Your alltime PP1-lineup?

[KreiMeARiver*]

I'll do one without using any of the big three (Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr).

Mike Bossy (R) - Adam Oates - Pavel Bure (L)
Al MacInnis (R) - Ray Bourque (L)

Love the Bure pick!!

 

[GarretJoseph*]

Bossy - Gretzky - Lemieux
Leetch - Orr

 

[norrisnick]

Can I atleast disagree? Please?

I've seen both play and Coffey was better IMO even during his stint in Detroit (past his prime).

Sure you can. Just remember that Scotty Bowman is on my side.

 

[Trottier]

#66
#99
Mike Bossy
Bobby Orr
Denis Potvin

 

[RorschachWJK]

Krutov-Larionov-Makarov
Kasatonov-Fetisov

Sure, not the best individual players in history but unbelievable as a PP Unit.

I'll second this one.

 

[God Bless Canada]

LW: Lemieux
C: Gretzky
RW: Esposito
D: Orr
D: Bourque

I think Bobby Orr is the one universal, slam dunk pick. He can skate the puck into the offensive zone, fire the puck from the point or serve as the quarterback. MacInnis is there for his shot. Not only does he have the howitzer, but he also understand that he didn't always need the big slapshot. He knew how to place it on net, too. Plus, it's the mental edge of having MacInnis at the point.

I went with Gretzky for obvious reasons. Same with Lemieux. Espo's my third man because of his size and strength, and his ability in tight near the net. I need a guy who can set up shop in front of the net and screen the goalie.

Two names not mentioned yet who deserve praise for their ability on the power play: Ron Francis and Sergei Zubov. Odd names to mention, for sure, but worthy. I want a guy who can win the face-offs. Ron Francis will do that. And over the last 25 years, no forward has been better at working the point on the power play. Zubov might be one of the best defencemen ever at simply keeping the puck in at the point - an underrated ability to be sure.

 

[reckoning]

For the defence pairing, my picks are easy: Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin. Both were the main engine behind two of the greatest PP units ever. Unbelievable offensive talent, but also good enough defensively that they wouldn't get burned for a SH breakaway the way someone like Ozolinsh would. Another thing about those Bruin and Islander PP units was that they wouldn't spend the entire two minutes passing it around waiting for a perfect chance that never came. They weren't afraid to take a shot. What a concept.

For forwards, I would actually take Esposito as the centre over 99 or 66 because he was better on faceoffs than those two, to go along with his goal-scoring prowess. If I was to keep the wing spots to players who were usually wingers, I`ll take Lafleur at RW and Hull at LW.

Now for statistics; I was curious what team had the best PP mark ever. The list ended up almost entirely 70s teams. So I decided to rate them by how much better their PP% was compared to the league median for that season. I also deducted shorthanded goals against from their PP goal totals. The list still ended up being almost all 70s teams, but the results were a little interesting. The top 10 teams, with the five players that usually comprised their PP unit:

1. NYR 1974 (Park, Rousseau, Gilbert, Ratelle, Hadfield)
2. PHI 1973 (Bladon, Barber, Clarke, MacLeish, Flett)
3. BOS 1974 (Orr, Vadnais, Esposito, Bucyk, Hodge)
4. BOS 1972 (Orr, Stanfield, Esposito, Bucyk, McKenzie)
5. NYI 1976 (D. Potvin, J. Potvin, Trottier, Harris, Gillies)
6. BOS 1971 (Orr, Stanfield, Esposito, Bucyk, McKenzie)
7. BOS 1973 (Orr, Stanfield, Esposito, Bucyk, Hodge)
8. DET 2003 (Lidstrom, Larionov, Fedorov, Shanahan, Hull)
9. MON 1978 (Robinson, LaPointe, Lafleur, Lemaire, Shutt)
10. NYR 1971 (Park, Neilson, Ratelle, Gilbert, Hadfield)

 

[VanIslander]

Hull - Gretzky - Bossy

Coffey - Orr

 

[SniperTom]

M.Goulet - M.Lemieux - T.Kerr (34 PP-goals 85-86 nhl record )

B.Orr - A.MacInnis

 

[Sonny Lamateena]

Lemieux - Lindros - Jagr

Leetch - Macinnis

 

[Crazyhorse]

Lemieux-Forsberg-Kamensky

Lidström-Bourque