Which players benefited most from the era they played in?

[tinyzombies]

Joe Malone. Guys played the entire game back then.

 

[billybudd]

There was a point in time where Fox was marketing Derian Hatcher as the best US player, but I firmly believe he wouldn't be much different from Eric Gudbranson if you put him in 2017 (I realize Hatcher has his fans).

Scott Stevens for sure. He'd be run out of the league today.

This, I don't agree with. People forget that Scott Stevens had some real strong offensive and puck moving skills before Lou turned him into Mr Defense.

Apart from fighting way too much early in his career, it's not like he was a loose cannon for 20 years. He's got some brutal hits on his resume (and the Kariya hit was completely illegal), but he was never Ryan Hollweg or Zac Rinaldo, running around all game like an out of control idiot. A lot of his famous violence was entirely calculated (and usually in the context of a close playoff series). Change the tolerance and you change the calculation.

And even those morons (Rinaldo, Hollweg) took what seemed like an eternity to wash out of the modern game, despite the fact that they couldn't, you know, play. Stevens could really play. Guys who can play tend to hang around for quite a while, no matter how dirty they are (see: Cooke, Matt).

 

[GlitchMarner]

Things such as Messier and Howe benefitted from a lot less camera angles, especially Howe. Clarke benefitted from being able to do some really cheap plays.

Haha... I think you meant "guys" and not things, BP.


You're definitely right about Clarke...

There's no way the whole "Broad Street Bully" thing would be a thing today.

 

[crobro]

French Canadian NHLers who were not allowed to fight overseas during ww2 think Maurice Rocket Richard

NHL was very diluted between 1939-1945

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Mike Rathje and all the other gigantic, immobile 1990's defencemen.

 

[Neutrinos]

Gretzky was the first name that came to mind

 

[GlitchMarner]

Gretzky was the first name that came to mind

I think a prime Gretzky would do well today. The gap between elite and non-elite first liners is getting smaller and he would dominate the scoring race just as much as he did if he could manage to score at the same rate in relation to League scoring that he did.

The game now is very system-oriented and not really all that physical. His mind was his greatest tool. I don't think it would be negated much if it all.