Would you rather win 1 Stanley Cup or 5 Hart Trophies if you were a player?
I want to be the BEST at what I do and with 5 Hart's, I'd get the recognition for that. And I would be guaranteed to have made at least 9 figures. Furthermore, I'd also be the best teammate I can be and I would contribute to the best of my ability to help win a championship but overall for a career, I would rather have the 5 trophies. Although you play to win the game, hockey is a team sport and as hard as you play, winning the Cup is never a guarantee.
Last edited by spiny norman: 11-22-2012 at 12:25 AM.
Reason: not needed, besides Jay McKee has millions in the bank
Fo sho bro I rather have that Hart trophy than the ring but you gon' have to put a paper bag on that ho!!
No but seriously, a cup. Even 4th liners get paid a ton, I don't need millions in the bank. I'd want to win something meaningful, not to say a Hart isn't, but it doesn't mean as much as a cup.
I want to be the BEST at what I do and with 5 Hart's, I'd get the recognition for that. And I would be guaranteed to have made at least 9 figures. Furthermore, I'd also be the best teammate I can be and I would contribute to the best of my ability to help win a championship but overall for a career, I would rather have the 5 trophies. Although you play to win the game, hockey is a team sport and as hard as you play, winning the Cup is never a guarantee.
If you'd rather have the 5 Hart's than get to hoist the only trophy that matters then you were not the best teammate. I would much rather have the 4th liner that only wants to win the cup on my team than a prima donna that puts individual success above team success.
Last edited by spiny norman: 11-22-2012 at 01:22 AM.
Reason: qep
If I've won 5 Harts, I'm probably the best player in the world, with all the glory and fame and money with it...
If i win one cup as a minor player on the 4th line... how much enjoyment do i get out of that? Maybe more than winning one hart, but not 5
I was thinking the same thing. I bet Ovechkin enjoys his life a lot more with his money and 2 Hart trophies, than some fourth liner like Clifford or Burish.
Not to mention nothing is stopping the 5 time Hart trophy winner from winning the Stanley Cup eventually. He's still trying his best to win the Cup, he just hasn't had the team success or the luck. A 4th liner will never win the Hart.
Nobody is going to question the 4th line plug on a Cup team. They'll call him hard working, unsung, "the kind of guy that championship teams need," you hear that one all the time.
The guy who wins 5 Harts and no Cup will be labeled as a choker. All people will ever remember is that he didn't win the big prize.
The guy who wins 5 Harts and no Cup will be labeled as a choker.
Only on HF. Hockey is a team sport. One guy can't carry the team to the Cup, no matter how good he is.
If I won 5 Harts and then completely disappeared in the playoffs, that'd be a different story, but the OP didn't elaborate. I'm assuming that I tried my best in the RS and the PS, just haven't had the team success.
I don't get the whole "No Cup = choker" argument. If the Penguins lost in Game 7, would everyone call Crosby and Malkin chokers despite their insane point production?
Nobody is going to question the 4th line plug on a Cup team. They'll call him hard working, unsung, "the kind of guy that championship teams need," you hear that one all the time.
The guy who wins 5 Harts and no Cup will be labeled as a choker. All people will ever remember is that he didn't win the big prize.
What if you won 5 Harts on such a bad team that they never made the playoffs, and if they did, horrible goaltending and defense let you down..?
Only on HF. Hockey is a team sport. One guy can't carry the team to the Cup, no matter how good he is.
It's not just HF. People can preach "team sport" all they want. In the eyes of the media and most fans (the average fan being far from sensible) you're going to be a choker.
Look what the media, analysts, and fans around the world do to Joe Thornton. The guy's been labeled a cancer despite being, to this very day, one of the very best players in the world. Does anyone even realize he had 77 points last year? That's amazing, especially at his age. But people don't talk about him anymore when they talk about the best players. Why? Because he doesn't have a Cup.
Now on the same token, look what media, analysts, and fans do for a guy like Derek Jeter. Five world championship rings. The guy could kill someone and get a free pass.
5 hart trophies puts you up there as one of the greatest players of all time.
A 4th line grinder playing 3 games in the stanley cup playoffs can win a stanley cup.
Alot of people are lying to themselves if they actually rather have 1 stanley cup ring over 5 hart trophies, there is only extremely small number of players that ever get a chance at a Hart Trophy.
Not only that but a Hart trophy gets you serious consideration for the HOF, 5 would make you a first balloter AINEC. You could win 10 stanley cups and still not be even looked at as a HOF'er if you got lucky to be on a good time, at the right time.
I would rather have 1 Stanley Cup ring over 1 Hart Trophy, but any more than that and ill take the award for being the best individual player in hockey.
But people don't talk about him anymore when they talk about the best players. Why? Because he doesn't have a Cup.
People still talk about Giroux, Ovechkin, Tavares, etc when they talk about the best players. None of those players have Cups either, and the first two definitely aren't "chokers" in the post-season. They just haven't had the team success.
People still talk about Giroux, Ovechkin, Tavares, etc when they talk about the best players. None of those players have Cups either, and the first two definitely aren't "chokers" in the post-season. They just haven't had the team success.
You don't think Ovechkin has been branded and labeled already?
If I had a dollar for every time a Caps fan has to bring up his playoffs PPG to defend his playoff performance, I'd be a wealthy man.
There's the proof right there. Top 10 all time in playoff PPG and most people still label Alex Ovechkin a playoff failure because Crosby has a Cup and he doesn't.
Tavares hasn't even been there, so he gets a pass. Give another year or two to Giroux, it'll start.
You don't think Ovechkin has been branded and labeled already?
Again, only by people who don't watch him play/don't know anything about hockey. If the Penguins lost Game 7, I doubt anyone would call Crosby a choker. Ovechkin's choker status mainly comes from the stupid Russian bias by the media.
And regardless, I couldn't care less what the media thought of me. Players like Ovechkin/Thornton know they are trying their best. Their coaches and teammates know that they are trying their best. Who cares what the media thinks.
Again, only by people who don't watch him play/don't know anything about hockey.
You're giving hockey fans way too much credit. Plenty of people who follow the sport closely are still bumbling idiots.
Now like I said, if you're willing to deal with that, that's fine, I understand that. If it were me? I'd rather be like Kyle Clifford or someone like that, take my six figure salary and go home to my family and live in peace without being on the tv every night while 3 guys in suits who never picked up a stick or can't remember picking one up tell me I'm not good enough.
and live in peace without being on the tv every night while 3 guys in suits who never picked up a stick or can't remember picking one up tell me I'm not good enough.
You're overestimating how popular hockey is in the United States.
I'd rather win a Cup, without a doubt: Your name forever engraved on the most significant piece of history the sport has (and arguably any sport has) and the ring to show it.
