KOVALEV10*
Guest
Hey guys I posted this in the habs board but wanted to get your thoughts as well. I was looking at the stats obviously as you can see my post about the point leaders in the habs board (take a look its pretty interesting if you're a habs fan/ stats freak) and came to the realisation that Beliveau and Lafleur were so close in terms of talent. I mean I know most people prefere Beliveau to guy because he was a better leader, won more cups, had a much longer and more consistent career. Let's take a look though.
I would think that Lafleur was the slightly better goal scorer as he had 6 consecutive 50 plus goal seasons while Beliveau had none but that's because for the most part of his career they played in 60/70 games. I would think that Beliveau was the slightly better playmaker even though Lafleur had a lot more assists, again the 60/70 games thing comes into play and the defensive era Beliveau played in.
Here's how they stand in the all time goals, assists and points categories of the habs.
Jean Beliveau: 507 goals, 712 assists, 1219 points in 1125 games
Guy Lafleur: 518 goals, 728 assists, 1246 points in 962 games
Lafleur is ranked 2nd in goals all time only to Rocket, 1st in assists and 1st in points. Beliveau is ranked 3rd all time in goals, 2nd in assists and 2nd in points.
Lafleur won 3 art ross trophies to Beliveau's 1. Lafleur won 3 Lester B. Pearson trophies whereas Beliveau didnt win any. Lafleur won 2 hart trophies to Beliveau's 1. Both won the conn smythe trophy once. Both were incredible in the playoffs leading their teams to 5 straight cups and 4 straight cups respectively. Ironically, Lafleur's idol was Beliveau. Both were incredible stickhandlers and I would say after Lemieux, they both rank very high in stickhandling. Both of them were exciting to watch. I know stats mean little when discussing players of this calibar, but who do you think was the best overall as in goal scoring and playmaking in their primes and over a whole career.
Oh and one other thing that's impressive for Lafleur is that after Gretzky and Lemieux he has the record of the fastest to 1000 points. He did it in only 720 games!!
I would think that Lafleur was the slightly better goal scorer as he had 6 consecutive 50 plus goal seasons while Beliveau had none but that's because for the most part of his career they played in 60/70 games. I would think that Beliveau was the slightly better playmaker even though Lafleur had a lot more assists, again the 60/70 games thing comes into play and the defensive era Beliveau played in.
Here's how they stand in the all time goals, assists and points categories of the habs.
Jean Beliveau: 507 goals, 712 assists, 1219 points in 1125 games
Guy Lafleur: 518 goals, 728 assists, 1246 points in 962 games
Lafleur is ranked 2nd in goals all time only to Rocket, 1st in assists and 1st in points. Beliveau is ranked 3rd all time in goals, 2nd in assists and 2nd in points.
Lafleur won 3 art ross trophies to Beliveau's 1. Lafleur won 3 Lester B. Pearson trophies whereas Beliveau didnt win any. Lafleur won 2 hart trophies to Beliveau's 1. Both won the conn smythe trophy once. Both were incredible in the playoffs leading their teams to 5 straight cups and 4 straight cups respectively. Ironically, Lafleur's idol was Beliveau. Both were incredible stickhandlers and I would say after Lemieux, they both rank very high in stickhandling. Both of them were exciting to watch. I know stats mean little when discussing players of this calibar, but who do you think was the best overall as in goal scoring and playmaking in their primes and over a whole career.
Oh and one other thing that's impressive for Lafleur is that after Gretzky and Lemieux he has the record of the fastest to 1000 points. He did it in only 720 games!!