[DEBATE] Which #88 in their prime are you taking?

[sassbs]

How did Brett Lindros do for the maple leafs 

[Kragar]

1 hour ago, grumpyone said:

Lindros? that snot nosed little puke who refused to play for the team that drafted him. He should have been banned from the NHL for life... you play for the the team that selected you or you wait it out, 3 years, and re enter the draft. It's a privilege to be able to play in the greatest league of the world. Until you have enough senority to warrant holding out for a trade/sign elsewhere you suck it up and play your heart out. 

While I agree with the sentiment, he was willing to wait it out (IIRC it is 2 yrs, but I haven't cared to look in a long time), and Quebec traded him for a nice haul.

 

Regardless, he is still the choice for this poll.

 

Edit: unbelievable the haul Quebec got for Lindros: Steve Duchesne in his prime, Ron Hextall arguably in his prime, a young Mike Ricci, two 1st rounders, $15 million, and the 6OA from Lindros' draft year... Peter Forsberg.  Man, did the Nords ever make out on that deal.

Edited August 2, 2021 by Kragar

[awalk]

I take Vasilevskiy. He would shut down Lindros in his prime.

[GB5]

Lindros the prima donna... hands down was the best

[GB5]

27 minutes ago, Kragar said:

Edit: unbelievable the haul Quebec got for Lindros: Steve Duchesne in his prime, Ron Hextall arguably in his prime, a young Mike Ricci, two 1st rounders, $15 million, and the 6OA from Lindros' draft year... Peter Forsberg.  Man, did the Nords ever make out on that deal.

This is what won the cup for Colorado a few years later without a doubt.

[filthycanuck]

2 hours ago, IBatch said:

No doubt.   Half his peak was still good enough to compete with the best of the next era in their peak prime.    Any sort of re-visionist history discussed with someone who wasn't around can be not worth the effort.   With a bad back that almost forced retirement in the very early 90's, and a bum shoulder (which for sure affected his shot), he was still outproducing almost all the HHOFers that started in the late 80's to the late 90's.   That's a big list including Federov, Iginla, Theo Fluery, JNew,  Shanny,   Bure, Sakic, Sundin, Forsberg, Modano, Lindros, Jagr et all.   100 points was half his peak literally and figuratively.    The guy was just at another level like Orr and Mario.   And played his swan song years with lesser teams in the dead puck era.   What could have been if he played with us, Ronning stayed ... Plus Mogilny Bure etc 

Had that Gary Suter hit never happened in the Canada cup, Gretzky probably couldve tacked on 2-3 more seasons. He never really recovered from that hit. That was the beginning of his back problems and i still hate gary suter to this day

[-AJ-]

7 hours ago, iinatcc said:

I'll take Kane, Lindros is tempting but he's had quite a number of injures 

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. 

[Lil B From The Pack]

Dez Bryant

[coryberg]

Nate schmidt!

[Elias Pettersson]

1 hour ago, -AJ- said:

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. 

Great post AJ.  I remember the times when Lindros was fully healthy.  It was actually quite scary to see him out there.  Even in the NHL he was a man among boys.  I thought for sure he would end a few careers with his devastating hits.  He also had great hands for a guy who was 240 pounds.  

 

Like I said earlier without the injuries Lindros would be in the top 10 greatest hockey players of all time.  In his prime he could literally do it all, THE perfect specimen.  

[Bell]

I love watching Kane but Lindros when healthy was one of the most dominant players ever. So I say Lindros

[Nave]

Easily Lindros. One of the most dominant forwards, and just a brutal forechecker. 

[Baratheon]

Patrick Kane is a legit phenom but I did not even consider picking him haha!  If the question is "in their prime" then Lindros by far.  If you feel like being different then Vasilevskiy by virtue of being a goaltender.

[Kragar]

4 hours ago, GarthButcher5 said:

This is what won the cup for Colorado a few years later without a doubt.

Oh for sure.

[EddieVedder]

No question.  Lindros.  Never seen a player with so much natural physical ability in my life.  

[EddieVedder]

16 hours ago, IBatch said:

In his prime in the dead puck era, he was killing it.   Kane's one dimensional, Lindros was complete and playing in this era we'd be picking him ahead of McDavid and Mckinnon most likely.   No redline, and few players that would causes him an iota of pushback.  If any really. 

Agree 100 percent.   For those that didn't see  how easily he could dominate a game by himself, have no idea what they missed out on.  No one could handle Lindros back then and he would be unstoppable now too.  Its be a tossup between Lindros and McDavid today... thats how good he was.

[Putgolzin]

5 hours ago, EddieVedder said:

No question.  Lindros.  Never seen a player with so much natural physical ability in my life.  

I remember watching him and feeling like he was a head taller than all the other 6’-4” dudes on the ice.

He was just so massive and so dominant  that he made everyone else look small, even when they were the same size (height) as him.

 

[EddieVedder]

3 hours ago, nzan said:

I remember watching him and feeling like he was a head taller than all the other 6’-4” dudes on the ice.

He was just so massive and so dominant  that he made everyone else look small, even when they were the same size (height) as him.

 

Even at 18 he was all muscle.  He was built to play hockey moreso than any player id seen before or since.