OT: Could Bobby Orr still dominate in the league today?

[Bruins40]

Discuss.





Yes, this thread is pointless

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[Mount Kramer Cameras]

All the old greats would still be great now. No doubt about it.

 

[BNHL]

The real skill is in the mind and expressed through the body.

 

[ODAAT]

you kidding? In spite of me not really having the pleasure of seeing Mr.Orr play, he`d dominate, this is a skaters game, let alone a skater like him with sublime talent

 

[Fenway]

I dunno as he turns 67 in a couple of weeks

 

[disfigured]

Play mostly like yes, dominate no.

Just take a look (or a look back if you're old enough) at film from those days. While the skating was more fluid it wasn't nearly as athletic. The speed, and the quickness of the average player now is leaps beyond when he played.

Most players from that era would get dominated, rather than be dominant. Orr would fall somewhere in between. He's confirmed this in several interviews himself.

It's not a bad thing, it's just the evolution of the sport.

 

[Fenian24]

He'd still be the most dominant player in the game, when he wasn't suspended.

 

[Fenway]

Play mostly like yes, dominate no.

Just take a look (or a look back if you're old enough) at film from those days. While the skating was more fluid it wasn't nearly as athletic. The speed, and the quickness of the average player now is leaps beyond when he played.

Most players from that era would get dominated, rather than be dominant. Orr would fall somewhere in between. He's confirmed this in several interviews himself.

It's not a bad thing, it's just the evolution of the sport.

 

[bruinsenator]

yep best ever

 

[BobbyAwe]

It depends what you mean by "dominate"? To what extent? He would not dominate today like he did in the 70's. No one could. The players he would be skating against today are on the average faster if not better than the players he faced in his time. As much as i'd like to, there's no way I can honestly believe he could go end to end at will in todays game.

Now that doesn't mean he wouldn't be great today. He just wouldn't be head and shoulders above everyone else like he was in his day.

 

[ODAAT]

Play mostly like yes, dominate no.

Just take a look (or a look back if you're old enough) at film from those days. While the skating was more fluid it wasn't nearly as athletic. The speed, and the quickness of the average player now is leaps beyond when he played.

Most players from that era would get dominated, rather than be dominant. Orr would fall somewhere in between. He's confirmed this in several interviews himself.

It's not a bad thing, it's just the evolution of the sport.

look at the blades those guys were skating on, everything from the advances in equipment, the elimination of center ice, and the quality of ice itself has me thinking Bobby Orr would be equally as dominant today as I heard he was in his time

Always tough as nails so size wouldn`t be an issue, had insane on ice vision and hockey IQ, I`d argue it`d take a miracle for a Doughty/PK/Z/Weber or whomever to wrestle the Norris from him in this day and age

 

[disfigured]

It's not that Orr isn't skating amazingly in that video, it's that majority of the players he's skating against are the ones who aren't skating amazing.

Look at the open ice in that video. Anyone watch the Rags/Hawks game last night? Players are so quick, strong, and athletic there's no open ice left anymore. Imagine trying to one hand a puck around a defenceman like Scott Stevens in his prime, or any of the other massive and quick Dmen since him.

Take a look at the stance of the goalies on most of those goals. Their form is horrendous. Goaltending has become a science, and goalies condition themselves to perform the most incredible physical feats to stop the puck.

Was it a more graceful and finesse game back then? You bet. But that wouldn't be enough to trump the speed and physicality of today's game. The very best of that era would be viable players, most wouldn't even make a team.

It just wouldn't happen. It's apples and oranges. Orr himself admits he wouldn't be able to do half of what he did in today's league.

 

[DaBroons]

I saw him live and he was the greatest athlete I ever saw in my life--EVER.

Would he dominate today like he did in the 70s? NO!!!!!

HE WOULD DOMINATE MORE!!!!

He played on one leg and retired at what normally would be the height of his career. Given the enormous advances in the way knee injuries are now treated, he would have played his entire career--and a career many years longer--on two good legs. The records he would have set would have been incredible.

The bigger question is whether sissy boy Gretzky would survive in the 70s. No, he wouldn't have.

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Not under Clode.

 

[ReggieMoto]

The answer is unknown.

Most are either jokingly suggesting he is too old to play today (which of course he is), but others are thinking 'time travel' where he is plucked out of the league during his prime and dropped into today's NHL. Neither are really worth the consideration.

The way to actually look at it is, would an 18 year old Bobby Orr be able to play with his peers today? He would be training and playing like everyone else in his peer group. He would be bulking up in a weight room, eating a more regimented diet. Lots of skating training. He wouldn't be the player you see in older game video, he would be a different player.

Would he have been drafted? Would an 18 year old Orr be able to defend against a David Pastrnak? Would he have been a Drew Doughty or a Torey Krug?

 

[Barnum]

It depends what you mean by "dominate"? To what extent? He would not dominate today like he did in the 70's. No one could. The players he would be skating against today are on the average faster if not better than the players he faced in his time. As much as i'd like to, there's no way I can honestly believe he could go end to end at will in todays game.

Now that doesn't mean he wouldn't be great today. He just wouldn't be head and shoulders above everyone else like he was in his day.

The greats will always be great, no matter when they would have played. Talent doesn't disappear because of when you were born. All things equal, the training, gear and everything else, he would dominate. His top season arguably tops Gretzky's top season.

If you ask me, hockey today is about as talent-less as it has ever been. Guys have no skills, they are just fast and strong. Instead of icing goons and enforcers, we now load up the roster with guys that have poor hockey IQ, hands, sticking handling, and skating. Now we have guys skating as fast as they can north to south after dumping the puck down the ice. Orr or any of the greats would make this crop of players look like minors.

 

[Oates2Neely]

It's not that Orr isn't skating amazingly in that video, it's that majority of the players he's skating against are the ones who aren't skating amazing.

Look at the open ice in that video. Anyone watch the Rags/Hawks game last night? Players are so quick, strong, and athletic there's no open ice left anymore. Imagine trying to one hand a puck around a defenceman like Scott Stevens in his prime, or any of the other massive and quick Dmen since him.

Take a look at the stance of the goalies on most of those goals. Their form is horrendous. Goaltending has become a science, and goalies condition themselves to perform the most incredible physical feats to stop the puck.

Was it a more graceful and finesse game back then? You bet. But that wouldn't be enough to trump the speed and physicality of today's game. The very best of that era would be viable players, most wouldn't even make a team.

It just wouldn't happen. It's apples and oranges. Orr himself admits he wouldn't be able to do half of what he did in today's league.

Are you assuming that as the quality of competition in today's game is a much improved, that Orr himself wouldn't use today's technology to improve himself?

Imagine Bobby Orr under John Whitesides... On a protein diet, doing 100 squats a day, lunges, with composite hockey sticks, and lightweight skates... Orr would still be at the top of the league IMO. He just thought the game at a more advanced level then anybody else.

 

[BNHL]

The greats will always be great, no matter when they would have played. Talent doesn't disappear because of when you were born. All things equal, the training, gear and everything else, he would dominate. His top season arguably tops Gretzky's top season.

If you ask me, hockey today is about as talent-less as it has ever been. Guys have no skills, they are just fast and strong. Instead of icing goons and enforcers, we now load up the roster with guys that have poor hockey IQ, hands, sticking handling, and skating. Now we have guys skating as fast as they can north to south after dumping the puck down the ice. Orr or any of the greats would make this crop of players look like minors.

Product of coaching to win egos from the earliest age.

 

[Barnum]

I saw him live and he was the greatest athlete I ever saw in my life--EVER.

Would he dominate today like he did in the 70s? NO!!!!!

HE WOULD DOMINATE MORE!!!!

He played on one leg and retired at what normally would be the height of his career. Given the enormous advances in the way knee injuries are now treated, he would have played his entire career--and a career many years longer--on two good legs. The records he would have set would have been incredible.

The bigger question is whether sissy boy Gretzky would survive in the 70s. No, he wouldn't have.

Dude not a big Gretz fan but maybe you didn't know this. Gretz started in the 70s and he played against some of the biggest tough guys to ever lace them. Silly statement.

 

[Fenway]

I have never seen a player more deadly accurate from the point as Orr was.

 

[Barnum]

It's not that Orr isn't skating amazingly in that video, it's that majority of the players he's skating against are the ones who aren't skating amazing.

Look at the open ice in that video. Anyone watch the Rags/Hawks game last night? Players are so quick, strong, and athletic there's no open ice left anymore. Imagine trying to one hand a puck around a defenceman like Scott Stevens in his prime, or any of the other massive and quick Dmen since him.

Take a look at the stance of the goalies on most of those goals. Their form is horrendous. Goaltending has become a science, and goalies condition themselves to perform the most incredible physical feats to stop the puck.

Was it a more graceful and finesse game back then? You bet. But that wouldn't be enough to trump the speed and physicality of today's game. The very best of that era would be viable players, most wouldn't even make a team.

It just wouldn't happen. It's apples and oranges. Orr himself admits he wouldn't be able to do half of what he did in today's league.

Ever listen to Orr or any of the old guys talk? They all say it, the statement in itself means nothing. Orr, who by far and wide is one of the humblest people to ever play never says a bad thing about anyone, gives credit to everyone and said these very types of things during his playing days too.

 

[Barnum]

I have never seen a player more deadly accurate from the point as Orr was.

And he used a wooden, flat blade stick, not one of these composites that made bad shooters decent.

 

[hoss75]

No, he's too old.

 

[SPV]

I don't think as much as he did then; but I think he could still be a top defenseman in the league and annual contender for the Norris.

Plenty of X factors could have derailed him in today's world, but talent is talent, if he was born in this generation, his talent would have been recognized early and developed; just like many of today's superstars.

 

[Fenian24]

And he used a wooden, flat blade stick, not one of these composites that made bad shooters decent.

Orr using a composite in his prime would break Chara's hardest shot record.

Comparing era's is always tough, the game has become so wussified since the 70's, and if you talk to guys who played or fans from the 50's they would say the game in the 70's was soft.

Orr's hockey sense and vision would be world class today, whatever advantages current medical and equipment technology have made would benefit Orr as well. His shot would still be one of the hardest in the league, he would be a top 5 skater, probably the fastest on D in the game, his physical game would be comparable to Barret Jackman or another physical player like him, he was an excellent fighter, his passing would still be superb and his competitiveness would be off the charts.

Scoring was low when Orr came into the game and he still put up huge numbers for a defenseman before the heyday of the Big Bad Bruins. He would still be a generational player and the greatest to ever lace up skates.