1st non-Canadian was to win the Conn Smythe is a pretty good trivia question. Usually they`ll guess Jagr, Kurri or Fedorov, guys who never won it, and totally overlook Leetch.

Funny that there is so much media coverage of the first Canadian to win the NBA MVP. It took until 1994 until a non-Canadian won a Conn Smythe.

Is hockey Canada's game or what?
 

Paxon

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I'll make it easy on myself:

Defenseman: Chelios
Forward: Patty La La
Goalie: Richter

Chelios had the best career of the three. Pat was my favorite of the bunch but I guess that don't count for much. If we're just comparing primes or "coulda woulda's", it is pretty close between him and Chelios.
 
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