Prospect Info: [2024 - 21st] Michael Hage, Chicago Steel (USHL), Committed to U of Michigan

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Nope that's just fiction.

Not fiction. The game was definitely slower and the average athlete less talented and the difference in equipment is highly overstated.

 

[schwang26]

Nope that's just fiction. Also, put McDavid in the old game and his ankles would snap trying some moves with those skates.

Um what? I grew up watching hockey in the mid 70’s and have followed ever since. What exactly is fiction? Watch old clip of games from the 60’s, 70’s and parts of the 80’s and tell me that there weren’t a lot of slow moving players compared to today. Remember when they played the Soviets for the first time in ‘72? Canada couldn’t keep up. What we consider slow today would be much faster back then. You can’t measure speed by comparing it to your opponents. A turtle looks fast compared to a snail. But it’s not actually moving that fast. Its perception. As for Mcdavid, I’m talking speed not moves.

Not fiction. The game was definitely slower and the average athlete less talented and the difference in equipment is highly overstated.

Yes. Thank you!

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Better to be too fast than too slow. One is an issue you can address, the other, you can’t. Just ask the myriad of players playing in the AHL who can’t breach the gap to the NHL.

There are also a ton of fast Ahlers who can't make the NHL.....speed pales in comparison to hockey IQ as an essential component to NHL success.

 

[Rapala]

Remember when they played the Soviets for the first time in ‘72? Canada couldn’t keep up.

Ummm...
One team was honed to a sharp edge from the outset while the other team was fat and out of game shape.
Paul Henderson and company had no problem keeping up with the Soviets by games 6-7-8.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

I think you have to separate it by eras. You have to keep in mind that back then, there were a LOT of slow moving, out of shape players. A decent skater could look like McDavid out there. Put him in today’s game, and he looks like Gally. You have to view it according to the other skaters at the time.

That’s why the question: who is/was the best Canadiens’ skater? Is really difficult to answer.
A truthful answer means snubbing a lot of childhood heroes.

 

[schwang26]

Ummm...
One team was honed to a sharp edge from the outset while the other team was fat and out of game shape.
Paul Henderson and company had no problem keeping up with the Soviets by games 6-7-8.

Um. Ya fat and out of shape as I basically said. And I know I’ll lose my Canadian citizenship for this, but the biggest reason Canada beat them is because they gooned it up. They played dirty and got away with it. Overall, the Soviets were much better skaters. Yes of course there were fast players on Canada. I’m not saying that. My original argument is that you can’t call a guy “fast” if the competition is generally slow.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

Who was the best at dumping the puck in and going for a line change?

 

[habbubba]

Whenever I overhear or see folks debating over different eras, can't help but laugh some as it's a silly waste of time, but it's their time and they can fritter it away the way they want to.

 

[the valiant effort]

You guys that put today’s athletes on a pedestal beside Zeus are crazy. You think Cy Young was tossing a 64mph fastball or something? Because he didn’t have access to BioSteel? Bobby Hull’s clapper shattered that post just because it wasn’t tempered or what?

Testosterone levels are down across the board over decades, and, no, it’s not just among the fat, unsporty swath of society. Exhibit A.Z.69:

 

[1909]

Cournoyer and Lafleur.

Béliveau, Frank Mahovlich were quite fast even if they did not seem like it because of their long strides.

 

[themilosh]

There are also a ton of fast Ahlers who can't make the NHL.....speed pales in comparison to hockey IQ as an essential component to NHL success.

1000%. The ever so elusive IQ stat which doesn't exist atm..

 

[Rapala]

Whenever I overhear or see folks debating over different eras, can't help but laugh some as it's a silly waste of time, but it's their time and they can fritter it away the way they want to.

Yeah skaters like Coffey and Neidermeyer would excel just as well in today's game as would forwards like Glenn Anderson and Mike Modano.
All the greats would have excelled with today's modern training because they had the it factor and nothing would stop them from achieving their goals.

 

[TT1]

Hage has a lot of Eichel in him, you get surprised with his skating and hands the same way you do with Eichel. He comes at you with a lot of wide movements but then he pulls it in quick.