Who's the best player you've ever watched?

[DropIt]

McDavid was phenomenal 🤢

Malkin was also pretty incredible to watch

[Sandman]

Lindros and Orr were two of my favorite players of all time, but alas-I never got to see them live. Both were dominant players in their own way.

[jg13]

In the past decade the two players i've seen that impressed me the most were Tavares when he played for the Islanders he completely took over the game and Panarin when he was with the Blue Jackets and they spanked us at home in a 6-0 blowout when we were already out of the playoffs with less than 10 games to go in the season.

Both the biggest standout performances that I remember live in my adult life.

[Freeway]

I'd have to put my Mount Rushmore as: Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.

[1qqaaz]

Dominik Hašek is the best goalie ever and most of us have seen him play

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

Dominik Hašek is the best goalie ever and most of us have seen him play

The OP stipulated that it had to be a live viewing. I never got to see him play in person, but he certainly is the best goalie, I've ever seen on TV. And I watched since the Dryden/Esposito/Parent era.

[Press Level]

Lemieux. I saw Gretzky many times, but Lemieux just seemed to have an extra dimension to his game that made him fun to watch. Maybe my Oiler hate also influenced this.


Even though I was able to watch the Cup-era Flames play many times, Iggy is still the greatest to have ever worn the Flaming C. That's what makes the '04 "it-was-in" no-goal so much more painful. If ever any Flame deserved to raise the Cup, it was Iggy.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

Dominik Hašek is the best goalie ever and most of us have seen him play

My earliest memory of seeing him play was in a pre Olympics exhibition game in Calgary. At that point he was unknown but I was captivated by his unique playing style. I became a fan that day.

/cool story bro

[scobel]

Chris Pronger, how he controlled the game from the backend. Mcdavid, is crazy good. Ovechkin, for how fast he can shoot the puck.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Press Level

Lemieux. I saw Gretzky many times, but Lemieux just seemed to have an extra dimension to his game that made him fun to watch. Maybe my Oiler hate also influenced this.


Even though I was able to watch the Cup-era Flames play many times, Iggy is still the greatest to have ever worn the Flaming C. That's what makes the '04 "it-was-in" no-goal so much more painful. If ever any Flame deserved to raise the Cup, it was Iggy.

I don't think it's oiler hate bias.

someone like Lemieux, with his size and immense skill, you couldn't help notice what he could do. Even as an Oiler fan, If you asked me who had more pure talent, I'd say Lemieux.

a lot of Gretzky's skills were a little more subtle, and other than his hockey brain, he wasn't the most talented at any one aspect of his game except maybe passing. he wasn't a flashy player.

What Lemieux might have accomplished if healthier is probably my second biggest "what if" after "what if Orr didn't have bad knees his whole career"

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

I don't think it's oiler hate bias.

someone like Lemieux, with his size and immense skill, you couldn't help notice what he could do. Even as an Oiler fan, If you asked me who had more pure talent, I'd say Lemieux.

a lot of Gretzky's skills were a little more subtle, and other than his hockey brain, he wasn't the most talented at any one aspect of his game except maybe passing. he wasn't a flashy player.

What Lemieux might have accomplished if healthier is probably my second biggest "what if" after "what if Orr didn't have bad knees his whole career"

Lemieux had games where it seemed he could just score at will, and his "5 goals, 5 ways" game is just a singular accomplishment that may never be repeated.

[Stanley]

best single game performance live for me was Joe Sakic, with Peter Forsberg a close 2nd. The two of them putting on a clinic vs Flames.

[Knightslayer]

Originally Posted by scobel

Chris Pronger, how he controlled the game from the backend. Mcdavid, is crazy good. Ovechkin, for how fast he can shoot the puck.

This is a good choice. Chris Pronger to me is one of the best defenceman to ever play and played in the right era. He'd be in the penalty box 7 times a game in this era.

[MRCboicgy]

Here's what I remember about watching 90's era Gretzky (since that's what I remember/appreciate): even near the end of his career when he came out west here, he could still just disappear on the ice. I thought I was following him when he jumped on the ice at the games, and he'd just slip away, then pop up somewhere else. It blew me away to see live.

While many other players were probably more skilled or more talented, no one thought or anticpated the game on the ice better than he did.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Prime Sedins were special to watch. And boy did I see them have their way with the Flames on multiple occasions.

Watching Getzlaf do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted in the playoff matchup against the Flames in 2014-2015 series was equally frustrating and impressive. What a beast. And then he did it again when they swept the Flames a couple years later. Truly nothing the Flames could do to stop him.

Lindros was amazing in his prime, such a unique player.

When Evgeni Malkin is engaged, there aren’t too many players that can reach his level of skill, size and speed. Love watching him play.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

I don't think it's oiler hate bias.

someone like Lemieux, with his size and immense skill, you couldn't help notice what he could do. Even as an Oiler fan, If you asked me who had more pure talent, I'd say Lemieux.

a lot of Gretzky's skills were a little more subtle, and other than his hockey brain, he wasn't the most talented at any one aspect of his game except maybe passing. he wasn't a flashy player.

What Lemieux might have accomplished if healthier is probably my second biggest "what if" after "what if Orr didn't have bad knees his whole career"

Lindros is my biggest "what if" player. I never saw him play live, so I didn't add him to my list, but watching him on TV back when he was starting to reach his prime, he was just a beast that couldn't be stopped. It's such a shame that he suffered so many head injuries and we never got to see what he would have done over a full and healthy career.

[SuperMatt18]

I was at this 1996 World Cup of Hockey pre-tournament game...so that's probably the greatest collection of players I've ever seen on the ice at one time live.

https://theihlc.com/1996/08/25/ihlc-...a-aug-25-1996/

Best player i've ever seen live has to be Mario or Gretzky.

[Misterpants]

I saw Wayne Gretzky play in his heyday. Must have been 85 or 86. It was the Jets losing 8-3 to the Oilers. The most notable thing however was a goal going in off of a Jets players noggin. I want to say Dave Ellett?

[CaptainCrunch]

Bobby Orr.

[EVERLAST]

Man there are allot I've seen live that really stood out in the playoffs when games mattered.

Here in Calgary watching players like Loob,Gilmour, Mullen,MacInnis, Fleury, Roberts, Vernon, Kipprusoff, Neiwendyk, Iginla....all played like men possessed.
Each one had something Impressive to offer when games were on the line.

Some won cups and some as you know we're screwed out of hoisting that silver beut.

Other teams that played here and had players that were just incredible......Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman, Peter Forsberg, Eric Lindros, Nick Lidstrom, Scott Neidermeyer, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Pavel Datsyuk, Martin StLouis, Brett Hull, Bergeron, Crosby , Malkin, Lemeiux, Jagr, Cujo, Brodeur,

Whether it be speed, takeaways, breakaways, 200 ft players , or a guy that possessed all of the above the guys above could dominate .

I love the game .