Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
Nieuwendyk (and Gilmour) were BOTH elite. Full stop.
I will add that Joel Otto was an elite defensive centre too.
That period of the Flames had many elite-level players. How one can argue otherwise is beyond me.
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I'm not sure that was the case. I don't think these players got the recognition they deserved until long after the fact. The Flames were an elite team, but more a sum of their parts than a bunch of star players. Where would you plug Niewendyk and Gilmour on this list?
Lemieux, Gretzky, Yzerman, Hawerchuk, Messier, Olczyk, Lafontaine, Turgeron, Savard, Stastny, Oates, Francis, Sakic, Nichols, Federko, Carson, Damphousse, Propp, Muller, Linden
Those are the 20 best centers from that era IMO, other than the Flames players. Considering the top scorer in the league (Lemieux) scored 199 points, with three others cracking 150 points, you have to be careful what you identify as elite. The top two scorers from the Flames during their cup year were wingers (Mullen and Loob), then came Gilmour and Nieuwendyk.
Personally, I think too much focus got paid to our centers and the incredible work by our top RWs were what made the Flames the dominant team they were that season. Mullen's 51 goals and 110 points was 7th in the NHL, far surpassing the 85 points of his center. Mullen and Loob are still criminally under-rated in their contributions to one of the best teams every iced in NHL history. While Nieuwendyk and Gilmour would go on to carve out great careers, and be recognized for being a couple of the all-time greats, their contributions in Calgary were not considered elite at the time. They were great players, but not yet recognized for their games. Sadly, both would have to leave Calgary for that to happen.