ESPN: Mount "Puckmore" for All 31 Franchises

[Sentinel]

No Ward on Carolina?

No Esposito in Boston is, of course, inexcusable.

 

[newfy]

Lemieux, Crosby, Jagr, and Malkin has to be the best foursome any organization can come up with, right?

I would think so.

Detroit would be close-ish. Howe and Lemieux are close. Lidstrom/Yzerman would be behind Crosby/Jagr (but not a complete blowout) but Detroits 4th is probably better than Malkin (also not likely a complete blowout). Lindsay/Red Kelly/Sawchuk are all probably ahead of him.

The oilers wouldnt be too far off either depending how you judge McDavid. Gretzky the best, Messier not quite a Crosby/Jagr but still very good, McDavid being projected 15 years from now is likely right up there with any of these guys besides Gretzky/Lemieux and then whoever the fourth Oiler would be Coffey I'm thinking with a couple Norris trophies would be comparable to Malkin. But the Oilers are only close if you project mcDavid 15 years from now which has a lot of what ifs

 

[Butch 19]

Counting Cups (in some arguments, like yours) is kinda as ridiculus as counting all-star game appearances

not when it's your only Cup in 50 years!

 

[Not So Mighty]

To be fair, this is a discussion on franchise defining players, right?

“Expectations over accomplishments” does sort of fit the bill for the modern day Oilers

Eh, I disagree. McDavid may already be a franchise defining player, but what he has done with and for the Oilers in his three short years doesn't yet overtake that of Coffey. I won't just give credit to where it isn't yet due. Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt, and Jefferson didn't make Rushmore based on expectations. Also, I've said more on why McDavid shouldn't be there (yet) in post #81.

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

not when it's your only Cup in 50 years!

No

 

[Butch 19]

No

ha! - I didn't see your Swedish Lundqvist connection until just now.

carry on Did I say 50 years? yeah, I did...

 

[Duddy]

lol at Miller and Ray

What a joke

 

[Kranix]

No Matthews, Marner, Reilly?? Joke.

 

[BTP]

Kane and Toews are joined at the hip in Chi town, leaving Kane out is silly.

Also: Red wings were friggin spoiled.

 

[57special]

Roy deserves to be over Dryden, you coulda played goalie and won as many championships as Dryden

Sounds like you never saw Dryden's playoff performances early on in his career, when BOS was actually the better team. Still might go with Plante, though. He and Sawchuk are in the running for the best ever....the guy invented the mask.

In any event, don't see how you can leave Harvey off, and that wouldn't leave room for ANY goalie, whether it be Roy, Dryden, Plante, Hainsworth, or Vezina. Harvey, Richard, Beliveau, Lafleur. Morenz is a MTL legend also, but his stats don't translate to today's game.

 

[57special]

Tim Horton and Bobby Baun were my favorite Dmen growing up as a little guy( and Don Awrey.... Ok, I had a weird thing for defensive Dmen), but Salming was better. Sundin was also better than any forward I ever saw on the Leafs...Keon and Sittler were close, Gilmour, too, but he spent too little time in TOR. Wendel was one of the most exciting, but his back never let him be the player he promised to be.

Both Sittler and Keon were run off by inept management.

 

[bobholly39]

not when it's your only Cup in 50 years!

On the contrary. Its only 1 cup

Chicago with 3 recent cups or la with 2 id be more tempted to represent (or even overrepresent) those cup teams.

But 1 cup is just 1 cup - in the 100 year of rangers history it cant be such a huge differentiator. Leetch is already there isnt he

 

[Puck Dogg]

I'd probably have Craig Ramsay over Rob Ray for Sabres and Cam Atkinson over Jody Shelley for Blue Jackets.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Given that the OP included previous locations of teams Colorado needs to include Stastny. Only Gretzky scored more points in the 80s than Peter. He's an icon in the franchise and an icon for breaking down the cold war wall for hockey players. He replaces Foote.

I'd have a hard time not including Neely on an all time Bruins group.

Marleau over Nolan for me.

Leading in everything but assists, should get Marleau on.

 

[dkhockey]

have you noticed ESPN have removed the ability to comment on the articles and news stories on espn.com ?... goes for nfl, nba, mlb and nhl..... ESPN truly is on the " Mount *uckmore " of censorship

 

[Syckle78]

Hawerchuk for the Coyotes and Kovalchuk for the Jets?

ESPN knows hockey.

Fr-an-ch-ise

 

[Syckle78]

To the people freaking out because of guys like Hawerchuk and Kovalchuk being included for teams they didn't play for, I feel like you're being intentionally dishonest here. Hawerchuk played for the original Winnipeg Jets, who moved to Phoenix. Kovalchuk played for the Thrashers, who moved to Winnipeg. I feel like complaining about them being included, when the discussion is the "franchise Mount Rushmore" is being intentionally dense.

I think you give people too much credit.

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

ha! - I didn't see your Swedish Lundqvist connection until just now.

carry on Did I say 50 years? yeah, I did...

What does my nationality have to do with it? Are you implying that I only say that Lundqvist>> Richter in NYR history b/c hes swedish?... are you implying that the people who wrote the article are swedes as well? Ouf

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

Canadian content - Total = 81 CDN / 124 Total = 65%

Metro: 23/32 = 72%
Carolina: 4/4
Columbus: 2/4
New Jersey: 4/4
Islanders: 4/4
Rangers: 2/4
Philadelphia: 4/4
Pittsburgh: 2/4
Washington: 1/4

Atlantic: 20/32 = 63%
Boston: 4/4
Buffalo: 2/4
Detroit: 3/4
Florida: 1/4
Montreal: 4/4
Ottawa: 1/4
Tampa: 3/4
Toronto: 2/4

Central: 15/28 = 54%
Chicago: 3/4
Colorado: 3/4
Dallas: 1/4
Minnesota: 1/4
Nashville: 2/4
St. Louis: 4/4
Winnipeg: 1/4

Pacific: 23/32 = 72%
Anaheim: 3/4
Arizona: 2/4
Calgary: 4/4
Edmonton: 3/4
Los Angeles: 4/4
San Jose: 2/4
Vancouver: 2/4
Vegas: 3/4

Thats a huge surprise, considering that there are like 350 000 licensed player in Canada and that the NHL was for canadians/americans only till the 70s kinda....

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I would think so.

Detroit would be close-ish. Howe and Lemieux are close. Lidstrom/Yzerman would be behind Crosby/Jagr (but not a complete blowout) but Detroits 4th is probably better than Malkin (also not likely a complete blowout). Lindsay/Red Kelly/Sawchuk are all probably ahead of him.

The oilers wouldnt be too far off either depending how you judge McDavid. Gretzky the best, Messier not quite a Crosby/Jagr but still very good, McDavid being projected 15 years from now is likely right up there with any of these guys besides Gretzky/Lemieux and then whoever the fourth Oiler would be Coffey I'm thinking with a couple Norris trophies would be comparable to Malkin. But the Oilers are only close if you project mcDavid 15 years from now which has a lot of what ifs

From a purely organizational standpoint I think Delvecchio is close here. Second most games with one franchise in league history trailing only Lidstrom. The second longest serving Wings captain trailing only Yzerman with 12 years as the Captain. Co-founder along with Lindsay of the Red Wings alumni association. Fats has been a massive part of this organization. I understand going with Terrible Ted for this as he was more talented and his importance to the league is massive. However, from a Wings perspective I think Delvecchio has Kelly and Sawchuk licked pretty good in terms of he is in their top 5 for me.

 

[newfy]

From a purely organizational standpoint I think Delvecchio is close here. Second most games with one franchise in league history trailing only Lidstrom. The second longest serving captain. Co-founder along with Lindsay of the Red Wings alumni association. Fats has been a massive part of this organization. I understand going with Terrible Ted but from a Wings perspective I think Delvecchio has Kelly and Sawchuk licked pretty good in terms of he is in their top 5 for me.

I was more going for a best 4 players. From an all time players stand point Delvecchio isnt those guys level. Great player but not top 20-30 all time like the rest of them

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Winnipeg: Steen, Byfuglien, Scheifele, Hawerchuk
Anaheim: Getzlaf, Selanne, Kariya, Perry
Arizona: Tkachuk, Doan, Numminen, Roenick


As a Jets fan I want to keep what happened in Winnipeg in Winnipeg like what happened in Atlanta stays in Atlanta, and Phoenix/Arizona has all their history.

Edit: Would've put Wheeler in with Winnipeg, it was either him or Byfuglien.
Also all due respect to Thrasher fans I'll do one for you guys.

Atlanta: Kovalchuk, Kozlov, Enstrom, Little

 

[orby]

I wonder how many of these groups all played for their team at the same time. Off the top of my head, Nashville, New Jersey and Tampa Bay. I'm probably missing a few.

 

[Echo Roku]

Eh, I disagree. McDavid may already be a franchise defining player, but what he has done with and for the Oilers in his three short years doesn't yet overtake that of Coffey. I won't just give credit to where it isn't yet due. Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt, and Jefferson didn't make Rushmore based on expectations. Also, I've said more on why McDavid shouldn't be there (yet) in post #81.

I think you missed the point, but me explaining it again would just be repeating myself so whatever

 

[Not So Mighty]

I think you missed the point, but me explaining it again would just be repeating myself so whatever

I'm pretty sure your point is that expectations are worth as much as accomplishments. If so, I'm sorry my opinion is that you have to actually earn things by your actions. I don't subscribe to entitlement but whatever.