Who is the greatest stickhandler of all time?

[TopShelfYzerman]

Lemieux gets docked because he had all the physical tools, but smoked before games and was lackadaisacal with work outs. Players with inferior work ethics regardless of sport will be hard pressed to become top in all time ranks.

 

[psycat]

Mr Magic Man for me. Will always remember this

Magic Man is Kent Nilsson.

 

[Eisen]

I sound biased? Kovalev is probably the best forward Ive seen dress up for my team, lmao.

Kovy is #2 for me, but Lemieux could do way more than Datsyuk and Kovy on size alone. He had the wing span of a 747 with the precision of datsyuk.

He also did that with the heaviest Koho sticks.

Reach, while undoubtedly an advantage, is not stickhandling to me.

 

[Mbraunm]

Kovalev’s laziness was only matched by his unbelievable talent:




Some unreal skill

 

[silkyjohnson50]

Go to 2:33 of this video. Most people see the highlights of his scoring plays, but his escapability all over the ice like in that sequence is something we got to see on a nightly basis in Detroit that you typically don’t otherwise see unless you watched the game.

 

[TopShelfYzerman]

Watch super closely at 0:14 or you'll miss it. Then watch the attacker after the fake, how out of position he is giving Datsyuk time and space.

Slo-mo at 0:20

 

[PavelBrendl]

Kovalev's stickwork was ridiculous. Especially for a guy that tipped the scales at 220+ lbs. One of the most naturally talented players of all time.

 

[tomi2]

You've missed the Dipsy Doodle Dandy from Delisle. Very restricted list. Hockey started before 1980.

Problem with Max Bentley is that very few have seen him play ever. And there's no youtube clips etc, though I still think Max should have been at least a candidate in this poll.

 

[CanadienShark]

Voted Kovalev, but Datsyuk is a perfectly good answer too. I am torn.

 

[Seanaconda]

Kovalev's stickwork was ridiculous. Especially for a guy that tipped the scales at 220+ lbs. One of the most naturally talented players of all time.

Also dirty like when he would passed it into that guys feet so he could headshot him. Also a bit lazy

 

[Seanaconda]

Lemieux gets docked because he had all the physical tools, but smoked before games and was lackadaisacal with work outs. Players with inferior work ethics regardless of sport will be hard pressed to become top in all time ranks.

He is ranked as a top 3 player all time , some people rank him first over Gretzky and then some people move him to forth because they love howe. So I doubt his smoking is what changes their rankings for stick handling. It's because it looked a bit sloppy because even though it was effective he mostly used his reach vs fancy handling

 

[TopShelfYzerman]

He is ranked as a top 3 player all time , some people rank him first over Gretzky and then some people move him to forth because they love howe. So I doubt his smoking is what changes their rankings for stick handling. It's because it looked a bit sloppy because even though it was effective he mostly used his reach vs fancy handling

Most historians and experts have Lemieux comfortably 4th on all time lists and im not talking ESPN or some random bloggers.

 

[Iapyi]

Problem with Max Bentley is that very few have seen him play ever. And there's no youtube clips etc, though I still think Max should have been at least a candidate in this poll.

Most certainly. Something that we do know, especially in today's world, is the subjectivity of word-of-mouth analyses. I suspect it was the same then but something tells me that it was easier to have a consensus in those days compared to today.