Your top 10 playoff performers of all-time

[Evincar]

Either I didn't see this thread or ahve forgotten it but Foppa was every bit, if not more important, as Sakic and man was he consistent.

It's pretty easy to drop Anderson for him.

I think there is also room for Feds/Potvin/Lidstrom over Mario who was great but it's only 107 GP.

I would go Feds off the top of my head, very consistent just like Foppa was.

a different list of 10 at each of F/D/G would be very interesting.

Anderson shouldnt be on any top 10 list.

 

[Hardyvan123]

Here's how they compare in terms of elimination games plus Game 6's:
Joe Sakic 28 13 13 26
Peter Forsberg 21 6 8 14

Sure Joe was more clutch but Foppa blows Joe out of the water in playoff plus/minus during their time together on the Avs.

I have posted elsewhere why I would take Foppa over Joe for all time playoff performers but both are in my top 10.

 

[King Forsberg]

I'm really surprised the lack of mentions for Guy Lafluer. He doesn't have the best longevity but his playoff prime is pretty hard to knock.

 

[Hardyvan123]

Anderson shouldnt be on any top 10 list.

I agree as he never was a top 4 or maybe even top 5 guy on any of those SC teams.

His resume has the fortune of riding the high scoring coattails of Wayne and company.

 

[Hardyvan123]

I'm really surprised the lack of mentions for Guy Lafluer. He doesn't have the best longevity but his playoff prime is pretty hard to knock.

Outside of his prime his resume is quite lousy actually, especially compared to the top 10 guys who were for the most part excellent to studly year in year out.

 

[Hardyvan123]

Not a single euro has been mentioned

Ill mention Kurri, Tikkanen and Forsberg to the hottest candidates, Tikkanen being a bit of an outsider on a list like this maybe but I still think that he was one of the best playoff performers even in his older years. Then we have Fedorov...

Surprised that no one has mentioned Bobby Hull or Paul Coffey...

Toe Blake?

Underrated playoff performer would be Thomas Gradin, never had a bad playoff but sadly played for the Canucks most of his career in the 80s..

Probably my favorite Canuck of all time along with Smyl, those guys were all class.

 

[Hardyvan123]

The problem here, and I've said this before, is that the European players that might be fighting for a top-10 spot played in the same generation as Gretzky, Roy, Messier, and Lemieux, so if we try to shoehorn Kurri or Forsberg onto the top-10 list, we're saying that the 25-year period from the WHA merger to the 2005 lockout contains half of the best playoff performers of all-time. For that reason, I think it's a little unfair to the rest of history to include one of the top Europeans like Kurri and Forsberg or one of the top North Americans of the era like Sakic.

I mean, I get that the introduction of four-rounds gives us a bigger sample size, but that's not really fair to everybody who played before it.

The counterpoint is that dynasties were easier in a 6 team league so we have to balance things somehow here.

Also, ironically, anyone pre 1950 seems to be an oversight here, I think different eras present both positives and negatives for building an impressive playoff resume.

some more so than others.

 

[thom]

Guy Lafleur led or tied in scoring 3 times and had 14gw goals in a short period of time.He also had 94gw goals in regular season in which no canadien is even close.The slashing he had to endure is legendary.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

I'm surprised to see so many people picking Mario Lemieux over Jean Beliveau if we are strictly talking playoff performers. Lemieux's 1991 and 1992 back to back Smythes were amazing, of course, perhaps the best back to back playoff performances of all-time. But other than those two years, his playoff record really isn't that good for a player of his calibre.

Compare to Jean Beliveau, who was not only the leading playoff scorer of the 1960s Canadiens dynasty, but was also the second leading playoff scorer of the 1950s Canadiens dynasty.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I'm surprised to see so many people picking Mario Lemieux over Jean Beliveau if we are strictly talking playoff performers. Lemieux's 1991 and 1992 back to back Smythes were amazing, of course, perhaps the best back to back playoff performances of all-time. But other than those two years, his playoff record really isn't that good for a player of his calibre.

Compare to Jean Beliveau, who was not only the leading playoff scorer of the 1960s Canadiens dynasty, but was also the second leading playoff scorer of the 1950s Canadiens dynasty.

agreed. beliveau is a pretty clear #4 for me.

i'd love to hear arguments for orr vs. mario though. orr, i only know the legend, which i hold in extremely high regard. mario i saw, and other than the two ridiculously magnificent runs, let's just say he reminded me of lebron in elimination games in '93 and '96. '89 seems to be the same way, but i didn't see it. '01, well he was an old man by then so i cut him some slack.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Anderson shouldnt be on any top 10 list.

I agree as he never was a top 4 or maybe even top 5 guy on any of those SC teams.

His resume has the fortune of riding the high scoring coattails of Wayne and company.

I'm not sure he qualifies as top 10 either but Anderson was a hell of a playoff performer.

He had a whole other gear for the playoffs.

 

[Hardyvan123]

I'm surprised to see so many people picking Mario Lemieux over Jean Beliveau if we are strictly talking playoff performers. Lemieux's 1991 and 1992 back to back Smythes were amazing, of course, perhaps the best back to back playoff performances of all-time. But other than those two years, his playoff record really isn't that good for a player of his calibre.

Compare to Jean Beliveau, who was not only the leading playoff scorer of the 1960s Canadiens dynasty, but was also the second leading playoff scorer of the 1950s Canadiens dynasty.

That's why Mario would probably drop out of my top 10, his peak 2 years is awesome but take them away and he is 69-44-52-96 and an even zero on the plus/minus scale.

There are simply too many players with double the GP and close to the same, or better, impact/game as Mario IMO.

Same with Guy.

 

[JaymzB]

Another guy who should get consideration is Geoffrion. Leading scorer of the 50’s dynasty, and had 8 straight double digit point playoffs.

 

[Hardyvan123]

Another guy who should get consideration is Geoffrion. Leading scorer of the 50’s dynasty, and had 8 straight double digit point playoffs.

Yes but after that, and the age of 29 onwards his playoff line is 25-5-5-10.

Kind of like Guy, great peak/prime but others have more consistency and staying power for the top 10.

It also doesn't help his cause that other Habs from that dynasty aged better in their playoff resumes.

 

[quoipourquoi]

That's why Mario would probably drop out of my top 10, his peak 2 years is awesome but take them away and he is 69-44-52-96 and an even zero on the plus/minus scale.

So that's .64 goals-per-game and 1.39 points-per-game without his two Conn Smythes? So who is his company? Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky? There's not much of a reason to exclude Mario Lemieux from a top-10. Behind Beliveau, maybe, but he's still Mario Lemieux.

 

[skillhockey]

Rank them from #1-10.

Gretzky
Roy
Richard
Sakic
Beliveau
Messier
Bossy
Howe
Lemieux
Anderson

HM hated keeping him out of the top 10: Lafleur, Yzerman


Drop the gloves fellas, let the good times roll

Disgrace that Forsberg is not in that list, look his numbers or play.

 

[irunthepeg]

As someone who wasn't even alive during Gretzky's peak years, what was his play like during the playoffs? Did he adjust himself to a different style in the post-season or was what he did so much better than everyone even if they tried to stack the lines against him that he simply just kept playing his game?

 

[Hardyvan123]

So that's .64 goals-per-game and 1.39 points-per-game without his two Conn Smythes? So who is his company? Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky? There's not much of a reason to exclude Mario Lemieux from a top-10. Behind Beliveau, maybe, but he's still Mario Lemieux.

Yes the scoring looks great, before we place it into context of Mario and his line mates/teammates in those years.

Also the fact that offense is all he brought, not a well rounded game to win in, which became more the norm in the 90's especially.

I'll take Feds, Foppa, Yzerman, Potvins, heck even Scott Stevens, playoff resumes over Marios, staying power counts for something.

 

[Evincar]

I'm not sure he qualifies as top 10 either but Anderson was a hell of a playoff performer.

He had a whole other gear for the playoffs.

He was good but very overrated. I dont see how anyone can rank Anderson over guys like Orr, Lafleur, Coffey, Kurri, Potvin, Trottier, Bourque, Stevens, Lidstrom, Pronger, Fedorov, Forsberg, and Gilmour.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Yes the scoring looks great, before we place it into context of Mario and his line mates/teammates in those years.

Also the fact that offense is all he brought, not a well rounded game to win in, which became more the norm in the 90's especially.

I'll take Feds, Foppa, Yzerman, Potvins, heck even Scott Stevens, playoff resumes over Marios, staying power counts for something.

And again, just like Gretzky.

How can you have them so far apart?

 

[tombombadil]

Disgrace that Forsberg is not in that list, look his numbers or play.

I'm biased, Forsberg's the guy that got me back into hockey... but, ya - taking era into account, his play, and his numbers, are unarguably top 10. Just a warrior.

 

[shazariahl]

And again, just like Gretzky.

How can you have them so far apart?

How do you figure that? At least to me, Gretzky was much stronger in the post season than Lemieux. Aside from winning twice as many cups, he also took his team to two other finals appearances (so 3x as many cup runs in total). He had some very strong runs later in his career after his prime years were gone, he had some good runs early before his team became strong as well (particularly against the Habs in their 3-0 sweep). His defence wasn't that bad either, IMO. Not saying he was Selke quality, but he wasn't as bad as many make him out to be.

And, unlike Lemieux, Gretzky has all the records to back this up. You can make the argument he had a better team for longer, but he also accomplished more with it. And when he got traded, he still had some pretty decent success, considering he was in the 2nd decade of his career. Many players are just passengers on their cup runs at that stage, not scoring 40 points in the playoffs more than a dozen years into their careers.

 

[Hardyvan123]

And again, just like Gretzky.

How can you have them so far apart?

Well for starters Wayne didn't need a boatload of players dropped into Edmonton to win a SC.

Wayne was also much more consistent and had more individual and team playoff success than Mario did. Maybe some of that is team related but both these guys were captains of their teams.

In a nutshell Wayne's desire to win, appears to me, to be greater than Mario's.

Maybe that's part of the legend of Wayne, maybe it's just my perception, or maybe it's reality, who is to say.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Well for starters Wayne didn't need a boatload of players dropped into Edmonton to win a SC.

He certainly needed them to develop:

1983
Gretzky: 12-26-38
Kurri: 8-15-23
Messier: 15-6-21
Anderson: 10-10-20

1984
Gretzky: 13-22-35
Kurri: 14-14-28
Messier: 8-18-26
Coffey: 8-14-22

1985
Gretzky: 17-30-47
Coffey: 12-25-37
Kurri: 19-12-31
Anderson: 10-16-26
Messier: 12-13-25

1987
Gretzky: 5-29-34
Messier: 12-16-28
Anderson: 14-13-27
Kurri: 15-10-25

1988
Gretzky: 12-31-43
Messier: 11-23-34
Kurri: 14-17-31
Tikkanen: 10-17-27
Anderson: 9-16-25


With the exception of Coffey, every one of those players had more 20-point playoffs on teams without Gretzky (Coffey topped out at 18 points in 18 games in 1995), and I'd say there's enough names up there to fill a boat. Gretzky had some help.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Well for starters Wayne didn't need a boatload of players dropped into Edmonton to win a SC.

Wayne was also much more consistent and had more individual and team playoff success than Mario did. Maybe some of that is team related but both these guys were captains of their teams.

In a nutshell Wayne's desire to win, appears to me, to be greater than Mario's.

Maybe that's part of the legend of Wayne, maybe it's just my perception, or maybe it's reality, who is to say.

Gretzky's team did win a Cup without him, so I guess those guys were pretty good.

Mario's teams couldn't do that.

And I would argue Mario was a bigger factor in his teams 2 Cup wins than Gretzky was for his teams. Those Edmonton teams were just blowing teams away.