Everyone knows the "Mount Rushmore" of hockey is: Gretzky, Orr, Howe Lemieux. What are your personal Mount Rushmores for the following:
1. ATD Mount Rushmore - players you've drafted a lot and/or uncovered a lot of research on and/or seem to be great ATD value
2. Childhood Mount Rushmore - your favorite players when you were a kid
3. Modern Day Mount Rushmore - your favorite players from the last 15 years
Here are mine in no particular order:
ATD Mount Rushmore
- Red Kelly (always seems to be good value and he was my 1st pick on my Championship Team, I also drafted him another time and made the Conf Finals)
- Lionel Conacher (probably the player I've drafted the most, I like the bio I did on him, he's usually good value getting drafted at the end of a tier)
- Patrick Elias (usually good value and easy to fit in a lineup, I know I've drafted him and I'm pretty sure it was more than once)
- Mario Lemieux (8th!!!)
Childhood Mount Rushmore
- Denis Savard
- Jeremey Roenick
- Joe Sakic
- Peter Forsberg
Modern Day Mount Rushmore
- Duncan Keith
- Jonathan Toews
- Patrick Kane
- Nathan MacKinnon (had to pick one non-Hawk)
ATD Mount Rushmore:
1. Pete Green - coach
-The most important research I've ever done.
Consider what I did for his legacy with the research from a few years back. He joins Toe Blake and Scotty Bowman, coaches that led multiple dynasties from 2 different time periods. He's easily the most dominant coach pre-consolidation, of an era era which spans 3+ decades. Nobody can touch his record (winning %) and Cup victories.
The contemporary praise for his abilities both as a evaluator/developer of talent, and tactician are many, especially for that time period where coaches duties were often muddied by lack of information. He was fondly remembered by many all time greats such as Cyclone Taylor (Green was responsible for putting Taylor on the blue line to take advantage of his speed and open ice before the forward pass was allowed). Sprague Cleghorn spoke highly of him. Tommy Gorman, Lester Patrick, etc.
He created a defensive system that the league literally adjusted rules to ban. That trap style was copied by many teams in the years to follow and ultimately developed further by other luminaries.
IF we're going to take "best of an era" seriously then Green should be a top 5 coach ever. Certainly top 10 for even the skeptics. Having spent an incredible amount of time researching him, IMHO, there is nobody beyond Blake, Bowman and maybe Tarasov, who would rank ahead of him 1v1, taking all factors into consideration.
I am in the process of working with the Hockey Hall of Fame to have his legacy looked into further because he absolutely needs to be in the Hall for his massive contributions to the game. I'm going to be like Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption when it comes to his cause. I'll keep pushing on this front until the end of time.
2. Doug Harvey
-Finally able to draft him this year. Incredibly easy to start a franchise around.
@BenchBrawl and I spoke about if AI could figure out a full proof plan to win the ATD regularly, Harvey would be the most logical meta-choice. I think he's the most important cog to the greatest dynasty of all time (mid to late 50's Habs).
3. Russell Bowie
-I think this is the 3rd year I've had him. In the previous drafts, even as recently as last year, his draft position has been far, far too low, which conversely has allowed teams to get incredible value, even if that value didn't pay off come voting time. Bowie's offensive brilliance both in peak/longevity is legendary, no matter which era you put him up against.
@rmartin65 wonderful deep dive showed just how dominant he was vs peers and gave us a better understanding of his overall game/reputation beyond just scoring goals.
4. Jack Walker
-I think he's still undervalued, even after the pre-merger project because his offensive doesn't stack up well vs a lot of his peers of the era, but 2 things do stand out.
One, his defensive reputation was legendary. Only Frank Nighbor (who learned his trade via Walker's style) can claim a higher spot in that regard and considering we're talking about 30+ years of hockey, I'd say the legacy is a major calling card that doesn't get enough pomp vs those who post better offensive totals receive.
Two, he can really play anywhere on the F line and that makes him incredibly valuable as a bottom 6 F.
And I'll add a third reasons. He stepped up numerous times in the playoffs and out produced his regular season offensive production multiple times. Missed on him by 1 pick in this draft.
Childhood MR:
1. Mario Lemieux
-Saw him live for the first time, the day after Christmas with my dad, uncle and 2 cousins, Dec 26, 1991. All he did was drop 7 points (2nd highest single game total by him) in a 12-1 Penguin win vs the Maple Leafs.
I don't really remember vivid details, but I do remember seeing 66 skating faster than most others on the ice, players who were much smaller. He looks so incredibly effortless thinking back. As time went on, and I grew older, there is no doubt in my mind that Mario was the most naturally (physically) gifted hockey player I've ever seen. The only player who rivaled Gretzky as an offensive mega force. What he did after coming back from cancer treatment (including radiation) should be made into a movie. His presence is the only reason hockey survived in Pittsburgh (1980's) and then continued to survive into the Crosby era.
2. Joe Sakic
-Favorite non-Penguin growing up. Burnaby Joe was a name I knew, even before he was in Colorado and I remember collecting many of his trading cards in the 90's.
3. Peter Forsberg
-Right up there with Sakic. He was a wrecking ball, which was a different look vs Joe, and I wasn't a young kid when he soared to fame but his name is one that I always held in high regard due to his playing style.
4. Ronnie Francis
-Always liked him more than Jagr who seemed like a puck hog to me (not that he didn't often to great things by being such a hog). Was more important on the back to back title teams without question.
Modern Day MR:
1. Sidney Crosby
-As a young adult/grown up, he's without question my favorite player. Resume speaks for itself. He was unfairly thrust into mega stardom before he even stepped on NHL ice and has always handled himself with class in terms of the media and responsibilities off the ice. And after some early growing pains in terms of maturity on the ice, he morphed into an all time great captain and leader, with multiple Cups, multiple gold medals, etc, etc. The best all around hockey player of the last 2 decades and it's not particularly close IMO. Still going strong at age 36 and showing no signs of being anywhere near done.
2. Cale Makar
-Have really enjoyed watching him when I can. The potential ceiling for him all time is that of a top 10 blue liner ever. So young and already has a cabinet rapidly filling with hardware. His offensive instincts, skating, shot, vision, etc, etc stood out early, and more recently, figuring out how to defend with sound positioning and taking care of passing lanes/angles. Consider at 25 he's already got a Calder, Norris, Smythe, 3 AS nods (he'll be a postseason AS and 4th time Norris finalist again this year).
3. Patrice Bergeron
-Just retired and more often than not shut Crosby down head to head (though he, Sid and Marchand were absolutely dominant on a line together in the World Cup a # of years ago), he was as good as advertised. Just a brilliant hockey player, IQ through the roof. Elite in the dot. From 2009-10 until last year, he had FOURTEEN straight top 5 Selke finishes. All time record 6 wins, and 4 runner ups. Hated seeing him as I knew the going would be tough, but always enjoyed watching his brilliance.
4. Chris Kunitz
-Going way down the depth chart here and giving some love to a lesser known player, he was elevated by Crosby for years in terms of offensive prominence but this guy was a gamer. Nothing special in any one area but he did all the stuff you want out of a glue type player. Checked both ways, he could give you time on the kill, scored some absolutely mammoth goals (namely the double OT winner vs Ottawa in game 7 of the ECF in 2017, on a feed from Sid no less). Assisted on the Cup winning goal vs Nashville. 4 time Cup winner overall.