Please elaborate on both of your current opinions. I would love to hear how Lidstrom is better than Orr and Thomas better than Miller. I'm very curious how you could possibly sell this.
Go float a Tim Thomas v Ryan Miller poll on the main board, see how it turns out. My bet is 75-25 for Thomas.
Thomas has better stats, more accolades, plays better in the clutch, sets the record for most saves in any playoffs
and in any finals (objectively suggesting it was not all the Bruins shutting down their opponents), and subjectively, has better instincts, is faster and more reflexive, shuts down the bottom of the net better and allowed fewer soft goals. But this isn't the kind of thing you can prove, any more than you can prove Roy v Hasek. You can just pick arguments and compare stats.
As for Lidstrom v Orr, it all depends on your presumptions. If you assume Orr would have been a better athlete than anyone was back then if you put him in today's game, then you've presumed away the legitimacy of the question. Today's fastest skaters are faster, their shots harder, their bodies stronger and goalies are just a completely different animal altogether. If you dropped Bobby Orr into today's game directly (I mean, sure, give him the right pads and sticks), I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was knocked down several pegs. If you insist on presuming that if Bobby Orr was born in the 80s he'd have developed into a better player than he was, that's fine, but you're presuming away the question.
