Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike8
97-98, Corson-Koivu-Recchi line . . . Koivu may have battled injuries, but he still played 69 games.
Rucinsky and Savage were Damphousse's linemates.
And in 96-97, Recchi played a healthy chunk next to Koivu, too.
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I'm not prepared to give you Corson as a "first liner" (even in '97/98), just sayin'.
Going back to '96/97, I remember Koivu and Recchi starting out on the powerplay together, and I know Savage figured into a lot of their ES scoring lines together. I wouldn't argue against a claim that those three played most of that season together (well... of Koivu's 50 games), because I remember pretty much the same. So you get Savage and Corson as the other winger on those top lines during those years (I wanna say V. Bure replaced Recchi on their PP line at some point, though). If I mention the insertion of Moen onto our top line(s) occasionally, I think the example sufficiently illustrates the point I'm trying to make.
Recchi is possibly the best example out there. Problem is, he's the best example by
far, and a secondary player (so far below a "star", imo) who benefits from longevity and compiling as much as anything w.r.t. comparisons with their pears. And due to the nature of the era, the Habs were constantly throwing relatively unskilled size out there on a line with them. Hence my suggesting that we never
really got a chance to see what Koivu could have been capable of with the Habs on a good
line.