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- Mar 28, 2014
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The 05-06 Hurricanes had the 2nd best record in the East. Scored the 3rd most goals in the NHL. They were not a Cinderella team.
The 05-06 Hurricanes had the 2nd best record in the East. Scored the 3rd most goals in the NHL. They were not a Cinderella team.
Okay, maybe I am using the term cinderella team to liberally but nobody expected them to have a RS like that... Going into to the season, practically nobody predicted Oilers - Hurricanes in the finals.
Heh, maybe yours and my lists will have a dozen names in common...Don't take this the wrong way, but your is the list I am most interested to see, considering how different it seems it will be from my own. I have a hard time imagining how many players I would have to name to get to Mark Recchi. It might be close to 200, or more.
Except Nick Lidstrom was substantially better in the surrounding yearsHis Hart win in the modern era are very impressive to me. Defencemen simply don't win Hart trophies any more. And I don't see any evidence that his play was significantly worse in the years surrounding his win.
Kariya is my #107. Which is kinda pathetic, given that my Selanne is #43, and they were once viewed as practically mirror images of each other. But one aged much, much, MUCH better.If Recchi is in...Kariya is over him, right? Or no?
Except Nick Lidstrom was substantially better in the surrounding years
Even a Cinderella team can have one good season.The 05-06 Hurricanes had the 2nd best record in the East. Scored the 3rd most goals in the NHL. They were not a Cinderella team.
He didn't have "that one season" like Pronger did. But Pronger didn't win the Conn Smythe. In fact, I don't see Lidstrom ever losing it to Niedermeyer. Probably because he never had the PPP (Pronger's Penalty Parade).But not better than Pronger at his best.
This screams Luongo for me. I wanted so bad to have him on the list, but I got to 120 and ended up 2 goalies short of including him. Judging by how many goalies a few people say thay have, I am happy with the fact that SOMEONE included him.Different topic...
Which players were you cheering for to make your list, but you ended up cutting (or not considering) anyways.
For me, it's Cam Neely. For a five season period he was otherworldly... except he missed almost half the games in that period. Kariya is another one for me, as is Cournoyer, Vachon and Worsley.
I mean, that's why have I like 50 names between the two.Except Nick Lidstrom was substantially better in the surrounding years
Did anyone include Goulet, Hossa, Recchi, Robitaille or Shanahan?
I was a HUGE fan of Hossa in his young Ottawa and dominant Atlanta days (bloody robbed of at least a Hart trophy finalist nomination the year he was the franchise's only ever 100 point scorer, yet just as dominant when checking, 21+ minutes per night). I watched EVERY Thrashers game because of him but hockey writers had bigger markets to pay attention to.I examined Hossa's case, as I believe he has a viable case as one of the top dozen or so cap-era players, but he came up short.
Maybe not a cinderella, but they weren't anything special...they didn't hold a candle to Buffalo certainly...it's just that Buffalo lost like their top 5 d-men to injury or whatever...even against NJ, they're scoring overtime winners by bouncing pucks off the ice and then they bounce top shelf under the bar on Brodeur...some slug, maybe Niclas Wallin is scoring on a breakaway...Roloson gets a flat in the first game of the Final and Conklin comes in and promptly loses the game...and they get a rookie goalie to come in, who was playing with his skates tied together during the regular year, to win the Conn Smythe (that I would have given to Rod the Bod, personally)...I mean, that run was certainly...interesting...
I was a HUGE fan of Hossa in his young Ottawa and dominant Atlanta days (bloody robbed of at least a Hart trophy finalist nomination the year he was the franchise's only ever 100 point scorer, yet just as dominant when checking, 21+ minutes per night). I watched EVERY Thrashers game because of him but hockey writers had bigger markets to pay attention to.
Then he went to Pittsburgh and led the Pens in shots, goals and hustle to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Wings. Detroit smartly picked him up and Hossa got his ONLY EVER all star team selection (a 2nd team nod) in Detroit, as the 8th Red Wing in ice time, covered by hockey writers because he played with Datsyuk and Zetterberg on the defending Stanley Cup champions. Go figure.
Then, in his 30's, he goes and wins three Stanley Cups in Chicago, scoring no less than 15 playoff points each time, playing tight and causing turnovers but less flashy less havoc than in his twenties. People don't realize how physically strong he was in his youth. He had the strength on skates of a Forsberg, absorbing hits eagerly.
As a huge fan of his from day one, I believe he peaked in Atlanta but awards, trophies, and some numbers appear to suggest otherwise.
I think Hossa was CLEARLY better than Recchi (I've played golf with Mark and he'll forgive me the statement). Hossa should be inducted into the hall, given others who are there. But even this huge fan of his cannot justify including him over a Delvecchio or Keon.
Oh god, right.Vancouver had this same problem around c. 2006–2012 when almost all of their D-men would get simultaneously injured on a seasonal basis.
The thing about Recchi for me, He played a loooong time, but like the last decade of his career really doesn't add anything to his case from an all-time great perspective. He was a pretty ordinary player from about 2001 and on. And the first decade of his career, while impressive, is not really much to go on compared to the best ever.Recchi is as much of a 'nomad' as Coffey was: from oasis to oasis.
Perhaps if 5 of your D-men gets injured at the same time there's something wrong with them, or with the team strategy/medical staff/whatever.
The 05-06 Hurricanes had the 2nd best record in the East. Scored the 3rd most goals in the NHL. They were not a Cinderella team.
You know- I thought about this- and recognized that we ALL could have stories about the players that we strongly considered, but agonized over leaving out. I eventually reasoned that it would be more interesting to discuss the players that we valued more as we scrutinized them further. After all, we are (in our own internet-warrior way) trying to confer honor to these players, so let me start by honoring these players who migrated up my list-Different topic...
Which players were you cheering for to make your list, but you ended up cutting (or not considering) anyways.
Ray Bourque- nearly cracked my top-10. Thought he'd be at least half-a-dozen places lower when I began.
Slava Fetisov- I was high on him to begin with. I'm higher on him now. Top 2-dozen material, for me.
Newsy Lalonde- wouldn't have guessed that he'd land in my upper-third. But there he is...
Jarome Iginla- perhaps the one single player I most brutally underrated at the outset. I fixed it, though.
Vladimir Martinec- how much did he mean to those Czechoslovak teams that rivalled mighty Russia?
Sid Abel- I snarkily placed him in the "albedo-guy" enclosure earlier. I should do some penance for that one.
His name has been discussed before, and as I recall Frank McGee will be on more than a couple of lists. I don't know if I can say the same for Babe Dye or possibly the third best Conacher.