Hardest Slap Shot: Eric Gelinas or Stephane Richer?

[Tundra]

What says the hive? Richer once broke Martin Brodeur's jock in half with a slapshot before a game and left serious bruising. Then factor in that Richer was using wooden sticks before composite stick technology really took hold.

Click to read more...

 

[Wingman77]

Wasn't old enough to see Richer, but the guys with the hardest slap shots that I've seen play were Arnott, Rolston, Kovy, Sykora and I have to add Gelinas to the list as well

 

[Devils Unseen Hand]

Richer, Souray, Kovy & Gelly.

 

[EliasFTW]

Brian Rafalski

 

[JimEIV]

Rolston, Souray, Gelinas.

Rolston's shot was unbelievable...I'm not sure the year, but I believe it was Nagano Japan, 98' Olympics maybe 1996 Lil'Hammer, they had winter Olympics 2 years a part when they separated the Summer and Winter -- but it was the last year amateurs played hockey, Rolston was on that team and I remember him BLOWING shots by goalies...Rolston had an incredible shot.

Souray in his younger days has no control of his shot and I remember him hurting people in practice but he may very well had the hardest shot of any Devil.

 

[Tundra]

Souray in his younger days has no control of his shot and I remember him hurting people in practice but he may very well had the hardest shot of any Devil.

It has been clocked at 106.7 mph.

 

[Tundra]

Interesting that this SI piece has BOTH Richer (#7) and Rolston (#8) on the top 10 ALL-TIME Greatest Slap Shots:

http://www.si.com/nhl/2013/03/08/top-10-nhl-slap-shots-all-time

 

[Richer's Ghost]

Interesting that this SI piece has BOTH Richer (#7) and Rolston (#8) on the top 10 ALL-TIME Greatest Slap Shots:

http://www.si.com/nhl/2013/03/08/top-10-nhl-slap-shots-all-time

ugh. It pains me to see Richer in a Tampa Bay jersey (or Pittsburgh or St. Louis). Those years just didn't happen in my mind. I forever see him in either Montreal or New Jersey red jerseys.

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

I grew up for a minute in Flyers country and the Richer admirers society on the street hockey/rec hockey was huge. Now I was younger, but his slapshot was something else. Souray post Devils years hone his shot/craft. I'm going to go with Rolston/Foster and Gelinas in terms of Devils slapshots I've witnessed over the years.

 

[DenisSamson3]

Bret Hull or Al MAacinis leaue wide? But I would have to say Souray as a Devil. What about Roston, was his hard?

 

[Sascha Goc]

Rolston's second stint here when he was constantly missing the net definitely didn't do his shot justice. When he was younger he was unbelievable.

 

[britdevil]

Rolston had an incredible slapshot when he was younger.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Bret Hull or Al MAacinis leaue wide? But I would have to say Souray as a Devil. What about Roston, was his hard?

Weber has the most ridiculous slapshot I've ever witnessed.

 

[JimEIV]

Weber has the most ridiculous slapshot I've ever witnessed.

Chara aint too shabby either.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Al Iafrate was probably the fastest I've seen in person. Either him or Al MacInnis, and they both did it with wood sticks = greater than anyone currently playing today IMO.

 

[Tundra]

Chara aint too shabby either.

What Chara did to Callahan's ankle a few years back was ridiculous. Callahan went down like he was hit with 00 buckshot.

 

[JimEIV]

Al Iafrate was probably the fastest I've seen in person. Either him or Al MacInnis, and they both did it with wood sticks = greater than anyone currently playing today IMO.

I forgot about "The Planet"


When got trade to Boston and we played them in the playoffs Bourque and Iafrate was the scariest point tandem I've ever seen

But here is a vote for MacInnis

 

[JimEIV]

What Chara did to Callahan's ankle a few years back was ridiculous. Callahan went down like he was hit 00 buckshot.

What about Clarkson's leg!

 

[GentlemanOfLeisure]

Richer would score 3 or 4 goals a year shooting his slapper from outside the blueline.

Guy with the best Devils slapshot in all honesty was a player that played 2 games for them as a teenager. Corey Foster. A first round bust that played another 25 games with the Flyers years later. He was a terrible defender and lazy. But his shot was beyond world class.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Richer would score 3 or 4 goals a year shooting his slapper from outside the blueline.

Guy with the best Devils slapshot in all honesty was a player that played 2 games for them as a teenager. Corey Foster. A first round bust that played another 25 games with the Flyers years later. He was a terrible defender and lazy. But his shot was beyond world class.

It's all Foster had. He was cone other wise but it was a good shot.

I was thinking about Rolston ( first stint) he did have an excellent slap shot.

 

[GentlemanOfLeisure]

It's all Foster had. He was cone other wise but it was a good shot.

I was thinking about Rolston ( first stint) he did have an excellent slap shot.

Not Kurtis Foster, Corey Foster.

Kurtis Foster was the guy with the badly broken leg who played for us 4 years ago. Corey was the Devils first round pick in 1988 who the Devils dealt a year later to the Oilers. The Oilers dealt him a year later to the Flyers in the Scott Mellamby deal and played about 25 games for the Flyers before they released him. But when he played in the pre-season for us as an 18 year old, he had an unbelievable slap shot. He made the big club in training camp in 1988-89 but last 2 games before Schoenfeld realized he was BRUTAL in his own end. Lou got rid of him at the next draft for a 1st round pick.

Which leads me to think there were other problems with him not hockey related...

 

[GentlemanOfLeisure]

Iafrate's slap shot was great but not all that accurate.

MacInnis was deadly, and accurate. Best I've ever saw in my 30 years of watching hockey.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Souray's was the hardest in IMO.
Rolston had a great slapper, and Richer's was very good, but wasn't as highlighted as it tended to get lost in his overall game.

I think Gelinas's is actually the best of the lot. It is just a pure bomb.

 

[Wingman77]

Kurtis Foster had a hell of a slap shot as well

Arnott's slap shot was huge and I always love watching the first goal below, what a rocket

 

[blueliner]