Which starting lineup at their peak?

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Team B because Gretzky

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

If we take Team B and re-configure it to read-

Messier- Gretzky- Ovechkin
Coffey- Robinson

You'll have the one team where everyone is slotted into a position that they actually played at least of season's worth of professional play.

LW Messier>LW Sakic/LW Crosby
Gretzky~Lemieux, who are both in turn>McDavid
RW Ovechkin not much worse than RW Jagr, who are both in turn>Bure

I've said that Orr+(don't botch laterality) will always be one of the great defensive pairings of all-time. Unfortunately, we do just that (botch laterality) with Pronger. Two RDs.

Now that I look at it a bit more, Team A could be improved by...

LW Lemieux- C Sakic- RW Jagr [LW Lemieux C Ron Francis was a brief thing for Pittsburgh]...
but you still have Pronger in the role of square-peg.

Another passing thought is that Lemieux-Jagr bring some real-life chemistry (instant experience with and awareness of each other's play), but then, so does Gretzky-Messier-Coffey.

 

[Xspyrit]

Every quintet deserves to be voted, some of the greatest players of all-time

But I think C is not getting any justice by the poll results, because of overall achievement I guess and maybe even "name recognition"

Crosby is one of the best players of all time, this guy make others around him better like you rarely see. Same could be said for every player here but Crosby overall impact is one of the greatest I have seen. McDavid is another generational talent, his speed/skill/IQ combo, playing with Crosby and the Russian Rocket at his PEAK? That line would be insane. I'd have Crosby at Center though.

Lidstrom is the 2nd best D-man of all time IMO. One of the elite You just win with a player like that. Karlsson at his peak is almost an unknown. He won the Norris in 2011-12 but that wasn't even his peak. I think his peak was the 17 games he played in 2012-13 before Matt Cooke. It was absolutely insane the way he was taking over games, the way he was getting as good defensively as he was offensively. lol he only played 17 games but received Norris votes. Sure, he won another Norris after that and that incredible 2017 playoffs run etc, but he was never the same player after Matt Cooke. His peak is very unknown in general. That pairing IMO would be incredibly efficent both ways.

There's also a major thing to take in consideration : some players looked like monsters in the past because of the level of competition, overall league talent and athlecism. For example, it's a LOT harder to score on a NHL goalie than it was before. Orr was just too much ahead of others in his era, sure he'd have been great in every era but to me, "era adjusting" is important.

But totally understand why A is winning. Lemieux-Jagr and Pronger-Orr are scary duos.

If the question was "best stats" or "most achievements" then my answer would be different but I'm taking (adding Hasek as a bonus)

McDavid-Crosby-Bure
Lidstrom-Karlsson
Hasek