Hockey God

I don't know, can't go past Sawchuk. I would strongly recommend any book written about him, but the best one I ever read was The Legend of Terry Sawchuk. Opens your eyes to what the guy went through, the demons he faced, in the Original Six era. The guy was a train wreck of a human being at times, but somehow pulled it together on the ice. No star goalie, as far as I know, ever dealt with depression, alcoholism, spousal abuse (on his part), gambling addictions, philandering ... you name it, he had it or did it, and he still performed. Not an all-time best human by any stretch, but the best goalie for what he endured and did on the ice, by far.

Love these discussion about greatest at positions, or players ranked against each other all time. This one is tough, a lot of contenders for different reasons. The record books and the teams they played behind say it should be either Roy or Hasek for what they achieved (Brodeur benefitted from his era and Stevens and Niedermeyer too much to be #1, but his trophy hardware is compelling), but if you take into account the whole package, of how off ice affected/could have affected on ice performance, in my mind no one is better than Terry Sawchuk. For what the man went through and played through, to have won and played at such as high level throughout his career, no one at his position can compare to that. Greatest clutch goalie, though, could very well be Grant Fuhr. The Oilers of the 80s were all flash and dash, with no defensive awareness to speak of, and Fuhr made that whole show work because he was always there when needed (could be beaten by routine shots when not focused, but when he was ON, only his own player could beat him, which cost the Oilers a chance at 5 cups in a row). Take into account that he was coked up most of the time by his own admission, and that makes what he was able to do even more impressive.

The best player in a game is someone who the game has to adjust to, or be changed because of. Gretzky, Orr and a few others in hockey history have that distinction, but it's so hard to compare injuries, the effects of expansion, goalie equipment, etc we can only really have a Mount Rushmore of hockey greats, which in my opinion consists of Gretzky Lemieux, Orr and, in my own opinion, one of Rocket Richard/Gordie Howe/Bobby Hull (for very different reasons). However, I rate Gretzky higher than Lemieux, for one reason more than any other: his understanding of the game. Lemieux needed Canada Cup 1987 to learn what it would take to become a true leader and superstar. He had the tools, but he didn't understand how to be more than a scorer at that time. But, Gretzky never had that problem. Yes, he let his scoring do his talking for him at times, but he was very vocal as well. There were a lot of hockey games I watched early to mid 80s with the Oilers, and when they panned over to the Oiler bench, most of the time, if Gretzky was taking a break, you saw his glove indicating something to a teammate, him showing what could have or should have happened, or teammates leaning in to listen to him as he said something. No vacant stares, no chewing on the mouthpiece, just another free coach sitting on the bench with everyone else sitting under the learning tree. Saw the same thing n '87, and saw Mario's head nodding a lot on the bench listening to Gretzky. Could argue that Mario was more dominant in his prime years, but I don't think he would have gotten to that point without his time under the Gretzky learning tree.

Wasn't that only for the compliance buyouts of the past? Wouldn't stop them from trying it in a year's time, then. Plug in a returning Schenn for a year, bring back OEL after that if he heals up and shows he can still go, and boom, big brain move! Just trying to make sense of this ...

This management group would blow my mind if they now sign OEL as a free agent for veteran league minimum salary, whatever that is. Moneyball, hockey-style.

Money spent on declining, overhyped and overpriced players, or ... Free agent signings of declining, overhyped and overpriced players ... hmm ...

Nice to know he's living his best life!

I'm looking at that 3rd picture of Sutter, and thinking, "When did Bill Murray start coaching in the NHL?!"

Goldy is free? Well then ...

Craptastic

I don't know ... might have made more sense to keep the pick until the draft, see what was available, and then either choose or make this trade. I think Stevie Y made a good trade, might see something in the draft he covets.

Fully agree with points about him as a GM, but I tend to discount those player numbers a lot. Played in an era where the Zamboni guy could have put up .4 or .5 per game if he played on the right team.

He was a better player than a GM, and that's not saying much ...

Well, what do you know? Another underwhelming move by our resident mental midgets. Not surprised by the poor return in any way, as poor management = poor returns in player movement. Another half-decade of misery in store for the fanbase at the very least.