NHL's best athletes

[Finlandia WOAT]

If he had played the sport for the time and with the passion he did hockey, I think most NHL'ers would have been dominant college bball and football players, but....spitballing, but half wouldbe nfl replacement level or better, while only those with the required body type would sniff the nba (so Chara the dominant power forward).

 

[Captain Bowie]

If he had played the sport for the time and with the passion he did hockey, I think most NHL'ers would have been dominant college bball and football players, but....spitballing, but half wouldbe nfl replacement level or better, while only those with the required body type would sniff the nba (so Chara the dominant power forward).

That's a stretch. Not even all current NBA or NFL players were dominant college players. You are overestimating the amount of crossover abilities in these sports. Hockey is more unique than the other two, not nearly as many intersecting skills.

 

[GodEmperor]

What an uninformed post, I love it though. Good work.

It's really not, the players run set routes v the same players all game long, they make slight adjustments and that's it.

In the NHL you have literally millions more variables, offsides, icings, odd man rushes, sizing up different opponents as there is actual heterogeneous opponents i.e 6'9 260lb guys and 5'7 150lb guys, sticks, skates and pucks flying and getting hit way harder due to the speed.

And the coaches/qbs aren't holding your hand doing your thinking for you.

Is hockey hard? I don't know, you tell me. We need to have the strength and power of a football player, the stamina of a marathon runner, and the concentration of a brain surgeon. But we need to put all this together while moving at high speeds on a cold and slippery surface while 5 other guys use clubs to try and kill us. Oh yeah, did I mention that this whole time we're standing on blades 1/8 of an inch thick? Is ice hockey hard? I don't know, you tell me. Next question.

That quote just begins to summarize the difficulty of Hockey.

 

[Captain Bowie]

It's really not, the players run set routes v the same players all game long, they make slight adjustments and that's it.

In the NHL you have literally millions more variables, offsides, icings, odd man rushes, sizing up different opponents as there is actual heterogeneous opponents i.e 6'9 260lb guys and 5'7 150lb guys, sticks, skates and pucks flying and getting hit way harder due to the speed.

And the coaches/qbs aren't holding your hand doing your thinking for you.

Is hockey hard? I don't know, you tell me. We need to have the strength and power of a football player, the stamina of a marathon runner, and the concentration of a brain surgeon. But we need to put all this together while moving at high speeds on a cold and slippery surface while 5 other guys use clubs to try and kill us. Oh yeah, did I mention that this whole time we're standing on blades 1/8 of an inch thick? Is ice hockey hard? I don't know, you tell me. Next question.

That quote just begins to summarize the difficulty of Hockey.

Are you insinuating I think hockey is easy?

You simply just don't have an understanding of the game of football. That's fine, I don't have an understanding of a lot of sports, like cricket, rugby, hurling, and many others. I just don't tell people how much easier they are than sports I am interested in. But carry on if you wish.

 

[McFlash97]

Nurse.

 

[PenguinSpeed]

-Its pitching by a lot. A crappy goalie or average goalie can win a Stanley Cup. A crappy QB can win a superbowl. You arent going anywhere in major league baseball with bad pitching. And you will get destroyed in the playoffs with bad pitching. Most ace pitchers cant even last a whole game. And there is a huge swing between Elite pitchers and good pitchers come playoff time, good pitchers get eaten up in playoff baseball.

-Best athlete, Bo Jackson and Michael Phelps. If Jackson didnt blow his knee out, he would have been a hall of famer in 2 professional sports and was an All American track star.

-Raw power, he snaps a wooden bat over his head like a toothpick

 

[GodEmperor]

Are you insinuating I think hockey is easy?

You simply just don't have an understanding of the game of football. That's fine, I don't have an understanding of a lot of sports, like cricket, rugby, hurling, and many others. I just don't tell people how much easier they are than sports I am interested in. But carry on if you wish.

Then explain it genius, football=grunts being told what to do by coaches and QBs.

But I guess big bench presses and fast 40s=all there is to athletecism (lol).

 

[CanadienShark]

-Its pitching by a lot. A crappy goalie or average goalie can win a Stanley Cup. A crappy QB can win a superbowl. You arent going anywhere in major league baseball with bad pitching. And you will get destroyed in the playoffs with bad pitching. Most ace pitchers cant even last a whole game. And there is a huge swing between Elite pitchers and good pitchers come playoff time, good pitchers get eaten up in playoff baseball.

-Best athlete, Bo Jackson and Michael Phelps. If Jackson didnt blow his knee out, he would have been a hall of famer in 2 professional sports and was an All American track star.

-Raw power, he snaps a wooden bat over his head like a toothpick

But you can't win a cup without a #1C. Why is goalie your example?

 

[Fantomas]

Best athlete, Bo Jackson and Michael Phelps. If Jackson didnt blow his knee out, he would have been a hall of famer in 2 professional sports and was an All American track star.

I can't speak of American football because I never cared for that sport, but speaking of baseball I doubt it. Jackson was never a particularly patient hitter, he struck out a lot and there was nothing extraordinary about his power. He was never a defensive wiz either.

 

[Canadiens1958]

-Its pitching by a lot. A crappy goalie or average goalie can win a Stanley Cup. A crappy QB can win a superbowl. You arent going anywhere in major league baseball with bad pitching. And you will get destroyed in the playoffs with bad pitching. Most ace pitchers cant even last a whole game. And there is a huge swing between Elite pitchers and good pitchers come playoff time, good pitchers get eaten up in playoff baseball.

-Best athlete, Bo Jackson and Michael Phelps. If Jackson didnt blow his knee out, he would have been a hall of famer in 2 professional sports and was an All American track star.

-Raw power, he snaps a wooden bat over his head like a toothpick

Hip injury ended his NFL career.

Bo Jackson - Wikipedia

 

[Canadiens1958]

Athletecism. Simple test put them on the dance floor and watch the footwork.


NFL well ahead of the NHL.

 

[Captain Bowie]

Then explain it genius, football=grunts being told what to do by coaches and QBs.

But I guess big bench presses and fast 40s=all there is to athletecism (lol).

Why would I waste my time, your lack of understand is so bad it hurts.

Athleticism in it's simplest terms is how well you move. Football players move, a lot, in a lot of different directions.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Why would I waste my time, your lack of understand is so bad it hurts.

Athleticism in it's simplest terms is how well you move. Football players move, a lot, in a lot of different directions.

And QB is a more mentally challenging position than anything in hockey.

 

[Captain Bowie]

And QB is a more mentally challenging position than anything in hockey.

I think QBs, Goalies and Pitchers are all fairly similar in terms of the mental aspect.

 

[Rich Nixon]

I think QBs, Goalies and Pitchers are all fairly similar in terms of the mental aspect.

Different types of intelligence. All 3 require unbelievable mental fortitude. Pitchers have all the time in the world, and have to play a mental game with a hitter to fool them. Goalies have no time at all and have to pair a series of educated guesses with extremely good and accurate reactions. Quarterbacks kind of have the down time where they strategize (and either in the huddle or at the line, are very involved in the play call) and then bursts of action where they have to make very quick reads and pinpoint throws with very large and strong men running straight at them trying to hurt them.

I think quarterback is the most difficult position in sports. Combines the mental aspects of the other 2 and is somehow even more imminently dangerous than goaltending.

 

[GodEmperor]

Why would I waste my time, your lack of understand is so bad it hurts.

Athleticism in it's simplest terms is how well you move. Football players move, a lot, in a lot of different directions.

>Says people are uneducated
>Doesn't educate them

And yeah that is athletecism, however football tests very little of it apart from sprinting which the WRs/RB/TEs use and benching which the linemen/TE use.

There's no test of endurance, at all, there is very little testing of balance among all the participants and there is certainly no test of flexibility.

 

[zar]

Not many crosses between hockey and another sport... the one I know for sure of thought is 2 time Cy Young winner and 1995 World Series MVP HOF pitcher of the Atlanta Braves, Tom Glavine... he was drafted by the LA Kings in 4th round (69OA) in the 1984 NHL Entry draft... ahead of both Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille.

I'd say he made the right choice of sports.

 

[StatisticsAddict99]

Natural Athletes like Sid are great but Football athletes are next level athletes... I doubt any player in the league could make a starting spot on any roster(even given the time to make up for it), there is simply to much work to be done and the athletes have to be extremely versatile at all levels in all years(some players work they’re whole lives to be a tight end and they finally make the nfl and the coach makes them 360 they’re diet and training to become a Lineman/Fullback/Special Teamer, etc). In Football you need exceptional genetics, be able to work hard(training) your whole life(work around your day jobs), smarts and to realize the fact one hit can end your career after all that work.

 

[dingbathero]

Rugby players I think would have the best crossover rate to the sports mentioned.

 

[McOilers97]

Taylor Hall comes to mind for me - not because I know of him having played any other sports (I don’t), but because he is just incredibly powerful and seems to be a guy with a lot of fast-twitch muscle fibre.

 

[Martinez]

NFL is just a low IQ, brute activity apart from QB and coaching.

It is a far lower measure of athletecism in the complete activity than sports like Hockey that require competence in a variety of athletic fields like balance, strength, endurance, sprinting, hitting and even fighting. Football is mostly sprinting and strength....that's it, although 1 position QB is a high IQ activity and does require mental strength.

That said QB doesn't come close to comparing to being a goalie as far as dealing with mental pressure as it's ALL on goalies to perform, there is no "hand off" that can save you, you either make the save or you don't.

If you're impressed with football, you should be even more impressed with strongman where the guys are even bigger and stronger and actually require far more endurance and at times even a ton of explosiveness.

This may be the worst thing I have ever read on hfboards.

 

[Peat]

Rugby players I think would have the best crossover rate to the sports mentioned.

To NFL and basketball? Yeah. Decent amount of crossover there.

I wouldn't mind seeing Jamie Oleksiak have a crack at lock, he's got the size and is working on the nastiness. Unless I was playing against him.

 

[Marshall]

A bit more back on topic, how does much-better-than-average athleticism display itself on the ice? Batting pucks out of mid-air is hand-eye stuff, what are the indicators that a player displays in the normal process of play that makes you go "that guy's a great athlete."?

 

[GodEmperor]

This may be the worst thing I have ever read on hfboards.

And yet you have no argument.LOL