For me, the serious answer is Ray Whitney and Brindy as stars- Jeff Skinner too, at least in last year's incarnation. I'm willing to forgive this year if it was truly just teamwide disgust with Peters. Slavin on the defensive side. Erik Cole was always damn fun to watch, and he went to my alma mater, so gotta list him here.
In the non-stars category,
Gerbe (as a short guy myself, I'm always a fan of the little guys), Samsonov, Walker, and yes, LaRose. Glen Wesley as well, though I really should probably put him in the stars category. He was always a quiet guy on the ice who magically made pucks disappear from the sticks of the game's biggest stars. Have no idea where you'd find the stat now, but on one broadcast back in his last year or two, Tripp dug up a stat that showed Glen Wesley being the single most effective defensemen when playing against Crosby and Ovechkin in the entire National Hockey League. When he was just shy of 40 and they were both entering their prime. Quiet and unbelievably efficient, and almost certainly the reason we've been so good at finding guys like Pesce and Slavin late in the draft, and developing them well. Glen Wesley helped us draft Glen Wesley clones.
And then there's Cam Ward. Yeah, he's had a lot of ups and downs. When he's on, he's the best, most showstopping goalie in the league, and it's really fun to watch. And it won us a cup. And whether he's up or down, he's still a model person, and carries himself with humor and humility. No matter how bad he gets when he's playing badly, I can't help but root for the guy.
I never really got to watch much of teams before the 2006 regular season, though I did see a few games before that before I really followed any of it (including one back in 97), so no slight is intended to the players from that era.
So that's my favorite... uh, 11 Canes. 1, 11, basically the same thing, right?
