bobholly39
Registered User
- Mar 10, 2013
- 22,026
- 14,509
Curious about people's thoughts here. Those two are easily the 2 forwards with the highest hockey IQ ever (...right?). Clearly in their careers, they were always all about offense. Even any actual defensive assignments (such as PK) they probably tried to turn into offense and score goals.
What if at some point in their prime/peak - they decided "screw offense - i'm going to be the best damn defensive player ever this year". How easy would the switch have been? Could they have become arguably the best defensive players ever?
I believe defense is largely tied to hockey iq - and is 'easier' than offense. So if you take the 2 most gifted players ever, and have them concentrate on defense first - you should see good results. Does that theory make sense, or am i completely out to lunch? And if you agree with the theory - do we just concede that "they could be pretty damn good at defense" or do we take it as far as to say, they could have been the best ever at it, similarly to how they were at offense?
Obviously - it's not always evident to excel at both aspects at the same time. If you concentrate more on defense - you probably sacrifice offense, and vise versa. So in the context of this discussion - forget offense. Assume their goal is strictly defensive excellence, no matter the cost to their offense.
What if at some point in their prime/peak - they decided "screw offense - i'm going to be the best damn defensive player ever this year". How easy would the switch have been? Could they have become arguably the best defensive players ever?
I believe defense is largely tied to hockey iq - and is 'easier' than offense. So if you take the 2 most gifted players ever, and have them concentrate on defense first - you should see good results. Does that theory make sense, or am i completely out to lunch? And if you agree with the theory - do we just concede that "they could be pretty damn good at defense" or do we take it as far as to say, they could have been the best ever at it, similarly to how they were at offense?
Obviously - it's not always evident to excel at both aspects at the same time. If you concentrate more on defense - you probably sacrifice offense, and vise versa. So in the context of this discussion - forget offense. Assume their goal is strictly defensive excellence, no matter the cost to their offense.