Crosby vs. Gretzky (numbers)

[abpk2903]

Kane isn't in the top 30 in the league in plus/minus. In fact he is one of the lowest plus/minus players on his team. You just keep showing how little you watch hockey. You are the only person in hockey history to use +/- to evaluate a top line winger.

[theoneandonly]

Seriously Konjo... how old are you, 12? Sydney Crybaby or whatever you said... that sure is original. Did you come up with that all on your own? Crosby got the rep of being a "crybaby" when he was 18... I'm sure you would have acted similar. Since then things have changed... sure he talks to the official a lot... as does every single C or A on every single team.

Are you seriously still on this Staal/Talbot thing? How great have their careers been since the left the 'burgh? Jordan probably wakes up and kicks himself daily.

Since I know you love stats and I love making you look like a fool here is something for you to chew on for awhile. These are career #'s... a little better measuring stick than "not scoring any series clinching goals" because thats such a good way to judge things.

Kane .97/ppg.... +42

Toews .90/ ppg.... +127

Malkin 1.22/ppg.... +50

Crosby 1.41/ppg.... +116

So by looking at that Sid is good for a half a point more per game than Toews and while almost having your man crush Kane tripled up in your favorite stat of +/-.

Can't wait to hear your well thought out rebuttal here....

[Manfred]

MVP= SID Crosby. What does a center do? He's the QB on the ice. It's his job to feed and set up his wingers, thus his assists usually are greater than his goals. He scores when he needs to. I too laughed at the name Chara. On the oldies side, I forgot the greatest Blackhawk, Bobby Hull. His kids weren't too shabby either, as were Gordie's. It's in the genes.

[knowitall]

Sidney Crosby plays in a much more watered down garage league than Wayne Gretzky did. Gretzky was undisputedly the best player in the league until Lemieux came along. Crosby has several contestants for his best of the league crown right now.

[knowitall]

There undoubtedly are a few more names to be included to this list, and like mentioned, the game is different these days, but where would you place guys like Phil Esposito and Stan Mikita? There probably others whose name escapes me just now.

Esposito and Mikita both dont make the cut for top ten, sorry they would get smoked in today's game, but I do put them high

The only reason Phil Esposito would get smoked in today's game is because he is 71 years old.

[Aoki12]

There undoubtedly are a few more names to be included to this list, and like mentioned, the game is different these days, but where would you place guys like Phil Esposito and Stan Mikita? There probably others whose name escapes me just now.

Esposito and Mikita both dont make the cut for top ten, sorry they would get smoked in today's game, but I do put them high

The only reason Phil Esposito would get smoked in today's game is because he is 71 years old.

Sounds like you are living in the past, you know what I meant, if he was at his best he would get smoked in today's game, does that make it more clear for ya? Please tell me how today's game is watered down? Defenses are the best they've ever been, all 30 goalies and even some of their backups are sharp, for example zatkoff and fleury two quality goalies on the same team, and there is such a jam packed race for leading scorer save for Crosby who's ahead by a good bit. So again, how is the league watered down?

[knowitall]

There's 30 teams and enough talent to field 16 or so. Phil Esposito in his prime would certainly be a top player in this league.

[Aoki12]

Where are you getting this information lol? Throwing out blasphemy, if anything the 70s 80s and even a small portion if the 90s were where the competition was watered down. There were a couple good players that were broken from the pack of average players. Nowadays it's a toss up. There has been a different team win the cup every year, there are so many good players and tons of good teams

[abpk2903]

That's a very generic argument. How many European countries had NHLers in the 60s, 70s, and 80s? What was the American youth participation numbers? How many Canadian towns had ice rinks (and not just frozen ponds)? How many teams were in FL, CA, TX, TN, NC, and so on? I think their is enough NHL caliber talent right now to expand. It is a global sport unlike football and probably more globalize a than baseball or basketball as well.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Hockey isn't more global than Basketball or Baseball. Hockey is basically big in North America and parts of Europe, and nowhere else.



Basketball is Everywhere, easily more countries represented in the NBA than the NHL.


Even Baseball, All of Latin America and Asia, two places where hockey isn't even existent.