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-AJ-

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Everything posted by -AJ-

  1. I'd only be okay with #11 if they got the Maki's approval.
  2. A shame that injuries caused him to retire so early at just 31 years old. I remember being pumped when we signed him as our backup, as he had performed so well in Buffalo the year prior as their backup, despite playing on a poor team. 0.923 save percentage in 26 games (2016-17) with the Sabres is impressive. He couldn't really make it work in Vancouver, but he did have some good stretches for a bit.
  3. Nurse had three 2nd place votes, three 3rd place votes, ten 4th place votes, and ten 5th place votes. Voters only vote for 1st through 5th, so a 7th place vote isn't possible. He fished with 76 points, just ahead of Weegar and below Theodore. Nurse has a complete game that consists of more than just putting up points. He had more takeaways than many other defensemen and he also had strong shot blocking numbers--not something you'd expect from a solely offensive defenseman. I personally have doubts that he's this good for the future years and I wouldn't have given him the contract he got, but I do believe he's being underrated by many fans, especially Canuck fans, who have good reason to dislike him due to his whining and diving antics.
  4. I'll change it for now unless other news comes up.
  5. Lots of good options, but I went with Brashear. I could see a good case for Odjick, Laraque, Probert, Williams, and Schultz too.
  6. It's a risk based on one good year. If he's perennially a top 10 D in the NHL, he might be worth it, but I'm not convinced he'll always be that good.
  7. Nurse finished 7th in Norris voting last year. Hughes didn't receive a single vote. He's a level above Hughes as of right now.
  8. Question is if Nurse can keep it up. He was incredible this year and if he can keep playing like he did this year, he deserves that contract.
  9. Really hard not to take the Espositos. Star goalie and legendary forward. The Stastny combo is tempting because it's three players, but then, we did see that for a time and though they were good, they never won a Cup or anything.
  10. Thank YOU for making these threads! I love an opportunity to research and learn more about players and ranking them is a fun challenge for me. It makes me glad that others enjoy what I write as well.
  11. I went into this expecting I would have an easy choice of Sawchuk, but when I went to the stats to find evidence to support my position, it was surprisingly difficult. Sawchuk is undoubtedly the greatest overall of these guys, but longevity plays a part in that and it doesn't play a part in this question. In the end, I still went with Sawchuk, but it was far closer than I expected. Ranking these guys would be insanely hard, but I'll go for a rough ranking: 1. Terry Sawchuk There are no save percentage records during Sawchuk's prime, but I wouldn't be surprised if he led the league several times. He won what was the effective modern-day Vezina trophy of the 50s with three 1st Team All-Star placements in a row from 1951 to 1953. I would guess his best year to be 1951-52 when Detroit dominated the league with 100 points and Sawchuk had 44 wins, which tied the record he had set the year prior. Sawchuk had a 1.90 GAA, placed in All-Star Team voting, and finished 4th in Hart voting. Much later, in 1962-63, Sawchuk finished 3rd in Hart voting and 2nd in All-Star Team voting on a much weaker Red Wings team. His save percentage of .912 tied him for third in the NHL. 2. Jacques Plante I'll be honest, I've always felt that Plante has been overrated, but a deeper look into the numbers and stats gave me a renewed respect for him. He truly rivals Sawchuk and his prime was just barely late enough to have records of save percentages, and some of them are pretty incredible. Plante had an incredible .950 save percentage in the 1960 playoffs as Montreal won its 5th consecutive Cup. He also had a .930 save percentage in 1955-56, playing the vast majority of the games at 64 games, winning the Vezina and placing 1st in All-Star Team voting. 3. Bernie Parent I've always felt that Parent has been underrated and that comes out even more when considering his prime. Parent had two unbelievable years in 1973-74 and 1974-75. Parent was on the 1st All-Star Team and won the Vezina and Conn Smythe in both seasons. In 1973-74, he had an incredible .932 save percentage in the regular season and a .933 save percentage in the playoffs. During Philadelphia's first playoff series in the 1968 playoffs, Parent had an incredible .963 save percentage in 5 games. 4. Glenn Hall Hall's best two regular seasons were in 1956-57 (.928 save percentage, leading the NHL) and 1962-63 (.918, leading the NHL). Hall regularly finished with Hart votes, as voters felt he was the biggest part of Chicago's success. In Chicago's 1961 Cup win, Hall led the way with a sparkling .937 save percentage. Hall also finished 1st in All-Star team voting a staggering eight times, far more than anyone else on this list. 5. Johnny Bower After looking more at Bower's history, I've realized that not only have I underrated him, but I think the NHL often underrated him, even during his prime. He led the NHL in save percentage six times, peaking at .932 in 1963-64. Despite this, Bower didn't get any All-Star Team consideration, though he did finish 7th in Hart voting. Bower was also incredible in all three of the Maple Leafs Cup wins in the early 60s and probably should've won at least one Conn Smythe in those three years. In 1962-63 particularly, he had a mind-blowing .949 save percentage over 10 games. It's probably even more incredible considering that he was 38 years old during those playoffs. 6. George Hainsworth One of many great goaltenders in the pre-Original Six era, Hainsworth was the mainstay in net after Vezina's unfortunate death in the mid 1920s. Stats and accolades are hard to come by from the late 20s and 30s, but during his first few years, Hainsworth was considered by most the be the best goaltender in the league, winning the Vezina the first three years it was awarded. 7. Georges Vezina The namesake of the famous trophy, Vezina's best years were possibly prior to the NHL, as he was already over 30 when the NHA became the NHL. Still, Vezina was great in 1917-18 and also had a resurgence in his later years, twice leading the NHL in GAA in his late 30s. 8. Harry Lumley Lumley wasn't always great, but he had a few incredible years worth noting. Almost certainly his best regular season was in 1954-55, when he finished 2nd in Hart voting along with a 1st All-Star Team nod. In the following year, he was a huge part in giving Toronto any sort of a chance in the 1st round of the 1956 playoffs against the Canadiens; he sported a .926 save percentage despite the Leafs losing the series in 5 games. 9. Roberto Luongo This honestly came down heavily to Luongo's 2006-07 season. Not only did he finish 2nd in Vezina voting and All-Star Team voting, but he also finished 2nd in Hart voting, which was of huge importance to me. He also had an astounding .941 save percentage in 12 games that year during the 2007 playoffs. 10. Turk Broda Broda finished 1st in All-Star Team voting twice and also won the Vezina both years. He also finished 4th in Hart voting in 1946-47 and was an integral part of the Maple Leafs for 14 years. 11. Gump Worsley Worsley won the Vezina and a 1st Team All-Star victory in 1967-68, but wasn't the sole netminder and traded starts with Rogie Vachon. I'd say Worsley's prime was earlier in 1965-66, when he bore more of the load of games and also won the Vezina. He also finished 3rd in Hart voting early in his career in 1955-56 with the mediocre New York Rangers. Worsley was a playoff legend late in his career as well, four times having a .930 save percentage or higher (4+ games). 12. Ed Giacomin Giacomin has never been super well known to me, but it was nice to learn more about him here. Giacomin had a streak of 5 years in the late 60s where he was one of the best netminders in the league and in particular, in 1966-67, finished with a .917 save percentage, a 1st All-Star Team win, and 2nd place in Hart trophy voting. Giacomin was solid in the playoffs, but couldn't replicate his regular season success. Oops, I wrote an entire article.
  12. Where's Pearson?
  13. He'll do well IMO. If he's able to control his emotions, he's a level-headed good analytical guy I think.
  14. IMO, Dickinson doesn't have the offense to be on the 2nd line. I can see experimentation with Miller as a the 3rd line C, but I don't think it makes enough sense to stick with.
  15. I think this discussion would be a similar one about the effectiveness of Tortorella's coaching style, or even Keenan for older folks. Keenan won a Cup in 1994 and Torts won in 2004, but both coaches had very high highs and low lows, which I think comes with this type of leadership style. If Colorado ever starts to falter, you can bet your bottom dollar that several of MacKinnon's teammates will flip the switch and stop respecting him.
  16. I truly understand the hypercompetitive feelings, but I'm not sold on the yelling and screaming leadership style, at least not in most scenarios, though there may be select situations in which it makes sense. Other posters are right in that he gets a pass by many because he's one of the best in the game, especially in the playoffs. I'll admit it does make me like him less.
  17. I think the same, honestly. As you say, he wasn't great defensively, but certainly not abhorrent and he looked to be a reliable 20-goal, 40-point middle six guy when it seems like the team inexplicably locked him in the AHL. I'm eager to see if he still has the drive to prove himself in Vegas. He's almost 29 years old now, so he might be reaching the end of what could've been his prime years.
  18. I liked, nay, loved year 1 Roussel, but he really fell off in a huge way after that and took a lot more bad penalties than he drew. Maybe if he gets some game back, for league minimum or something he might be a decent 13th forward or something.
  19. Wasn't as good here as I hoped, to be honest. Hope he does well in Arizona.
  20. I like this poll because it really shows the difference between voting for guys in their primes and guys overall. If we're talking greatest careers overall, I pick Kane, but for greatest in their prime, the discussion changes. If you take all players with 300+ games from 1992-2000, Lindros (486 games) is 2nd in points-per-game behind only Jagr, who dominated the era. 1. Jagr - 1.45 2. Lindros - 1.36 3. Selanne - 1.29 4. Sakic - 1.25 5. Forsberg - 1.25 To see Lindros comfortably ahead of players like Selanne, Sakic, and Forsberg makes it clear how good he was. Taking Kane's best period of time of a similar length (8 seasons), which is 2013-2021, Kane ranks 3rd: 1. McDavid - 1.41 2. Crosby - 1.16 3. Kane - 1.14 4. Malkin - 1.13 5. Panarin - 1.09 Kane's advantage is his Conn Smythe win in 2013, which is definitely significant. Both players had similar best seasons. In 2015-16, Kane won the Hart, Lindsay, and the Art Ross. In 1994-95, Lindros lost the Art Ross to Jagr despite tying him with 70 points because Jagr scored more goals. Despite this, Lindros still won the Hart and the Pearson (now the Lindsay). In think the real difference maker is that during that 8 season stretch I laid out earlier where Lindros was 2nd in points-per-game, he still wasn't healthy. He played in only 77.6% of possible games and was regularly injured, which had to have affected his play. During the rare times where Lindros was healthy, he was really on another level.
  21. Prime? Lindros no question. Probably would've had 1500+ points in a career had injuries not hit him. Kane is probably 2nd and beyond that, it gets pretty tight I think between the final three.
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