Starting Six: Montreal Canadiens All-Time Lineup
- Thread starter LastWordArmy
- Start date
RealityBytes
Trash Remover
- Feb 11, 2013
- 2,955
- 408
out of those 6 Moore is the only one who might be replaceable
D: Harvey and Robinson are clearly the 2 best defenseman in habs history and both are top 10 all time NHL history probably even top 5
G: Dryden had he played more than 7 seasons would be considered as the best goaltender that ever was and ever will be.
RW: Richard is Richard, Lafleur is also great but you have to put Richard
C: Béliveau is Béliveau
LW: It's between Dickie Moore, Toe Blake, Steve Shutt and Bob Gainey. They're all anglo canadians. i would probably take Gainey or Blake over Moore.
Pompeius Magnus
Registered User
It's really hard to compare players from different eras but mine would look something like this :
Goalie: Plante (Roy has a strong case though, it's almost a coin toss. Dryden just didn't have the longevity in my opinion)
Defense : Robinson and Harvey ( Not much argument there in my mind)
LW: Probably the weekest position. Dicky Moore certainly makes a strong case with his longevity and wins it. Shutt or Gainey have an argument .
C: Beliveau, no arguments there either.
RW: Rocket Richard but Lafleur comes very close.
Goalie: Plante (Roy has a strong case though, it's almost a coin toss. Dryden just didn't have the longevity in my opinion)
Defense : Robinson and Harvey ( Not much argument there in my mind)
LW: Probably the weekest position. Dicky Moore certainly makes a strong case with his longevity and wins it. Shutt or Gainey have an argument .
C: Beliveau, no arguments there either.
RW: Rocket Richard but Lafleur comes very close.
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WhiskeySeven*
Expect the expected
- Jun 17, 2007
- 25,154
- 770
Growing up I was proud to have these legends be a part of our history. Now though, I'm just kinda bitter that I never got to see them or enjoy them myself.
So...
Pacioretty - Koivu - Kovalev
Markov - Subban
Price
So...
Pacioretty - Koivu - Kovalev
Markov - Subban
Price
Having seen all of these guys -- truth is that Dryden, wonderful though he was, played a style that was already going out as he played it. Roy, truly, was the better goaltender, and created a whole new two or three generations of goalies in his image. Robinson and Harvey? Sure, but Serge Savard was in the conversation with Orr when he was young , played forever, and never made a mental error. Beliveau and Richard are easy, and then the only sane thing to do is move Lafleur to his off-wing. He'll be fine there. (Actually Richard is probably easier to move, as he played all over the ice, where Lafleur tended to be more channeled.) Honorable Mentions: Lemaire , Cournoyer, Lapointe, Shutt, and don't ever forget Mats Naslund, who was most of the Habs offense in the 86 Cup run.
Dryden's .921 in an era when .900 was hard to attain stands out from the crowd.
He was also a big game guy and could stun teams in their building. Game 7 vs Boston and game 7 against Chicago, both in 1971, Game 6 in Moscow in 1972, Game 6 in Chicago in 1973, Game 3 in Philadelphia in 1976, Game 6 on Long Island in 1977 - these were all games in which he made multiple miraculous saves and changed the momentum of the game and series. He won six Stanley Cups in 8 seasons, plus the Summit Series against the USSR.
Dryden's consistency gives him the edge over Roy, who had years where he was badly outplayed in the playoffs. Roy also had only the 6th highest save percentage in the league over his final 4 regular seasons in Montreal, not consistently great enough to beat out Dryden. Plante, too, had some down years.
The minute Dryden came up to the NHL, he single-handedly transformed the Montreal Canadiens from a 90 point team to the greatest underdog Cup winner of all-time. He posted a 1.65 GAA in six regular season games, beat out Hall of Famer Rogie Vachon for the starting job in the playoffs, then won the Conn Smythe BEFORE winning the Calder the next year. That Conn Smythe Trophy was the most obvious in the history of the game. To beat the Bruins, who had just posted the best regular season in history, with Bobby Orr on D, and 152 point scorer Phil Esposito up front, and three weeks later the Blackhawks with HOFer Tony Esposito in nets and Bobby Hull leading the forwards, was INCREDIBLE. Besides stealing the Summit Series with his Game 6 performance, as Canada played shorthanded for almost half the game, Dryden still won 5 MORE CUPS as the Habs stayed at the top of the league that decade. It's no coincidence that the Habs Cup streak ended in 1979 with the retirement of Ken Dryden. He made that much of a difference.
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Mrb1p
PRICERSTOPDAPUCK
Nope.
Moore-Beliveau-Lafleur
Harvey-Robinson
Roy
Lafleur was actually the best player in the league and not overshadowed by Howe.
Moore-Beliveau-Lafleur
Harvey-Robinson
Roy
Lafleur was actually the best player in the league and not overshadowed by Howe.
Chili
En boca cerrada no entran moscas
- Jun 10, 2004
- 8,513
- 4,408
I did read the article.There's a whole paragraph on each in the article
Was agreeing with post 3 and adding Morenz's name to the thread.
Domenic
Registered User
Yup.
Off the top of my head, it would be Beliveau with Richard and Lafleur; Harvey and Robinson; and Plante.
LastWordArmy
Registered User
the valiant effort
settle down, bud
- Apr 17, 2017
- 3,864
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I don't think I trust Robinson to cover up for Harvey when he's pirouetting around the ice not playing the right way. 
LastWordArmy
Registered User
On any other franchise? Sure.
On a franchise with the likes of Plante, Roy, Dryden, Durnan, Hainsworth, Vezina, etc.... I'm not sure he's even in the top 5 Habs at his position. Not at this point in his career, but he might get there.
Whalers Fan
Go Habs!
Too many legends in front of him.
I saw both Dryden and Roy play their entire NHL careers, and would have to go with Dryden between those two. Hard to argue with Plante, either, though.
My six:
Richard, Beliveau, Lafleur (put one off-wing)
Harvey, Robinson
Dryden
So, who coaches this team -- Blake, Irvin or Bowman?
Price is bigger and has better technique than everyone your metnionned. The only reason you don't think he is the best is because he doesn't have a SC ring.
LastWordArmy
Registered User
He's also had the benefit of better coaching, lighter equipment, and modern medicine and nutrition.
Give those goalies better coaching and they may have looked the same.
And its not just a cup ring.
Price has 1 Vezina and 2 more nominations. He has 3 full seasons as an elite NHL goalie at this point. And a bunch more of being a really good goalie.
Those goalies have far more longevity as being the best goalie in the world.
Price could get there, but he's not there yet.
He would have been had he played against Howe. Rocket accomplished more in my opinion.
