Top 10 of the best hockey skaters ever

MXD

Original #4
Oct 27, 2005
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References like this puzzles me. Georges Mantha retired in 1940, still you claim to be able to assess his skating ability.

There is a video of Georges Mantha in action somewhere on this site. He's, like, faster than Morenz and clearly the fastest player on the ice, and just about everyone raved about Morenz's speed.

It wasn't quite prime Morenz, so you can't completely discredit Morenz here, but it wasn't geriatric Morenz either.
 
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Peter Tosh

Registered User
Dec 19, 2007
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Yet it is possible to assess the various abilities of pre 1940 thinkers, writers, political leaders, musicians, scientists, etc. How can that be?
The reason for that is that their work was captured in a way that makes it possible. You can read the books and listen to record. Sport was not, however. You cannot campare someones skating in the 1930s with someones skating in the 2000s, simply because of the fact that you don’t have enough footage from that time. I can’t even find anything on Youtube on G. Mantha. All you have is the stories. If you tell me that you are born in 1925 and saw his career, I’d respect your position. Otherwise, I consider it some kind of bias that everything was better back in the good old days (which all reason suggests must not have been the case)
 
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Peter Tosh

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Dec 19, 2007
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There is a video of Georges Mantha in action somewhere on this site. He's, like, faster than Morenz and clearly the fastest player on the ice, and just about everyone raved about Morenz's speed.

It wasn't quite prime Morenz, so you can't completely discredit Morenz here, but it wasn't geriatric Morenz either.
”A video”? That is one video? Is that enough material for you to draw any conclusion? I can show you ten videos on Youtube that would prove that Gustav Nyquist is the best skater ever born, if I where to use the same logic. If you draw conclusions from very limited sample sizes, you tend to fail
 

Canadiens1958

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Nov 30, 2007
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The reason for that is that their work was captured in a way that makes it possible. You can read the books and listen to record. Sport was not, however. You cannot campare someones skating in the 1930s with someones skating in the 2000s, simply because of the fact that you don’t have enough footage from that time. I can’t even find anything on Youtube on G. Mantha. All you have is the stories. If you tell me that you are born in 1925 and saw his career, I’d respect your position. Otherwise, I consider it some kind of bias that everything was better back in the good old days (which all reason suggests must not have been the case)

So we have eliminated the Stalin defence "All eyewitnesses are liars.".

Sports was captured in newspapers and books. You also have interviews with surviving contemporaries generations later.
 

MXD

Original #4
Oct 27, 2005
50,673
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”A video”? That is one video? Is that enough material for you to draw any conclusion? I can show you ten videos on Youtube that would prove that Gustav Nyquist is the best skater ever born, if I where to use the same logic. If you draw conclusions from very limited sample sizes, you tend to fail

... That would be better than drawing conclusions from false evidence, because a youtube video showing Gustav Nyquist as the best skater ever is necessarily a false video.

Besides, the post I was replying to asked for who were the best skaters prior to WW2, so it's not like I was comparing a high-footage player with a low-footage player. I wasn't claiming Hec Kilrea and Georges Mantha were better skaters than, oh, I don't know, Henrik Zetterberg and Mats Naslund. I was claiming that both were ALMOST CERTAINLY better skaters than, say, Earl Siebert and Marty Barry, amongst others.

I'm also very curious as to why you're focusing on Mantha, specifically, who is a fairly anonymous player about whom every source had just about one thing to say : he was REALLY fast.
 
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Canadiens1958

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Nov 30, 2007
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And they weren't worse than today's thinkers, political leaders, musicians, scientists, etc. I say this as someone for whom the history of mathematics is some sort of hobby.

Calculus alone is one of the greatest invention in human history—and yeah today's scientists take it for granted and have it at their disposal, but that doesn't make them "better". Would they have equaled Newton's contribution if their brain was transported in the 1660s? Not many would.

Let's overlook political leaders - Trudeau, Trump, CAQ, Ford, etc.
 
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Canadiens1958

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Ask any football player: the first thing to go is the legs. Ask a soccer player: when you hit thirty, your legs are your biggest weakness.

McDavid is not playing football or soccer. He is 22-23 not 30.

Stronger legs than at 18 when he entered the NHL.

Orr, was a stronger skater in the NHL at 22+ than at 18. H.Richard, Keon were strong skaters into their late 30s early 40s. Ralph Backstrom likewise in 1974 vs the Soviet Union.
 

VanIslander

A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
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... H.Richard, Keon were strong skaters into their late 30s...
Gawd, yes. Marleau, too. But you claim skating gets STRONGER with age. These comments of yours are IRRELEVANT to that claim unless you think they skated better as they hit their 30's.

Mike Gartner won the fastest skater competition at the NHL all-star game at age 36, his third such victory. Does this mean he got faster with age? Uh, no.
 

Canadiens1958

Registered User
Nov 30, 2007
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Lake Memphremagog, QC.
Gawd, yes. Marleau, too. But you claim skating gets STRONGER with age. These comments of yours are IRRELEVANT to that claim unless you think they skated better as they hit their 30's.

Mike Gartner won the fastest skater competition at the NHL all-star game at age 36, his third such victory. Does this mean he got faster with age? Uh, no.

My claim is very basic "stronger than at 18":

Top 10 of the best hockey skaters ever

Please reread
 

johan f

Registered User
Jun 23, 2008
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Sweden
I get it that nobody have watched all players. That is why I can weigh in here with some exellent skaters.

Magnus Svensson (Olympic Champion among other titles)

Tommy Samuelsson (steady member of national team for Sweden)

Lars Erik Sjoberg , WHA and international star)

Mats Waltin (national team player and multichampion in two domestic leagues)

Erik Karlsson (current NHL player. )
 
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johan f

Registered User
Jun 23, 2008
2,374
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Sweden
Best skaters are from Sweden and the reason are the cliniques of serious ” from the basics education” to reach further development.

 

The Pale King

Go easy on those Mango Giapanes brother...
Sep 24, 2011
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I'll second NyQuil and say Russ Courtnall certainly deserves a mention. This clip is far from his peak but the guy could still skate even in his last season in the NHL. He was

Here he is as part of the most entertaining (but unfortunately shortlived) penalty-killing duo of all-time with Pavel Bure:

Guy had another gear that few players could touch once he got going.
 

Kshahdoo

Registered User
Mar 23, 2008
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Moscow, Russia
There’s a tendency to think of superstars only but what about lesser known guys like Courtnall or Gartner and even one-dimensional guys like Grabner or Fata....

That’s what makes this so difficult.

Well, hockey skating means not just skating, but some hockey as well, and superstars are usually better in hockey, than other players. I mean, some 3rd liners can be as fast and agile as Makarov was, but they will never use their skating as effective as Makarov did.
 

robsenz

Registered User
Apr 15, 2007
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A few weeks ago the boards were making a big stink about Evgeny Artyukhin being the GOAT...what happened to that? lol
 

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