VanIslander said:
Bob Gainey 8th ?
Esa Tikkanen 8th ?
There is a real bias in that ranking... against top-line defensively-excellent forwards that dominated when it mattered most and did what it took to win in clutch situations?
There`s no bias there; usually I give those types of players more credit than most. But where I ranked them was fair.
Gainey: Of the 7 players I rated above him who would you have rated below him. Lafleur? Dryden? The big 3 defencemen? Please. Lemaire was exactly what you described: a player who did what it took to win in clutch situations. Shutt over Gainey is debatable, but I don`t see any overwhelming evidence to give Gainey the edge.
Let me say this about Gainey: he was a fine defensive forward, one of the best ever. But if you`re going to put him in the Hall, then you better put Craig Ramsay and Don Marcotte there too because they were just as good defensively and much better offensively. What about Doug Jarvis? He was shutting down the top centres in the league as well as taking every important faceoff in the defensive zone.
Gainey`s reputation is based on 3 things:
1- 5 Cups and a Conn Smythe: Impressive for sure, but can anyone honestly say that Montreal wouldn`t have won those Cups without him. If he had been drafted by say.. L.A or Vancouver instead of Montreal, how many Cup rings would he have?
2- The Selkes: Keep in mind that this award is really more reputation than actual play that year. Writers voted for Gainey automatically instead of analyzing what each player did that year. Gainey ranked right up there with the other top checkers in the league, but I don`t see anything that puts him head and shoulders above the rest. It was a total joke that he won in `80 as that was one of his weakest years ever.
3- The Russian comment: Who was it; Tarasov or Tikhonov? Anyways, one of them said that Gainey was the best all-around player in the world. Instead of presenting it as only one person`s opinion, the media started treating it like the Gospel, because "The Russians are infinitely superior to us in every way, so if they say something it must be true." Let me repeat: It was only one person`s opinion. If he truly believed that Gainey was a better player than Lafleur, Trottier, Clarke or Potvin, I`d like to know how much vodka he drank before saying that.
Tikkanen: As I mentioned, his best years were after the 80s dynasty so that`s why he`s not ranked higher. Once again, which of the players above him would you rate below him? Some may put Huddy belowe him, but is that because of a bias against top-level defensively-excellent defencemen?