Pat Lafontaine & Pierre Turgeon

What kind of players were they in their primes?

They were hockey players.

(Ba-dum-bump)

In a nutshell:

Turgeon: A classic playmaking centre. Great on-ice vision, excellent puck distributor, good on draws and soft hands. Not even close to a natural sniper but could chip in with timely goals. Paired with a goal scorer he would rack up the assists. Knock on him was/is that he is soft.

LaFontaine: Offensive dynamo of a centreman. Undersized (which played a big part in getting banged around - and by extension his concussion problems), but pretty fearless in traffic. Very good skater, while he was by no means the fastest he was extremely quick and agile. Great hands, underrated wrist & snap shot. Had the tools to offensively dominate, similar to the Yzerman of yesteryear. IMO arguably the best US-born player ever. Its a shame his career was ruined by injuries.

Thanks!

In a nutshell:

Turgeon: A classic playmaking centre. Great on-ice vision, excellent puck distributor, good on draws and soft hands. Not even close to a natural sniper but could chip in with timely goals. Paired with a goal scorer he would rack up the assists. Knock on him was/is that he is soft.

LaFontaine: Offensive dynamo of a centreman. Undersized (which played a big part in getting banged around - and by extension his concussion problems), but pretty fearless in traffic. Very good skater, while he was by no means the fastest he was extremely quick and agile. Great hands, underrated wrist & snap shot. Had the tools to offensively dominate, similar to the Yzerman of yesteryear. IMO arguably the best US-born player ever. Its a shame his career was ruined by injuries.
Another thing about LaFontaine, his Islander stats are impressive enough but when you consider he played most of that time with Brad Delgarno and the like they are outstanding. The goals that I remember him by are his rushing up the rightwing, breaking in hard towards the goalie and then making a cutback move. Just a true joy to watch and still one of the NHL's best people.

Turgeon and Lafontaine were both soft players. Good players but they were soft. In fact they were traded for each other as some might remember. Being soft was probably the reason as to why Turgeon was never named to a Team Canada. But both had 100 points twice in their career. And both hit their peak in points in '92-93. Turgeon with 137 and Lafontaine with 148.

Lafontaine is in the HOF deservingly I think but the same isnt said for Turgeon. That said I think Lafontaine was just a little bit better of a player than him. Turgeon once had 58 goals in a season but Lafontaine always had the 40-50 goal range and was much more of a sniper.

I remember Turgeon having wicked deflection skills back in the days.

Turgeon and Lafontaine were both soft players. Good players but they were soft. In fact they were traded for each other as some might remember. Being soft was probably the reason as to why Turgeon was never named to a Team Canada. But both had 100 points twice in their career. And both hit their peak in points in '92-93. Turgeon with 137 and Lafontaine with 148.


There was nothing soft about Lafontaine. He'd cut through the middle with reckless abandon and would take a hit make a play. He didn't back down from anyone. If someone cheapshotted a teammate Lafontaine would take a cheapshot back. Turgeon and Lafontaine are polar opposites on the issue of softness.

Very talented and skilled centers. Lafontaine was more of an impact player because unlike Turgeon, he had a set of balls, which likely contributed to his career being cut short.

One thing I'll give Turgeon credit for, when he was an Islander he owned the Flyers like few others ever have.

For a "soft" player he's been a good playoff performer 95 points in 104 games.

I have to agree with Buffaloed about Lafontaine. He was not soft at all and, in fact, was fairly tough. For a small guy, he really used his body a lot when he played. He would not hesitate to go to the traffic areas to score.

Still, my personal opinion is that neither player ever reached the heights they should have given their talent levels. Lafontaine put up very nice numbers, but those were in the days of the wide open NHL, when 40 - 50 goal scorers were not unsual. The only year he dominated was his first year with Buffalo.

Turgeon has some good years statistically, but his only true all star caliber year was his first year on the Island.

Again, keep in mind that both players racked up big numbers but played at a time when 100 point scorers where common, and a PPG would not get you near the top 20 in NHL scoring.

I wish that some Blues fans would come along because thats when Turgeon found his game and played at his best. As a Blue, Turgeon became grittier and more defensive. While he would never be mixed for a Rick Tocchet type, he battled for the puck more and would take hits to make plays. He didn't put up points like he used to but his game was more complete.

Turgeon and Lafontaine were both soft players. Good players but they were soft.


A dissenting point of view here. Big time.

Pat Lafontaine was injury prone. You may call that "soft". Others of us who observed him would strongly suggest that his injuries often were the result of his on-ice courage, his lack of hesitation to play in high-traffic, high risk areas. Now, one can question his judgement at times, given his size, but there is a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE between that and the play of Pierre Turgeon. The latter was/is a solid NHLer, a skilled offensive producer but he was never a guy to play it gritty, and has always been much more of a perimeter player.

More precisely, no one ever accused Pat Lafontaine of disappearing when play got tight.

LaFontaine was fearless. He wasn't afraid to go into the high traffic areas, or take a hit to make a play. It's likely one of the reasons he suffered multiple concussions that ultimately ended his career. While he didn't play with a hard, physical edge, dishing out checks like say, a Theo Fleury, he never once let the opposition intimidate him. He was a phenomenally talented forward, likely the best forward to come out of the U.S. in the past 25 years. Immensely talented, too. He consistently scored at a 90-100 point clip on Long Island, despite playing with guys who were past their prime (Trottier) or guys who were better suited to second line duty. When he got to Buffalo and played with some highly-skilled players (Mogilny, Hawerchuk, Andreychuk, Audette when his head was on straight), he was magical, when healthy.

It's hard to say this about a guy who will finish in the top 25 all-time scorers, but Turgeon has always left me wanting more. With the exception of his last two years in St. Louis, and brief spurts in Buffalo, NYI and Montreal, he always left me expecting more. Slick, smart and dazzlingly talented, he's the type who could get 90 points in a season, and have everyone complain about his play, because he was capable of more. (I remember one quote about his 1993-94 play: "He scored 94 of the most forgettable points in league history."). With his skill, he should have been a perennial top 5 or 10 scorer. Injuries can be blamed for only so much. Soft as a Nerf ball. Weak leader. Inconsistent. Defensively inept. He will be the highest scoring forward never to get into the HHOF.

Lafontaine was pretty tough imo, he wasn't big but he went into high traffic areas. He was a pure joy to watch, could pass the puck and make all the plays. One of those players who seemed to either have the puck or be around it all the time.

Lafontaine's injuries obscure the accomplishments of one of the very best players I've ever seen. He was a beauty.

if you look at his stats, there was a two year stretch were lafontaine could only be outdone by lemieux. the on e year where mario took off time to fight cancer, came back and caught lafontaine was sick. pat had 145 points - and he didnt stand a chance of fighting off mario. lafontaine was so good that year mogilny had 76 goals. he peaked those years and began to get hurt, its a shame because points wise he couldve done a lot more. i agree, best american born player ever - though i nod to leetch as well.

All I can say is that it is most likely Lafontaine that got me into hockey. Living in Rochester, I just remember watching Sabre games up in my room with my dad, enjoying every second that he was on the ice with Mogilny. I think from that year on, I never stopped watching the NHL.

As far as Turgeon goes, I cant help but agree with everyone who said that they always wanted more out of him. He always struck me as a remarkably talented perimeter player.