Guy Lafleur's slapshot

[BenchBrawl]

Guy Lafleur had a great slapshot and used it frequently.My question is, how many wingers in history had a better slapshot than him? Can you name them?

By slapshot I don't mean only power, but overall: power, accuracy, ability to trigger it in various situations, etc.

Some candidates to start: Geoffrion, Bobby and Brett Hull, Ovechkin.Possibly Kovalchuk.

There are guys like Richer and LeClair, but I doubt they had a better slapshot than Lafleur, even if it might have been more powerful.

Thoughts?

Click to read more...

 

[Batis]

I would say that Anatoly Firsov is another candidate.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

good list.

Add Charlie Conacher

 

[BenchBrawl]

good list.

Add Charlie Conacher

Admittedly I am unsure how to deal with the pre-06 players.Conacher had the hardest shot, but I am struggling to understand this quote:

There are those who insist even today that Charlie Conacher was the most exciting player they have ever seen and that his shot was the hardest of its day, when slap shots were unheard of and a player beat a goaltender with a quick snap of his wrist.

Does it mean Conacher didn't use the slapshot, or that he ''introduced it'' so to speak?

If he just had the hardest ''snap'', not sure if I should include him or not.Guess there's no strict rules, it's just for fun anyway.

If he did indeed use the slapshot, considering his success he has a great case to have a better one than Lafleur.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Guess I should revise the history of the slapshot, this is a bit embarassing.I recall reading George Boucher taking some sort of slapshots, and this pre-dates Conacher.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Guy Lafleur had a great slapshot and used it frequently.My question is, how many wingers in history had a better slapshot than him? Can you name them?

By slapshot I don't mean only power, but overall: power, accuracy, ability to trigger it in various situations, etc.

Some candidates to start: Geoffrion, Bobby and Brett Hull, Ovechkin.Possibly Kovalchuk.

There are guys like Richer and LeClair, but I doubt they had a better slapshot than Lafleur, even if it might have been more powerful.

Thoughts?

Short back swing, barely telegraphed:



Accurate.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Andy Bathgate applies here to some degree, right?

 

[Canadiens1958]

Andy Bathgate applies here to some degree, right?

To some degree.

 

[Thenameless]

His slapshot on one-timers wouldn't be the best, but his slapshot on the fly, I can't think of anyone better.

 

[SaltNPeca]

Y'all forgot about Jarome? Very accurate clapper (overall an accurate and "hard" shooter). I'm not sure you see many of these "one timer specialist" wingers setting up like a D and ripping them from the blue line like Jo could. Guy could beat you in a lot of ways. Literally.

 

[Laineux]

Patrik Laine.

 

[VanIslander]

Lol...

MIKE BOSSY!

HM: Yvan Cournoyer & Dennis Hull.

 

[IComeInPeace]

Was it Mike Bossy’s slapshot that was so incredible, or was it his snapshot?

 

[IComeInPeace]

Pavel Bure had a great slapper.

 

[Brownies]

Anyone old enough to compare Lafleur to Kariya ? The highlights I've seen from Lafleur reminded me a bit of Karyia, who could really rip an accurate hard one coming down the wings.

 

[Big Phil]

His slapshot on one-timers wouldn't be the best, but his slapshot on the fly, I can't think of anyone better.

Sort of what I am thinking here too. Ovechkin and Brett Hull come to mind with otherworldly dangerous one-timers. Accurate and deadly. Bossy more or less had the wrists and a quick release. I don't think I associate him with slap shots as much. Obviously there is Bobby Hull, but was he as accurate?

But on the rush? Hmmm...........that's a tough one. Iginla was already brought up but I would associate Iggy more with a wrist shot coming down the right wing. Wasn't it Game 5 of the 2004 Cup final that he labelled a beauty on the rush down the wing? He had that patented leg lift and then it would fly off his stick. But I think of wrist shots with him more, not slappers.

It's pretty rare past and present to find someone who did it on the fly like Lafleur. Try to think of someone present. Maybe Ovechkin to an extent, but he doesn't score his goals that way normally. Come to think of it I can remember Lindros letting slappers go on the fly a lot, but he was a centre. Few had a better slapper than him.

How about Cam Neely? I'd say he scored a good amount of goals with slappers bursting down the wing. At least more than I can think of than anyone else currently. Who would you even think of currently? Patrick Laine? Again, I am thinking a wrist shot with him a bit more, but we've only got 2 years of NHL play to judge him.

I'll second the Kariya choice. Wicked wrist shot, wicked slapper. Had the speed to get open on the fly and use it. Yeah, I can remember him scoring a few that way.

 

[jj cale]

I really can't think of a single guy off the top of my head that was so good with that slapper on the fly and who did it as regularly as Lafleur, it was such a big part of his game and a thing of great danger to the opposition and beautiful/exciting to watch.

God I miss Lafleur, what an exciting player to witness playing those years.

 

[Sentinel]

Fedorov had a hell of a shot (clocking at 100 mph), I wish he used it more frequently. Frederik Modin had a Howizer. Stamkos is up there.

 

[Fantomas]

Modin's shot was fast, but a great goal scorer's shot it wasn't.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Sort of what I am thinking here too. Ovechkin and Brett Hull come to mind with otherworldly dangerous one-timers. Accurate and deadly. Bossy more or less had the wrists and a quick release. I don't think I associate him with slap shots as much. Obviously there is Bobby Hull, but was he as accurate?

But on the rush? Hmmm...........that's a tough one. Iginla was already brought up but I would associate Iggy more with a wrist shot coming down the right wing. Wasn't it Game 5 of the 2004 Cup final that he labelled a beauty on the rush down the wing? He had that patented leg lift and then it would fly off his stick. But I think of wrist shots with him more, not slappers.

It's pretty rare past and present to find someone who did it on the fly like Lafleur. Try to think of someone present. Maybe Ovechkin to an extent, but he doesn't score his goals that way normally. Come to think of it I can remember Lindros letting slappers go on the fly a lot, but he was a centre. Few had a better slapper than him.

How about Cam Neely? I'd say he scored a good amount of goals with slappers bursting down the wing. At least more than I can think of than anyone else currently. Who would you even think of currently? Patrick Laine? Again, I am thinking a wrist shot with him a bit more, but we've only got 2 years of NHL play to judge him.

I'll second the Kariya choice. Wicked wrist shot, wicked slapper. Had the speed to get open on the fly and use it. Yeah, I can remember him scoring a few that way.

In Ovechkin's case, he also possesses an absolutely deadly snap shot or wrist shot on the rush. Here is an example of all 3

 

[a79krgm]

I'll never forget one glorious slapper from the flower in the twilight of his career in 1990 at the old Met Center. Guy stepped just inside the redline and unloaded. The smoothness of his motions where hard to describe. Kari Takko hardly flinched as the puck sailed passed his glove side. I believe the Nords lost as they usually did that year, but Guy was worth the price of admission.

 

[57special]

No winger besides Bobby Hull comes to mind. Rick Vaive had a great slapper on the rush that he'd score on from just inside the Blue line, but it wasn't better than Lafleur's. Geoffrion, perhaps, but he didn't have the benefit of the curved stick.

I'm sure I'm missing someone. His linemate, Shutt, had a great shot, but i can't for the life of me remember if he had more of a wrister.

Lafleur's release was so fast, and done at high speed. Cournoyer's shot was similar.

 

[Chili]

There may have been harder shots (especially the Hull brothers) but few more accurate than Guy.

I remember a clip of a drill where he would setup a bunch of pucks in a semicircle and fire them rapidfire into the net .

And he didn't miss very many .

 

[BadgerBruce]

If we are dealing with on the fly slappers — the classic Lafleur blast— one of his contemporaries, Reggie (“the Rifleman”) Leach, could really blast it.

 

[Tmu84]

Jari Kurri had hell of a slapshot. Don't know if it was better or Worse than Lafleur, because i didn't watch the guy that much.