ESPN Top 50 Hockey Forwards
so according to ESPN, sidney crosby and alex ovechkin make the cut for the top 50 forwards of all-time despite only having played just over one friggin' season apiece. egad.
meanwhile, guys like: joe sakic, joe mullen, joe nieuwendyk, and teemu selanne (all 500 goal scorers, mind you) are no shows.
who made this list? obviously not someone who watches the damn game.
meanwhile, guys like: joe sakic, joe mullen, joe nieuwendyk, and teemu selanne (all 500 goal scorers, mind you) are no shows.
who made this list? obviously not someone who watches the damn game.
Labels: hockey
posted by The Mean Guy at 10:20 AM
5 Comments:
"who made this list? obviously not someone who watches the damn game."
I appreciate your point, Mean Guy. One season certainly doesn't make a career. However, hockey seems like a different sort of sport than say baseball - where there are countless one year wonders (Clarence Gaston, anyone?). I'm guessing the person who made the list saw enough in one year to recognize the obscene talents of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
Personally, I've lost interest in ice hockey, but I have seen both of the aforementioned stars 3 or 4 times each. On the basis of what I've seen, I have to agree with ESPN. The career stars you cite (at least Joe Sakic, Joe Mullen and Joey Nieuwendyk) had durability and talent and accumulated impressive statistics, but they had nowhere near the abilities of Crosby or Ovenchkin. In fact, it's not even close in my opinion.
Sometimes you can recognize greatness immediately. Ironically, that's what makes it "great." I knew Bobby Orr was great after seeing him in only one game (he beat the Flyers single-handedly with two third period end-to-end rushes that snaked through the entire team).
I'll give ESPN a pass on this even though it looks silly on the surface.
I recognize your point, but I happen to see where the "experts" are coming from on this one.
I felt the same way the first time I saw Smarty Jones race by me at the rail (in his first race as a two-year-old at Philadelphia Park).
Ed Wade
Sometimes you can recognize greatness immediately.
i agree with you, and i agree that crosby and ovechkin are both damn impressive players. it just doesn't seem appropriate to put them on this list without the proper body of work.
what if both these guys only played a few seasons then got injured or just lost it too quickly?
dale murphy was one of the most talented baseball players of the 80's, yet by the time he hit his 10th season he completely lost it.
to me, sakic and selanne aren't simply a longevity guys like mullen and to a lesser extent nieuwendyk were. those two guys were dynamic forces in the nhl (heck, didn't selanne score 76 goals once?).
you're right though, if crosby and ovechkin are able to stay healthy, i suspect they'll be top 20 all-time types. too bad lindros wasn't able to do it.
"to me, sakic and selanne aren't simply a longevity guys like mullen and to a lesser extent nieuwendyk were. those two guys were dynamic forces in the nhl (heck, didn't selanne score 76 goals once?)."
That's why I excluded Selanne from my comments. Sakic, however, wouldn't rate as highly (for me) in the talent department.
Ed Wade
how do you rate cam neely? imo, from a pure talent basis, neely was right up there.
I thought Cam Neely was an awesome player. And if you remember Tom Nance from McM, his son was a neighbor and personal friend toward the end of Cam's career. From what I gather from Tom, Cam was a great guy. That kind of stuff matters to me...
Another wonderful talent who gets swept under Bobbie Clarke's shadow: Rick MacLiesh (my favorite player as a young Flyer's fan).
Ed Wade
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