I’m going to go beyond the NHL as I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in high levels of hockey from Atom right thorough you WHL. The best players I’ve seen at every level.
AJHL- Cale Makar, oddly enough didn’t even make the Alberta Cup and was a very late WHL pick, not a standout in Bantam or Midget but holy smokes, something happened to him at 17 and he has not looked back.
WHL- Bryan McCabe, only saw him play twice and have seen better goal scorers, playmakers etc… but I will never forget the way he controlled the game, man amongst boys.
Dominique Hasek when sabers came to town in 97.
Young but I remember it well. We played the novice game during intermission. I ended up Cross checking Harvey the hound lol. It was like a tournament thing so winner got to come back to play again during a different game. It was 1 - 1 and that stupid dog pulled the net way out to the side for a shot going into the corner for the other team to score. So I hit him with a cross check lol.
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Bobby Orr without a doubt. Too bad his knees gave out and had a short career. Talk about Gordie Howe hat tricks etc. he was a combo of everything, offence, defence, tough, fast, could shoot and on and on.
I got to see Gretzky many times but Lemieux only once. Mario was just so mesmerizing to watch. So smooth and magical. Gretzky is the greatest ever but I truly think Mario's talent was a small notch better. At least his style made him more impressive to watch.
For the Flames... I don't know. Kent Nilsson was great when he felt like it. Makarov was slick. Iginla was very dominant. I evenoved to watch the other #12, Hakan Loob. I think he gets overlooked.
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I watched a live playoff game once between the Capitals and Penguins when I lived in DC.
The way Crosby was able to completely turn it up and absolutely dominate the play was a different kind of special. On the other hand, watching Ovechkin just have his way with the opponents, just skate across the blue line, casually flick his wrist and fire a rocket into the top corner was truly remarkable.
So I would say both those two would be the best players I have ever watched.
I think the bolded is one thing that separates the best from the rest.
I've only seen two athletes do that in person. One was Iggy, who could take over a game nearly at will.
The other was LeBron James. We saw a game in Miami, and the heat were down until LeBron took a foul he objected to. He proceeded to take over the court and basically singlehandedly ran roughshod over a full NBA team.
A bit unconventional but I have a few memories of Ryan Getzlaf in his prime just being on a whole other level. Like just dictating the entire play while he was on the ice. I had never seen vision like that live in the NHL before.
Happened to be talking to a guy recently who grew up with Getzlaf.
I asked him if Getzlaf was always dominant in hockey and he said his memory is that he never really stood out until he hit his teens and grew immensely.
No idea if that's true or not as I always think guys who become dominant in the NHL are probably pretty dominant from the minute they start hockey but interesting story nonetheless.
Last edited by Jaybo; 09-06-2021 at 02:08 PM.
Reason: clarity
Happened to be talking to a guy who grew up with Getzlaf recently.
Asked if Getzlaf was always dominant in hockey and he said his memory is that he never really stood out until he hit his teens and grew immensely.
No idea if that's true or not as I always think guys who become dominant in the NHL are probably pretty dominant from the minute they start hockey but interesting story nonetheless.
Even as a junior I wasn’t impressed by him. I watched a ton of him with the hitmen and largely viewed him as a guy who would not be much as an NHLer.
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I recall being at a game when Lindros was in town. He was just so big and dominant. He ran roughshod over Flames. The crowd went crazy just because Michel Petit managed to push him down (not even hard) one time.
I recall being at a game when Lindros was in town. He was just so big and dominant. He ran roughshod over Flames. The crowd went crazy just because Michel Petit managed to push him down (not even hard) one time.
I was at at that game. I came away less marvelling over Lindros than frustrated with Petit, who had the size and tools to be a force on the ice but he couldn’t be arsed.
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