Greatest Montreal Canadiens Skater of All-Time

[Kent Nilsson]

Murray Wilson

 

[1909]

Aurèle Joliat !

 

[groovejuice]

It's a tough choice between Richard and Beliveau. Le Gros Bill wins out by a nose for me.

 

[Lebowski]

I don't know if Richard was the best, but I do think he was the greatest in terms of what he represents to this franchise and the province as a whole. He transcended hockey to become an historic figure in Quebec.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

It's a tough choice between Richard and Beliveau. Le Gros Bill wins out by a nose for me.

Béliveau was a more complete player. We can compare with Mario Lemieux. A great playmaker and able to make anything good.
Richard was Zednik multiply by 10. Maybe the closest players to compare with Richard are Bondra, Selanne or Ovechkin.

 

[groovejuice]

Béliveau was a more complete player. We can compare with Mario Lemieux. A great playmaker and able to make anything good.
Richard was Zednik multiply by 10. Maybe the closest players to compare with Richard are Bondra, Selanne or Ovechkin.

Maybe a good comparison to Richard is Cam Neely. Great scorer and tough as nails.

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

The Rocket will always be the greatest Montreal Canadiens of all time and no one will never dethrone him. Béliveau is second and Lafleur third.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Don't know if people remember, but Koivu had quite some speed pre-knee injury.

Plekanec was also one of the fastest Habs in the modern era. He could burn out many players in his first few years.

 

[Schwang]

Its hard to judge anyone before the 80's. Someone who stood out as s great skater a long time ago, like Richard, Beliveau, even Lafleur, probably looked much better just because of the competition. I'm not saying they weren't great skaters, but if you rewatch the Canada cup tournaments from the 70's, most of the Canadian skaters looked in horrible shape and were slow compared to the Soviets. So the few who were good skaters, stood out because most of the league wasnt really that fast. Even some of the slower guys today would probably look like Lafleur if they played back then.

 

[Habs]

Should be broken into the new era, and old. Players from the 70 and before, couldn't skate an ounce like the kids today. It wasn't possible. The skates are so different, the sharpening, the amount of time they put into technique.. its just a different skating game these days. I mean Richard and Robinson could certainly skate, I'm not bashing, but some of the worst skaters in today's game are better than the best back in the day.

 

[groovejuice]

I'm pretty sure that the OP meant skater as in non-goalie. But it's a good discussion regardless.

 

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Elvis Stojko

 

[Scintillating10]

Murray Wilson

Paul Bryon and Murray Wilson would make for a good race.

 

[MtlBoxFan]

Mike Lalor.

 

[Megaforce]

Cournoyer. Gainey was also pretty impressive. I wouldn't want to get hit byhim.

 

[Tighthead]

I always thought Vladimir Malakhov was one of the best and smoothest skater I saw in Montreal. Just effortless.

One of my favourite terms in hockey as used by Dick Irvin - “a river skater”. Someone who looked like they could just skate all day, for miles.

 

[Teufelsdreck]

Expansion and the draft have been obstacles to finding all-star players with French names. Those fans who pine for a Mario Lemieux such throw away their psychotropic drugs.

 

[Max2]

Im' a Guy Lafleur guy so he gets my vote, although there are a lot of legendary players to choose from. Naslund is another favourite of mine along with Kenny Dryden,Cournoyer,Henri Richard and Steve Shutt. 1) Lafleur 2)Naslund 3) Dryden 4)Cournoyer) 5) Pocket Rocket 6)Shutt.