Bobby Clarke has always been a larger than life hero in Flyers history to me. I've only been able to watch games 2 and 6 from the 74 finals so that, plus the few documentaries with footage of Clarke playing are the extent of my impression of his play. Plus all the awesome stats and opinions expressed about him. I really wish I could've seen him play game in and game out because he's supposedly the best Flyer of all time.
Giroux is currently my favorite player and I look for similarities to Clarkie. The dream is that Giroux leads the Flyers to back to back championships in a "history repeats itself" type fasion.
Already been mentioned by others in this thread, but mine would be Jacques Plante and Syl Apps.
I love the stories I've read about Jacques Plante: the way he stood up to authority, the way he did his own thing regardless of what people thought, how he would always reply to fan mail from young goalies by sending them advice on how to improve, how he tried to entertain the fans.
Syl Apps is one of those rare individuals that I've never read anyone say anything negative about. From all accounts, an exemplary player and person.
Also: Aurel Joliat, Frank Boucher and Bill Gadsby.
Ted Lindsay... the original "little ball of hate".
He fought the other team... he fought the league... he even fought the HoF when he was inducted.
I think I have a new favourite. He played till the mid-60s but there aren't that many clips of him up. However what Lindsay did for the advancement of the sport was pretty cool and he seemed to have a hard-nosed playing style while backing up his hits or any dirty play by dropping the gloves despite being a small guy.
I don't think the league would have expanded to 12 teams if not for the PA being created leading to the financial side of the league becoming more open showing that it was possible to expand.
... Morenz absolutely, but only for one game. Im convinced he would be a bore. Tool box limited. Not enough "trix". Same thing with Shore. He was all about angles. Positioning. Economy of movement. A marathon man. Sort of like Bob Baun or any number of defensive oriented defenceman of the Leafs 60's era.... Tough as nails sure, but lacking the size, heft. Overcompensated by being mean, nasty, dirty. That in & of itself is entertaining I suppose. Not my idea of "fun, wow" though.
Wait a minute, are you saying Shore was a defensive defenseman? He was known for end to end rushes, especially for the first 1/2 or 2/3 of his career. For the first half of the century (up to 1950), Shore is 4th among defensemen all-time in goals and GAG%. He's 3rd all-time in all the other offensive categories. Second all-time in PIMs. He was also 5'11" / 190 lbs. Small by todays standards but that would've been considered about average for his day.
I dunno but that sounds like a pretty exciting player to me.
Wait a minute, are you saying Shore was a defensive defenseman?...
... good heavens no Bubba. Eddie played it both ways. One of the earliest "rushing defenceman" with a direct lineage through Harvey to Orr. A "Rover" for all intensive purposes but with a very keen understanding of the defensive game, angles, using them defensively in order to make the offence pay the price while coughing up the puck for a quick turnover & transition. As for his size, he was wiry, and Im not so sure that 190's near accurate. Im thinking mebbe 160'ish. No pushover, but certainly not a big man, and certainly not by todays standards.
... too bad. Quite the piece of work in his prime. Helmetless, when he still had hair, the wheels, like Pavel Bure pretty much, only Guy had better closing skills. The pure joy with which he played was an exhibition in & of itself.
... Morenz absolutely, but only for one game. Im convinced he would be a bore. Tool box limited. Not enough "trix". Same thing with Shore. He was all about angles. Positioning. Economy of movement. A marathon man. Sort of like Bob Baun or any number of defensive oriented defenceman of the Leafs 60's era.... Tough as nails sure, but lacking the size, heft. Overcompensated by being mean, nasty, dirty. That in & of itself is entertaining I suppose. Not my idea of "fun, wow" though.
... very quiet & studious. You absolutely had to pay attention. Nothing fancy or spectacular about Big Bird. Loping. Played like a Sleepwalker. Automatic. Telegraphed. A Somnambulist. Boston knew it. "Dont wake up #19".
... yepp. The real deal was #9. I would have loved to have watched him in his prime. Just that sheer force of will. The deadliest man in the history of the game bar none. All guts, left it all out there on the ice; the glory resting uneasily. He saved the Habs as a franchise, put paid to the lie that francophones lacked grit, staying power & toughness. Whats even more amazing about it is that both the NHL itself & society as a whole in Canada thought they had their heel on throat of Quebec. Branded too small, quixotic, temperamental, sickly. An absolute Superhero was Maurice Richard. Just an incredible story, individual.
The Rocket represents the fighting spirit of hockey. Probably we will never seen one like him again. I thought Claude Lemieux was close cause he was as dirty as Rocket and brought it in the playoffs like him but Rocket could fight and produced far more. A more accurate comparison would be that he was probably a mix of Claude and Wendel Clark.
Never seen him him play but he is my favorite player nonetheless.
Wait a minute, are you saying Shore was a defensive defenseman? He was known for end to end rushes, especially for the first 1/2 or 2/3 of his career. For the first half of the century (up to 1950), Shore is 4th among defensemen all-time in goals and GAG%. He's 3rd all-time in all the other offensive categories. Second all-time in PIMs. He was also 5'11" / 190 lbs. Small by todays standards but that would've been considered about average for his day.
I dunno but that sounds like a pretty exciting player to me.
Shore sometimes played 50+ minutes a game in the mid-30s when the Bruins were in a bit of a down period. He learned to pace himself and pick his spots when it came to rushing the puck. And he was almost certainly the best defensive d-man later in his career - for example in 1937-38 when he won the Hart trophy with only 17 points.
I wouldn't say Shore is my favourite player before my time but he might be the one I'd most like to see play.
... good heavens no Bubba. Eddie played it both ways. One of the earliest "rushing defenceman" with a direct lineage through Harvey to Orr. A "Rover" for all intensive purposes but with a very keen understanding of the defensive game, angles, using them defensively in order to make the offence pay the price while coughing up the puck for a quick turnover & transition. As for his size, he was wiry, and Im not so sure that 190's near accurate. Im thinking mebbe 160'ish. No pushover, but certainly not a big man, and certainly not by todays standards.
most amusing zeus!
