Yzerman/Fedorov/Lidstrom Versus Sakic/Forsberg/Roy

[DitchMarner]

Which trio would you rather have for a playoff run if every player was at his best?

Click to read more...

 

[Cursed Lemon]

So Yzerman, Sakic, Roy, and Lidstrom all have a Smythe, while Fedorov and Forsberg each have Smythe-worthy performances. I'd say they're all equal in that regard (not in number but in level of play).

Yzerman, Sakic, Forsberg, and Fedorov all occupy the same tier of player. Lidstrom and Roy arguably occupy the very next tier above, depending on how you look at it.

The only caveat I can inject here is that when Yzerman won his Cups, he was already on the back-9 of his career. If he had been in his prime, I would take the Wings trio comfortably. As it played out in history, they're pretty much equal.

 

[Foppberg]

Only the 105,467th time this poll has been made lol

 

[DitchMarner]

Only the 105,467th time this poll has been made lol

This exact poll or any poll comparing players from those two teams? I don't remember seeing this exact poll in the past. Maybe it has been done...

 

[ER89]

Id take the avs trio due to the goalie

 

[Connor McConnor]

if youre gonna let Colorado have a goalie, make it 4/4 and add Hasek/Blake

edit: nvm I see why you didnt do that lol - 2 seasons of hasek but you get him in his prime would tilt it heavily in favour of Red Wings. If you added Bourque to Colorado mb its fair

 

[reino]

very hard to decide, but went with detroit trio

 

[heretik27]

if youre gonna let Colorado have a goalie, make it 4/4 and add Hasek/Blake

edit: nvm I see why you didnt do that lol - 2 seasons of hasek but you get him in his prime would tilt it heavily in favour of Red Wings. If you added Bourque to Colorado mb its fair

The more players you add, the more you realize just how ridiculous those teams truly were. There isn't a right answer, these guys are all incredible.

 

[bobholly39]

Avs.

Roy is the best playoff performer of the bunch.
Sakic is second best
Forsberg is 3rd best.

To me all 3 Avs players are better than all 3 Detroit players for playoffs.

It's not exactly a landslide, since the Detroit guys are also fantastic, and if this were for a head to head they've obviously done great there too. But I still prefer the Avs, and much prefer the idea of having a goalie than a defensemen in this exercise, especially if it's someone as reliable as Roy.

 

[Kreator]

this is SOOOOOOO close

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Hard to argue against the Detroit trio since they won more Cups.

 

[Stephen]

I mean, we did see this play out in real time and the Wings have the 3-2 championship edge over the Avalanche from 1996 to 2004. At the time, I felt like the Avs were the higher upside core but they seemed to underachieve a little bit, running into some trouble vs Dallas for example. So yeah, let's go with Detroit.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I mean, we did see this play out in real time and the Wings have the 3-2 championship edge over the Avalanche from 1996 to 2004. At the time, I felt like the Avs were the higher upside core but they seemed to underachieve a little bit, running into some trouble vs Dallas for example. So yeah, let's go with Detroit.

The Wings teams always seemed deeper, while the Avs seemed to be top heavy.

For instance, the 2001 Avs Cup winner had Sakic, Forsberg, Hejduk, Tanguay and Drury, then a massive drop off in production after that. Whereas the Wings teams always felt like they ran 3 or 4 lines deep, in terms of scoring depth.

 

[Stephen]

The Wings teams always seemed deeper, while the Avs seemed to be top heavy.

For instance, the 2001 Avs Cup winner had Sakic, Forsberg, Hejduk, Tanguay and Drury, then a massive drop off in production after that. Whereas the Wings teams always felt like they ran 3 or 4 lines deep, in terms of scoring depth.

Well, if you remember, the Avs had a mini sell off after their 1996 cup, which seemed like they were either cutting cost to fund the Pepsi Center construction and also collecting 1st round picks to take a run at getting Vincent Lecavalier to fuel their next, next generation at the 1998 draft.

Then the Avs kind of switched back into conventional buyer mode around 1999 and went after guys like Theo Fleury, Ray Bourque and Rob Blake which eventually resulted in the 2001 cup, as well as the 2003 experiment where they got Selanne and Kariya...

Whereas Detroit was just pumping cash into the market to get veteran bodies the whole time.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Roy group

 

[blundluntman]

The thread specifically says Playoffs so I'll go with the avs trio. Now if the thread was comparing both teams I'd have a hard time justifying the pick. But trio vs trio with all things equal? I think it's an easy choice.
Roy is the 2nd best (arguably 1st) playoff performer of all time. Sakic is a better playoff performer than Yzerman offensively (albeit he was past his offensive peak when they started winning cups) and not far from him defensively. Forsberg vs Lidstrom/Fedorov can go either way but I'm comfortable with Foppa here too.

 

[82Ninety42011]

They are all fabulous and no wrong pick here. However if I have option to take Roy it's no brainer for me he just lived for the spotlight !!

 

[avsfan9]

if youre gonna let Colorado have a goalie, make it 4/4 and add Hasek/Blake

edit: nvm I see why you didnt do that lol - 2 seasons of hasek but you get him in his prime would tilt it heavily in favour of Red Wings. If you added Bourque to Colorado mb its fair

Roy bests Hasek in playoffs

 

[Connor McConnor]

Roy bests Hasek in playoffs

it’s a debate but the issue is lidstrom shits on Blake. If you get bourque tho it’s back to colorado haha such stacked teams

 

[centipede2233]

Those avalanche and red wing teams were awesome

 

[tarheelhockey]

This is extremely, extremely close which is why it gets talked about so often.

I'm going with the Avs here, mainly because Roy at his best in the playoffs is a game-changer. For a whole season, for a stretch of time, maybe it's a different answer. But if you're talking a 1986/1993 type playoff run, there's nobody you could add to your team who would have a bigger impact.

 

[AvroArrow]

Having that stability in net tips it in the Avs favor. All legends though, extremely close. But having a prime Roy is too good to pass up. Goalie is the only guy who plays the entire game, having that kind of consistent goaltending is too good not to take.

 

[Honest M]

Avs.

Roy is the best playoff performer of the bunch.
Sakic is second best
Forsberg is 3rd best.

To me all 3 Avs players are better than all 3 Detroit players for playoffs.

It's not exactly a landslide, since the Detroit guys are also fantastic, and if this were for a head to head they've obviously done great there too. But I still prefer the Avs, and much prefer the idea of having a goalie than a defensemen in this exercise, especially if it's someone as reliable as Roy.

Wow .. quite the opposite

The list of players to choose ahead of Peak Forsberg for a playoff run are very very short ..

- Forsberg clearly the best and then
- Roy/Sakic hard to choose there..

 

[bobholly39]

Wow .. quite the opposite

The list of players to choose ahead of Peak Forsberg for a playoff run are very very short ..

- Forsberg clearly the best and then
- Roy/Sakic hard to choose there..

Joe Sakic has the best playoff run between him and Forsberg (1996). He probably has the 2nd best playoff run too (2001)- above anything Forsberg did. It's not exactly shocking to prefer Sakic for playoffs. I agree that at his best, Forsberg isn't exactly much of a drop off, but based on actual performances Sakic has the 2 best runs.

And Roy has what is probably the greatest run ever by a goalie for playoffs in 1993. Only playoff guy in history with 3 smythes. And as great as Sakic + Forsberg are - Roy was the turning point for Colorado - it's after they acquired him they really turned into that top contender you could buy into.

 

[Honest M]

Joe Sakic has the best playoff run between him and Forsberg (1996). He probably has the 2nd best playoff run too (2001)- above anything Forsberg did. It's not exactly shocking to prefer Sakic for playoffs. I agree that at his best, Forsberg isn't exactly much of a drop off, but based on actual performances Sakic has the 2 best runs.

Well Sakic was good but this is clearly Forsberg, the main focus for the opposition was to stop forsberg and he could take charge of a game as no one else. He was the avs main threat. He also was defensively dominant with a higher ppg. I don't think a gm would chose Sakic over peak forsberg, no nock on sakic he was great

(47) Peter Forsberg in the words of Joe Sakic - YouTube