[DEBATE] Which PLAYER in their prime are you taking?

[The Arrogant Worms]

As one of the old folks here.....I started watching hockey in the mid 60's so I got to watch them all.

 

No one could change a game like Bobby Orr. He would toy with teams then skate thru them by himself and score.

 

He would also fight anyone.

 

If only his knees had not given out I wonder how much more he could have done.

 

So he is my pick although Wayne.... Mario or Gordie are all deserving.

[nuck-lifer]

1. Orr all the way, Totally controlled the game like no other.

2. 99

3. 66

4. 9

[Nave]

1. Gretzky

2. Mario Lemieux

3. Bobby Orr

4. Dominik Hasek

5. Martin Brodeur

6. Patrick Roy

7. Connor McDavid

8. Gordie Howe

[Dumb Nuck]

99

66

4

[grandmaster]

Has to be the Great One.

 

I would say Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux would have been up there but they both suffered health issues. I couldn’t imagine the records these two would have crushed if they played longer like Gretzky managed to do. 

 

Wayne Gretzky is in his own class, not just for his insane production and unbeatable records, but also for his longevity. No one can beat this guy. 

[King Heffy]

On 7/10/2021 at 2:59 PM, Patel Bure said:

Even though it was for a fleeting moment, prime Peter Forsberg is up there with Lemieux, Gretzky, Crosby in my opinion.    I think people often discount the greatness of prime Forsberg because he ran into so many injury problems.  Forsberg in his absolute prime however was absolutely insane.

So was Lindros if we're going down that path.

[Gurn]

On 7/10/2021 at 2:41 PM, Father Ryan said:

And that is EXACTLY how I feel about 99

Parents took me to a Canuck game at the old Pacific Coliseum against the Oilers.

We had seats 3 rows up at the Canuck blue line, for 2 periods.

I'm guessing Wayne heard us razzing his  goal sucking playing style quite often, to the point he started flipping pucks out of the rink at us.

He actually got me twice. " How do you get so many goals with shot like that, muffin"?

Good times.

 

 

[Patel Bure]

1 hour ago, King Heffy said:

So was Lindros if we're going down that path.

Yes very true.

[RUPERTKBD]

Not sure how many people here have seen all of these players in their prime, but I have and for me it's Orr.

 

If not for knee injuries, his numbers as a defenseman would be untouchable.....

[RUPERTKBD]

On 7/13/2021 at 12:34 AM, grandmaster said:

Has to be the Great One.

 

I would say Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux would have been up there but they both suffered health issues. I couldn’t imagine the records these two would have crushed if they played longer like Gretzky managed to do. 

 

Wayne Gretzky is in his own class, not just for his insane production and unbeatable records, but also for his longevity. No one can beat this guy. 

Except that the thread title clearly states "In their prime", so theoretically it shouldn't matter how long they played and makes the addition of McDavid legitimate...

 

BTW, EP, I think Maurice Richard belongs on this list, even though I put him around 5th or 6th....

[erkayloomeh]

4 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Not sure how many people here have seen all of these players in their prime, but I have and for me it's Orr.

 

If not for knee injuries, his numbers as a defenseman would be untouchable.....

I look at it this way. Take any of those players and Clone them making 5 and put them on the ice against 5 Orrs .  

Gretzky for example would never get the puck away from Orr and if he did Orr would flatten him. 

Orr, as far as I'm concerned is the most complete and dominant player to ever lace em up. 

[Elias Pettersson]

15 hours ago, King Heffy said:

So was Lindros if we're going down that path.

Prime Yzerman at 155 points is probably even better than Crosby, Forsberg and Lindros...

[Elias Pettersson]

9 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Except that the thread title clearly states "In their prime", so theoretically it shouldn't matter how long they played and makes the addition of McDavid legitimate...

 

BTW, EP, I think Maurice Richard belongs on this list, even though I put him around 5th or 6th....

I was going to add Ovechkin and Crosby to fill out the top 10 but didn't bother as the top 4 is so obvious.  I added McDavid as this year was as dominant a year for a player since the Lemieux and Gretzky years.  Even Gretzky himself when asked about McDavid this year said: "He's gone to another level".

 

Richard I did not consider.  I agree on your comments regarding Bobby Orr.  In my opinion there was Gretzky and Orr and then Lemieux was a small step below them.  And then Howe was #4.  In their PRIME I look at Gretzky winning 7 Art Ross trophies in a row and Orr winning 8 Norris trophies in a row.  The tie breaker for me was that Gretzky won 8 Hart trophies in a row and Orr won only 3 in a row.  Of course the knee injuries played into that, but when deciding who is the greatest player in their prime you do have to look at the stats and the Hart trophy signifies the best player in the game at that time.  Lemieux is a small step below because he was so dominant but his window was so short because of his health issues.  His 6 Art Ross trophy wins were scattered over a period of 10 years, but more importantly he won the Hart trophy only 3 times and those were also scattered over a 9 year period.  To me you can't pick Lemieux over Gretzky simply for that reason alone.  And "in your prime" has to be more than a couple of years combined.  If Lemieux had been totally healthy then I think he may have surpassed Gretzky and Orr, it is hard to say because it never happened.  But that is how I arrive at my top 3 greatest players in their prime.  For me it is Gretzky, then Orr, then Lemieux.

 

In arriving at the greatest player in their prime you have to put together a logical analysis to arrive at a conclusion and that is what I did.  Of course many people will not agree with me on my analysis so that is why we have this thread so we can debate this topic and others can share their thoughts and analyses.

[Elias Pettersson]

5 hours ago, erkayloomeh said:

I look at it this way. Take any of those players and Clone them making 5 and put them on the ice against 5 Orrs .  

Gretzky for example would never get the puck away from Orr and if he did Orr would flatten him. 

Orr, as far as I'm concerned is the most complete and dominant player to ever lace em up. 

If you watched Gretzky in his prime no one ever flattened him when he had the puck.  And if you gave Gretzky the puck good luck getting it back from him...

[erkayloomeh]

4 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

If you watched Gretzky in his prime no one ever flattened him when he had the puck.  And if you gave Gretzky the puck good luck getting it back from him...

That's because he never played Orr. 

[We Are All Cucks]

I chose Hasek based on the wording of the question. Presumably I'm taking somebody to add to my team/start to build a team. With that in mind, I want a player who is going to be the most dominant and game changing on their own, without the need for other all-stars to prop them up. Does anybody on this list compare to Gretzky, in terms of sheer talent, nah, probably not. But, even Gretzky couldn't do it on his own; he needed that insane supporting cast in Edmonton, and never won a cup without them. Prime Hasek was good enough to make any team competitive, just by himself. Even did it against Gretzky versus the '98 Canadians.

[Elias Pettersson]

3 hours ago, erkayloomeh said:

That's because he never played Orr. 

I'm thinking Bobby Orr is the one who needed to keep his head up...

 

 

[erkayloomeh]

2 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

I'm thinking Bobby Orr is the one who needed to keep his head up...

 

 

For that hit I think the hockey world resents Pat. But we loved him. 

Maybe that's  why the hockey Gods are against us.

Not to many people would catch Orr like that.

 

But my position stands that Orr was overall better than Gretzky 

[Kobayashi Maru]

Mario.  If not for injuries, would likely be in a similar place as Wayne.  Feel like Jagr could be on the list too.  Mario - Jagr combo the greatest of all time.