Guy Lapointe is underrated

[TheDevilMadeMe]

# of times top in in Norris trophy voting:

Guy Lapointe:
72-73: 2nd
74-75: 3rd
75-76: 4th
76-77: 4th
77-78: 5th
78-79: 5th

Scott Niedermayer:
97-98: 5th
03-04: 1st
05-06: 2nd
06-07: 2nd
07-08: 10th
08-09: 10th

Without going into a full account of their competition, I'll just say that Niedermayer's win was over Lidstrom in the worst season of Lidstrom's career (at least since he was a young developing player) and Lapointe's 2nd place finish was to prime Bobby Orr.

Niedermayer's 2 10th place finishes were with only a handful of votes, so I almost didn't include them.

 

[leoleo3535]

He certainly wasn't underrated in hockey circles....4 all star teams, Team Canada, elected to the Hockey hall of Fame....

 

[Hardyvan123]

Niedermayer's 1998 was kind of a fluke season for him, where he scored a lot more points than he did in any other year until his Norris season. He got recognition because of the points he put up that season, not really his overall game (which was pretty good, not elite). I've seen Niedermayer of the era compared to Jay Bouwmeester and I think it's a good comparison - very good defenseman, has all the tools to be elite but not the toolbox, never really in the conversation for the true elite talents in the league.

When the Devils were winning the Cup in 2000, Niedermayer was a 30 point defenseman, who was still prone to errors in his own end.

I rank Guy Lapointe and Niedermayer very close to each other. I do have Lapointe slightly ahead though.

I can see the arguement for both guys and like with Orr and Lisdstrom, I have them closer together than most, because I value length as much as peak.

Lapointe did have the better peak though and by quite a bit.

 

[JackSlater]

I would agree that Guy Lapointe is somewhat underrated, which is strange for a dynasty player. I would guess that the reason Lapointe lacks the praise that dynasty players usually get is because he was clearly behind Robinson on the dynasty and Savard (even though I believe Lapointe was better) was the captain with a Conn Smythe and gets lots of praise himself. It seems strange to give a lot of praise to the guy perceived to be the third best defenceman on his team, but really no team has ever had three defencemen as good as Robinson, Lapointe and Savard. Of course it also hurt to play prime years against Orr and then peak Potvin and Robinson when it came to award voting.

 

[#66]

Always thought of him as under rated. IMO he's a better all around player than he ever got credit for.

Gotta ask... does anyone else see Lapointe when then watch Kris Letang play? The way he roams the ice and closes gaps defensively. Plus they have that middle sized but thick frame.

 

[tony d]

I agree, I find him under-rated as well. Heck of a defenseman.

 

[Fixxer]

First of all , I think the Montreal Canadiens , my favorite team , were shameless in not retiring his number.Also , I don't why but everybody seems to forgot how great of a offensive d-man and puck moving defenseman Pointu really was.Just wanted to make a tribute to this player I respect a lot.Maybe the story would be differant if he wasn't the one always playing with the 4th d-man on those Montreal teams.

They did last year... but I know your post was from 2011. He finally got the recognition he deserved.

 

[Fixxer]

I love his name. Sounds like the quintessential Habs historical player name.

And to add to this.. he was a named "Guy"
Guy Lapointe
Guy Lafleur
Guy Carbonneau

Guy guy Guy! lol

 

[nnynetpotato]

Always thought of him as under rated. IMO he's a better all around player than he ever got credit for.

Gotta ask... does anyone else see Lapointe when then watch Kris Letang play? The way he roams the ice and closes gaps defensively. Plus they have that middle sized but thick frame.

Nowhere near as many screwups in dzone coverage as Letang,though.
Aggressive pinching at the offensive blue line wasn't as common in the 70s either.Interesting to see if Pointu would've done more of that had he come up today.

 

[Bluesguru]

Wasn't aware the Canadiens have ignored his contributions to that organization, and if so, that is a shame.

Was excited as a kid when the Blues had Guy Lapointe for a couple years. I still remember Guy scoring in the final minute on the road in Winnipeg in Gm 1 to break a 3-3 tie. I still remember Dan Kelly's call.............Lapointe shoots he scores!!! Guy Lapointe from the point!!

 

[Big Phil]

You know how you look up your old posts on here on an old thread and sometimes you may have changed your mind slightly? This isn't the case. From 2011 I still think the same way about Lapointe.

I like him over Niedermayer too. The only issue with him and being compared to Robinson and such is that Robinson peaked better and had the longevity in his favour.

 

[BenchBrawl]

You know how you look up your old posts on here on an old thread and sometimes you may have changed your mind slightly? This isn't the case. From 2011 I still think the same way about Lapointe.

I like him over Niedermayer too. The only issue with him and being compared to Robinson and such is that Robinson peaked better and had the longevity in his favour.

Yeah, I'm always slightly uncomfortable when an old thread is bumped.In this case I'm not sure Lapointe is underrated any longer, but he probably was in 2011 to some extent.

I also don't think Lapointe > Niedermayer is "obvious" anymore, though I still agree Lapointe > Niedermayer.

My knowledge was very limited in 2011 but it apparently didn't stop me from sharing my opinions anyway lol.

 

[SealsFan]

Amazing that the Habs had three #1 defenseman at the same time. Whoever you'd place at #2 and #3 on their depth chart would have been the #1 defenseman on most of the other teams in the league at that time.

 

[57special]

You can't seriously compare Don Awrey to Guy Lapointe.

During a very confused part of my childhood, Don Awrey was my favorite player. Very good Defenseman....nowhere near as good as Lapointe

 

[57special]

I think part of the reason that Lapointe didn't get as much attention as the other two was because his style was less flamboyant. Very efficient and terse. Straight lines, where the others were all over the place.
Savard had the classic spinorama(yes, way before Denis Savard's spinorama's) that preceded his big rushes, and that agonized way he had of picking himself up looking at the clock in between whistles. Robinson has the whole Big Bird thing, was limbs flying everywhere.

Lapointe had a quieter game, though just as brilliant.