Recount a play that no one else could do but that player
Paul Coffey - 1984 Canada Cup, you know the play. Coffey is the lone man back after Doug Wilson pinched (still have no idea why Wilson did that at that point in the game) and he breaks up a Soviet two-on-one and in one motion gets up off his knees and immediately starts the counter attack the other way. End to end just like that and a beautiful transition deep into the Soviets end. Tonelli does some mucking in the corner and then feeds Coffey at the point again where he rifles an accurate shot tipped by Bossy. I have long said on here that aside from Orr (he doesn't count) that Coffey is the only player in NHL history that could make that play in one fluid motion.
Denis Savard - There have been isolated incidents where a player made a beautiful spinorama on the rush but no one could or did do it like Savard on a consistent basis. He did it as a Hawk, and he did it as a Hab. It was always the same thing. He'd be skating with speed then brake and turn all the while have the puck on a string and then while the defenseman was looking for his jock the goalie is out of position and vulnerable. I know Serge Savard and Doug Harvey are guys who did the spinorama but they specialized in the fake slap shot and a stationary spin to avoid the oncoming forward. They didn't do it while on the rush.
I don't have a specific play in mind, but Datsyuk has a unique way of dangling the puck in traffic. If you watched it in black and white, and blurred out his face and number, you'd still know exactly who you were watching.
Hasek saves,
Ciccarelli deflections,
Gretzky passes,
Kronwall hits,
Forsberg surges through traffic with the puck,
Jagr protections of the puck,
Lemieux's roofers,
Ovechkin puck control through hits,
Ludwig shotblocking,
Marleau soft hands by the net,
Bure surges,
I could keep going...
I don't have a specific play in mind, but Datsyuk has a unique way of dangling the puck in traffic. If you watched it in black and white, and blurred out his face and number, you'd still know exactly who you were watching.
Datsyuk does a lot of little things with the puck that you just don't see other guys do. Both with his stickhandling/puck protection and in his takeaway ability.
Other ones that come to mind:
Jagr protecting the puck with his back side. Never really seen anybody do it like him and as effectively.
The Hasek reply was a great answer. Countless examples with him.
I can't find a clip of it, but there's one play that Lidstrom made that has always stuck out to me. He was back defending against a rushing forward when with one hand he made a quick pokecheck. Now a lot of guys could have made the pokecheck, but somehow in one smooth motion Lidstrom was able to steal the puck and quickly transition the other way (so quickly that he had to know that he was going to have control of the puck before he even made the stickcheck). It was like the puck was magnetic and it was one of the most ridiculous things that i've seen from a NHL defencemen. It always reminded me of a frog sticking out his tounge to catch a fly. And it was just how smoothly and confidently he pulled it off that made me shake my head and say, "nobody else in the world could have done that."
I have never seen another player purposely shoot the puck off the far side of the goalie for a perfect rebound "pass" to a teammate like Mario Lemieux. I missed Gretzky's prime tho
Nobody I've seen could quite unload a perfect slapper at full speed quite like Lafleur did routinely. I'm guessing people who saw Bobby Hull would disagree.
There's no one else in history that could have done this first pass (a forward pass almost in slow motion while everything else is at high speed) without looking...
Notice how he had to calculate this instantly to decide on doing it backhanded (opposed to forehanded) to create the right angle...
And at 25 seconds of this vid (since there were no Kings around, and since he looked back after the bank shot, you KNOW it was on purpose Harry Neil!)...
Paul Coffey - 1984 Canada Cup, you know the play. Coffey is the lone man back after Doug Wilson pinched (still have no idea why Wilson did that at that point in the game) and he breaks up a Soviet two-on-one and in one motion gets up off his knees and immediately starts the counter attack the other way. End to end just like that and a beautiful transition deep into the Soviets end. Tonelli does some mucking in the corner and then feeds Coffey at the point again where he rifles an accurate shot tipped by Bossy. I have long said on here that aside from Orr (he doesn't count) that Coffey is the only player in NHL history that could make that play in one fluid motion.
Denis Savard - There have been isolated incidents where a player made a beautiful spinorama on the rush but no one could or did do it like Savard on a consistent basis. He did it as a Hawk, and he did it as a Hab. It was always the same thing. He'd be skating with speed then brake and turn all the while have the puck on a string and then while the defenseman was looking for his jock the goalie is out of position and vulnerable. I know Serge Savard and Doug Harvey are guys who did the spinorama but they specialized in the fake slap shot and a stationary spin to avoid the oncoming forward. They didn't do it while on the rush.
Observe two Harvey spinoramas around 0:30 and at the end. No fake slapshot. Also note the space he gets with the threat of the spinorama:
Hasek saves,
Ciccarelli deflections,
Gretzky passes,
Kronwall hits,
Forsberg surges through traffic with the puck,
Jagr protections of the puck,
Lemieux's roofers,
Ovechkin puck control through hits,
Ludwig shotblocking,
Marleau soft hands by the net,
Bure surges,
I could keep going...
Out of all you mentioned, wearing giant shin guards is clearly the easiest.
There's no one else in history that could have done this first pass (a forward pass almost in slow motion while everything else is at high speed) without looking...
Notice how he had to calculate this instantly to decide on doing it backhanded (opposed to forehanded) to create the right angle...
And at 25 seconds of this vid (since there were no Kings around, and since he looked back after the bank shot, you KNOW it was on purpose Harry Neil!)...
Exactly. It was a nice play. But Denis Savard's spins at full speed on the rush were peerless. Others had done that Harvey play.
Quote:
Originally Posted by silkyjohnson50
Another play that comes to mind:
Mario in the Olympics, allowing the pass to go through his legs. Does anybody else in the history of hockey pull that off at that moment?
Someone said Wayne. Perhaps they are right. In today's game the two smartest players - Crosby and Malkin - probably would have intercepted it in the slot. Then again who wouldn't? The interception would still be a great play and a whale of a scoring chance.
Okay, other than Mario, could anyone pull off Malkin's goal against Carolina in the 2009 semis where he skates with it behind the net and roofs it behind his back on an impossible angle? The beauty of that is how effortless he made that look as well, just like Mario would.
Also, while Lafleur isn't the only player in NHL history to perfect the right handed RW shot down the wing into the net I can't see anyone else labelling those shots in the net on a consistent basis like him. Bossy didn't score as many of his goals that way. The closest comparison I can think of is Iginla although he usually uses a wrist shot.
Maybe some can remember this play here. 1987 Canada Cup with Gretzky, Game 2 vs. the Soviets. His 5 assist game. There was a pass he made near the Russian blueline that I still have no idea how or WHAT he did. The cameraman doesn't either because it fooled him too. He was coming into the zone, peeled back and made what looks like a drop pass to Rochefort (or maybe he just left the puck lying there intentionally) and then Rochefort bursts into the zone and passes to Gilmour who buries it. I don't know what he did but there were tons of Soviets lurking around him when he made the play. Just mind boggling because you just never saw a cameraman get deceived so badly.
I've seen more than one shift from Eric Lindros where he'd level a couple guys, have someone try and hit him but just bounce off, and then go and score a goal. No one else could completely physically overwhelm a team and also impact the score sheet like 88.
His goal from the face off as a bet with local walrus-man Mark Madden.
That time he stickhandled the puck through Ray Bourque's skates.
The through the legs Olympics thing that's been mentioned.
Crosby did that 360 jump over a player once (think against the Rags) who fell, that was pretty wild.
HM, Ronnie Hextall just being himself, Hartnell throwing the glove. Hate the Flyers, love those guys.
I don't get that Lemieux goal against the North Stars is considered his best. He did stuff like that often. I like his breakaway getting hacked nonstop (which he still did often) against the Nords more.
Last edited by Long Duk Dong: 04-03-2012 at 08:05 PM.
Mario in the Olympics, allowing the pass to go through his legs. Does anybody else in the history of hockey pull that off at that moment?
I've always felt there was another play for that tournament that no one other than Mario could make. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it on youtube.
In the round robin portion, though, Canada was struggling and they were playing Hasek and the Czechs. That was still when Hasek was HASEK: almost unbeatable and capable of psychologically beating a team before the puck was even dropped.
Through the first two periods, Canada was frustrated by the Czech team defense and, even when they broke though, Hasek was there. You could see Hasek was in their heads, again, just like he was in 98.
Then Mario grabs the puck and breaks in on a two-on-one and, almost lazily, he flicks a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle at Hasek. No faking the pass, no deke, no mad traffic in front. Just a clean, unobstructed wrist shot. And, of course. . .it goes in.
Now, scoring on a wrist shot is no big deal. But to have the confidence and the sheer power of will to take that shot and beat Hasek and deflate that aura that he had going at that time. . . not sure anyone but Mario does that. I think even Gretzky looks to make a pass there.
