The most aesthetically pleasing player?

[GlitchMarner]

Gilbert Perreault.

Just the player I had in mind. Isn't a lot of his reputation based on his style of play? Seems like an "eye-test" darling.

 

[LuckyPierre]

Today, it's McDavid up front and Karlsson on the blue line.

A generation ago, it was Bure up front and Leetch on the blue line.

Two generations ago, it was Mario and Coffey.

 

[Pominville Knows]

What's wrong with Bobby Orr? Speed and a whole lot of circling around all over the ice.

 

[BadgerBruce]

Just the player I had in mind. Isn't a lot of his reputation based on his style of play? Seems like an "eye-test" darling.

This much I know for sure: I paid to see Perreault play in Buffalo (Tim Horton was simply a bonus) more than once and I’ve never been in any tangible sense a Sabres fan. Ever play the game “if I could go back in time to see .....?” For me, the 68-69 Montreal Junior Canadiens team makes the short list. Perreault, Houle, Tardif on a junior line? Rick Martin and Guy Charron waiting on the bench? I’m paying to see that, and I got to see Dionne around that time in St. Catharines. I’ll still take that Junior Canadiens team and Gil Perreault.

Is he one of those “eye test darlings”? Maybe, but in the 76 Canada Cup 37 year old Bobby Hull found the fountain of youth once Bowman replaced Phil Esposito with Perreault on a line with Dionne on the other wing. In the 81 Canada Cup the most electrifying line Team Canada iced featured Perreault with Gretzky and Lafleur. Now there’s an aesthetically pleasing trio! Ended all too soon when Perreault broke his leg.

All in all, he was a player worth the price of admission who had the ability to bring the best out of other high end players. That’s a skill number crunchers ignore.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Bobby Orr with the Oshawa Generals on the regulation Montreal Forum ice surface.

 

[The Macho King]

Honestly... Hasek for me. I just never saw anything like that. It was the opposite of looking effortless, but it's hard to make the goaltending position *exciting* (most great goaltenders make it look boring), and he did that in spades.

 

[Laineux]

From current players, Kuznetsov's skating and stickhandling is very Fedorov-esque. There's usually a different artistry to how Russian players stickhandle the puck compared to Canadians, even if both are as effective.

 

[VMBM]

Just the player I had in mind. Isn't a lot of his reputation based on his style of play? Seems like an "eye-test" darling.

Well, it's not like he's statistically crap either. Has a pretty impressive playoff record too, although I guess he wasn't exactly smoking in his lone Stanley Cup finals in 1975.

Also, amongst all the superstars at the 1976 and 1981 Canada Cups, Perreault really stood out, and it could be argued that he was the best player of them all (1981: until he got injured, that is).

 

[Jim MacDonald]

Not to sound like a homer, but I didn't know until after his retirement Steve Yzerman's teammates gave him the nickname "silk."

 

[streitz]

From current players, Kuznetsov's skating and stickhandling is very Fedorov-esque. There's usually a different artistry to how Russian players stickhandle the puck compared to Canadians, even if both are as effective.

I agree, there's never been a Russian that can stickhandle like Lemieux or Denis Savard.

 

[frisco]

It's Perreault. The guy stood out even on best on best tourneys internationally and All-Star games and such as just a notch above everyone else while carrying the puck. And I'm including Gretzky, Lafleur, the KLM line, even Bobby Orr.

My Best-Carey

 

[Troubadour]

Agree on Fedorov, Lemieux and Coffey. LaFontaine-Mogilny and Kariya-Selanne combos were very pleasing to watch. At one point, I also liked watching Alexander Semin even more than I enjoyed Ovi. Another elegant player that did it for me was Michael Nylander. And his son isn't half bad either.

Laine seems pretty smooth too.

 

[Admiral Awesome]

Federov, for sure. Incredible skater with silky smooth hands and a rocket shot.

 

[82Ninety42011]

Mario just made the game look slow motion he made it look effortless gets my vote.

 

[NyQuil]

When I re-watched the 1987 Canada Cup, it was Paul Coffey that stood out the most for me.

He made everything look so easy.

 

[The Pale King]

Gino Odjick, Mike Ricci, and Mark Messier.

 

[The Panther]

Not to state the obvious, but it has to Mario and Wayne. Aside from their own superhuman skill-sets, what made them so fascinating to watch was the cat-and-mouse game they constantly played with defenders. Defense had to made hard decisions about how to treat them, and oftentimes got burned as a result of making the wrong one. The reason defenders would lag and let them make the first move (by which point it was often too late) is that they had learned the hard way not to jump them. So, sometimes you see Wayne or Mario holding the puck and the D seems to sit back and wait, giving them space, and it looks strange. But that's a learned response. Anyway, it led to some amazing plays, aesthetically-speaking.

And I agree about Paul Coffey. He is still maybe the only defenceman I've seen who had the b***s to do one signature move, which was when he'd get the puck behind the net. If the lanes towards the corners were blocked with fore-checkers, Coffey in his heyday would just suddenly dart straight up the middle of the ice, along the side of the goal, almost touching the goaltender. He did this several times in the mid-80s and it always got a buzz from the otherwise sedate Edmonton crowd.

 

[Asheville]

Seems like an "eye-test" darling.

Don't post stuff like this. Please.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i’ve told this anecdote before but here goes—

it was the 2010 playoffs. i was in new york for work and had dinner with a guy i grew up playing hockey with. i wore #10 and played the off wing and this guy was the center on my line every year from 1993 to 1997. we're back at his apartment in brooklyn and watching the crazy game where the bruins were up 3-0 and lost 4-3 to the flyers to also lose the series 4-3 after being up 3-0. the canucks had just been eliminated by the blackhawks for the second time the night before. and i say to him, sheepishly, you know i might just enjoy watching the sedins play as much as pavel.

 

[Troubadour]

i’ve told this anecdote before but here goes—

it was the 2010 playoffs. i was in new york for work and had dinner with a guy i grew up playing hockey with. i wore #10 and played the off wing and this guy was the center on my line every year from 1993 to 1997. we're back at his apartment in brooklyn and watching the crazy game where the bruins were up 3-0 and lost 4-3 to the flyers to also lose the series 4-3 after being up 3-0. the canucks had just been eliminated by the blackhawks for the second time the night before. and i say to him, sheepishly, you know i might just enjoy watching the sedins play as much as pavel.

LOL, they were one player with four legs, four arms, two heads (but one face) and two sticks, and he could stretch all over the ice.

 

[Crosbyfan]

I agree, there's never been a Russian that can stickhandle like Lemieux or Denis Savard.

Datsyuk was pretty incredible.

Kharlamov needs mention as he was was pretty much poetry in motion.

 

[streitz]

Datsyuk was pretty incredible.

I agree, but he wasn't Denis Savard or Lemieux.

 

[Howie Hodge]

in the 76 Canada Cup 37 year old Bobby Hull found the fountain of youth once Bowman replaced Phil Esposito with Perreault on a line with Dionne on the other wing. In the 81 Canada Cup the most electrifying line Team Canada iced featured Perreault with Gretzky and Lafleur. Now there’s an aesthetically pleasing trio! Ended all too soon when Perreault broke his leg.

Seeing Perreault on both those lines you mention absolutely convinced me he was capable of more than he ever was able to achieve in Buffalo, given the right linemates. Now we might say this about many players; but Gil, in both of those situations, looked as good as any player in the world. It was a treat to watch, it really was.

That and Bobby Orr playing on one leg in the 76 Canada Cup and just being so damn good....

 

[Big Phil]

Some to come to mind.................Lafleur, Orr, Perreault, Cournoyer (when he was in full flight with the puck on his stick it was lovely), Gretzky, Lemieux, Savard, Yzerman, Jagr, Fedorov, Coffey, Malkin, McDavid all come to mind immediately.

 

[Boxscore]

Mario Lemieux and Gilbert Perreault were artists on ice. Orr wasn't as elegant but he just wowed you every time he touched the puck.