Ryan Getzlaf or Zdeno Chara?

[PB37]

Chara.

6 x Norris finalist ( 1 win )

One of the best defensive dmen of all time who will finish his career top 30 in points for a defenseman ( assuming he still plays beyond this year, which he says he will ).

 

[maxbme]

I don't think Getzlaf losing here is a slight at him at all. Its hard comparing impact on the game across positions, so you really just have to compare where they are in their positions. In a Doughty Vs Crosby poll, Doughty would get smoked, but that doesn't take away from how great Doughty is.

 

[McDavidCrushedLarkin]

Chara

 

[AngelDuck]

Henrik Sedin too. I'd say Bergeron and Kopitar as well.

Getzlaf is easily the more dominant player and career than all those guys

Sedin's the only one who had a better peak than Getz

 

[CuriousGeorge]

Who is the better all time NHL player? Stud franchise center or franchise defenseman?

Both players play different positions. How can you compare that?

 

[firstemperor]

Tough call for me, I'd probably go Chara. Getzlaf for longevity though.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Getzlaf is easily the more dominant player and career than all those guys

Sedin's the only one who had a better peak than Getz

Bergeron is the best defensive forward of this generation and his line is the best in hockey. Based on that alone I'd rank him higher than Getzlaf. Kopitar has slightly worse numbers offensively but he's better defensively for sure.

 

[AngelDuck]

Bergeron is the best defensive forward of this generation and his line is the best in hockey. Based on that alone I'd rank him higher than Getzlaf. Kopitar has slightly worse numbers offensively but he's better defensively for sure.

Slightly worse? That's because Kopitar came into the league as his teams #1C. Getzlaf was the 4C his rookie year then the 2C behind Andy McDonald his 2nd year. It's just the nature of coming into the league on a better team vs. Kopitar who came into the league on a terrible team. You take out Getzlaf's rookie year where he didn't get much opportunity and he's basically a PPG guy for his whole career.

I'm not saying getz is better than either of them defensively but he is DEFINITELY considerably better than both offensively.

 

[Jray42]

Getzlaf is a tremendous player, but this is Chara

 

[authentic]

Yeah I'll go with Chara as well. It is close though, Getzlaf has been an elite level center for a decade atleast.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Slightly worse? That's because Kopitar came into the league as his teams #1C. Getzlaf was the 4C his rookie year then the 2C behind Andy McDonald his 2nd year. It's just the nature of coming into the league on a better team vs. Kopitar who came into the league on a terrible team. You take out Getzlaf's rookie year where he didn't get much opportunity and he's basically a PPG guy for his whole career.

I'm not saying getz is better than either of them defensively but he is DEFINITELY considerably better than both offensively.

Kopitar is close to being a PPG player and that's on a very defensive Kings team. Kopitar never had a guy like Perry on his wing either.

I don't need to argue Bergeron over Getzlaf, he's on his way to win his 5th (!) Selke trophy while scoring 1 PPG this season.

 

[Halla]

Chara was one of the top 3 dman for many years. Getzlaf is very good, but at his very best he wasnt even the 3rd best at his position (Crosby,Malkin,Datsyuk)

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Through the 2016-17 season, only five defensemen have earned more normalized Norris trophy votes than Chara over their careers - Bourque, Lidstrom, Orr, Harvey and Chelios. That doesn't mean he's the 6th best defensman ever (his peak was relatively low compared to some players who rank behind him by that metric) - but he's remarkably underrated in an all-time sense.

 

[ESH]

Henrik Sedin too. I'd say Bergeron and Kopitar as well.

I think you might be underrating Chara quite a bit then

 

[Paul4587]

Getz is one of my favourite players but this has to be Chara. He was a beast in his prime and is still a top pairing guy at 40 years old.