Best defenseman of the 1980s

[ChiefWiggum]

Fetisov? Coffey? Potvin? Bourque? Kasitonov? Others?

Who ya got?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

mark howe belongs in that list

 

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Langway.....Murphy, Stevens for the second half of the decade.

 

[Habs100]

I didn't watch hockey until 1985 (I was very young even then). But it sounds like Bourque was the best all around. Coffee was the best pure offensive defenseman.

 

[Puck Hawerchuck]

Each 80's team :

Boston - Ray Bourque
Buffalo - Phil Housley
Calgary - Al MacInnes
Chicago - Doug Wilson
Detroit - Reed Larson
Edmonton - Paul Coffey (half decade)
Hartford - Dave Babych
Minnesota - Craig Hartsburg
Montreal - Larry Robinson
Los Angeles - Steve Duchesne
New Jersey - Viacheslav Fetisov
NYI - Denis Potvin
NYR - Ron Greschner
Pittsburg - Paul Coffey (other half of decade)
Philadelphia - Mark Howe
St Louis - Rob Ramage
Toronto - Borge Salming
Quebec - Jeff Brown
Vancouver - Kevin McCarthy
Washington - Rod Langway
Winnipeg - Randy Carlyle

 

[Puck Hawerchuck]

I didn't watch hockey until 1985 (I was very young even then). But it sounds like Bourque was the best all around. Coffee was the best pure offensive defenseman.

Ray Bourque is a fine selection for best all-around Defenceman but Larry Robinson and Denis Potvin were just as good in the 80's. So many hall of famers in the 80's to choose from though...

 

[Theokritos]

Over the entire decade? It's between Fetisov and Bourque.

Ray Bourque is a fine selection for best all-around Defenceman but Larry Robinson and Denis Potvin were just as good in the 80's.

Their Norris voting records throughout the 1980s disagree:

|Ray Bourque:|Larry Robinson:|Denis Potvin:
1st:|'87, '88|'80|
2nd:|'82, '85||'81
3rd:|'83, '84|'81, '86|
4th:|'80, '81, '86, '89|'87|'84
5th:||'82|

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Probably Fetsisov, only because Bourque's true peak was really late 80s/early 90s, so it doesn't fit the decade precisely.

 

[The Panther]

Maybe:

1. Bourque

and then some order of:
Coffey / Howe / Langway

rounded out by:
Chelios / Stevens / Potvin
(whose primes didn't span the whole decade)

Honorable mentions to people like Murphy, Salming, MacInnis, Robinson.


I can't really comment on non-NHL players, but clearly Fetisov would be in the running.

 

[feffan]

If it´s not strictly peak, but who was the constantly best player during that whole time I think the argument is between Bourque and Fetisov.

If we´re talking peak, Robinson and Potvin enters. Even if Potvins RS awards peaked in the 70´s, he´s PO record during the 80´s where unreal.

 

[crobro]

Ian Turnbull?

 

[Killion]

Ian Turnbull?

.... well.... he got Drafted at 18 & made the Leafs right away.... first couple of seasons pretty rocky, considered soft defensively (which he was throughout his career) however he was considered, billed as and ultimately became a fairly spectacular though wildly inconsistent Offensive Defenceman in his 3rd year. Good guy on the point, PP, scoring in bunches followed by droughts. Feast or famine with that guy. Had he perhaps been Drafted by his hometown Hab's & rather than stepping right into the NHL spent time being groomed on the defensive aspects of the game, apprenticed, then entirely possible he could have been one of the greats. Had great wheels, great shot, aggressive. Never really blossomed & bloomed as it was but as a sometimes one dimensional scoring threat, he wasnt really late in arriving at that station in his 3rd year. His story as well not unique. With Expansion & the WHA players were being rushed into service right out of Junior (continues to this day) and nowhere in the NHL was that causing the kind of fan angst that it did than in Toronto who just a generation earlier had had one of the greatest farm systems in the league.

 

[Admiral Awesome]

If we're strictly talking NHL, it's Bourque far and away.

 

[Moose Head]

Over the entire decade? It's between Fetisov and Bourque.



Their Norris voting records throughout the 1980s disagree:

|Ray Bourque:|Larry Robinson:|Denis Potvin:
1st:|'87, '88|'80|
2nd:|'82, '85||'81
3rd:|'83, '84|'81, '86|
4th:|'80, '81, '86, '89|'87|'84
5th:||'82|

Not saying Bourque wasn't the best overall throughout the decade, he was IMO, but that Norris voting record for Potvin is an embarrassment to the writers. What the hell games were they watching? The writers were an embarrassment for the first half the decade.

 

[thedoughboy]

While I've only gone back and watched film of the time, as I'm a bit young to have watched it (as in not born), I don't see how any player NHL wise could top Bourque.

Bourques worst year between 80/81 and 89/90 Bourques worst finish in award voting was 4th AS (2nd all star team) and 4th in norris voting.

6 first all star teams, 3 Norris, 2 norris runner ups with 2 seperate finalist appearances.

1 clear runner up to Gretzky in hart voting in 86/87, 1 EXTREMELY narrow loss to Messier for the Hart in 89/90.

 

[tony d]

Shoutout from me to Doug Wilson, the 1982 Norris Trophy winner.

 

[member 202355]

If we're talking about the decade spanning 1985-1995, then it's Bourque, and it's not even close.

Strictly the '80s, and there's still a good chance that it's Bourque, though obviously it's less clear.

 

[The Panther]

I know Ray Bourque's Norris record starts to become more impressive from 1986 onwards, but was he really significantly better from then? I kinda doubt it based on the stats (I didn't see him play until 1986-87 season). Let's pause to remember that, as a rookie in 1979-80, he scored 65 points and went +52 (1st team All Star) on a 105-point team. The Bruins were right up near the top of the League his first five seasons (1st overall in 1983) and Bourque scored 96 points in 1983-84.

I'm just saying I don't know how much better he could have been 1980-1990. I don't think 1985-1995 is necessarily any better, although I guess his 'legend' was more established.

 

[tjcurrie]

Overall, Bourque

 

[crobro]

Coffey, Bourque,Stevens

Honourables - Howe,Chelios,Robinson,Greschner

 

[Big Phil]

This decade belongs to Bourque. Heck, even the 1990s could too. Outside of Coffey, no one really gives Bourque a run for his money in the 1980s. Robinson did well of course, but faded a little bit in the later part of the decade. I really don't see how it can't be Bourque. Played a solid all around game and had 96 points in 1984 and still didn't win the Norris!

Fetisov is an interesting one because we have so much less of a sample size with him. Once he came to the NHL in 1989-'90 the likes of Bourque and Coffey were miles ahead of him. I get it, coming to the NHL with a new culture and such is an adjustment, especially at 31 years old. But after a season or two you figure Fetisov is in the groove but he was just never in the same ballpark as the elite defensemen in the 1990s. Which makes you wonder a couple of things. Was it just burnout from the 1980s? Or was he as good in the 1980s as we thought? So for that reason alone you can't pick Fetisov.

 

[crobro]

Each 80's team :

Boston - Ray Bourque
Buffalo - Phil Housley
Calgary - Al MacInnes
Chicago - Doug Wilson
Detroit - Reed Larson
Edmonton - Paul Coffey (half decade)
Hartford - Dave Babych
Minnesota - Craig Hartsburg
Montreal - Larry Robinson
Los Angeles - Steve Duchesne
New Jersey - Viacheslav Fetisov
NYI - Denis Potvin
NYR - Ron Greschner
Pittsburg - Paul Coffey (other half of decade)
Philadelphia - Mark Howe
St Louis - Rob Ramage
Toronto - Borge Salming
Quebec - Jeff Brown
Vancouver - Kevin McCarthy
Washington - Rod Langway
Winnipeg - Randy Carlyle

For Vancouver I'd remove Kevin Macarthy and replace with lidster

 

[kaiser matias]

For Vancouver I'd remove Kevin Macarthy and replace with lidster

Was going to say, McCarthy was good, but he left the Canucks in 1984, so was hardly there for the 1980s (granted Lidster didn't join until, ironically enough, weeks after McCarthy was traded, but was there for the rest of the time). And hate to do it but he was hurt throughout their 1982 Final run, so it showed that the team didn't necessarily need him (not that the addition of Kevin McCarthy is seeing the Canucks win the Cup that year).

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Each 80's team :

Boston - Ray Bourque
Buffalo - Phil Housley
Calgary - Al MacInnes
Chicago - Doug Wilson
Detroit - Reed Larson
Edmonton - Paul Coffey (half decade)
Hartford - Dave Babych
Minnesota - Craig Hartsburg
Montreal - Larry Robinson
Los Angeles - Steve Duchesne
New Jersey - Viacheslav Fetisov
NYI - Denis Potvin
NYR - Ron Greschner
Pittsburg - Paul Coffey (other half of decade)
Philadelphia - Mark Howe
St Louis - Rob Ramage
Toronto - Borge Salming
Quebec - Jeff Brown
Vancouver - Kevin McCarthy
Washington - Rod Langway
Winnipeg - Randy Carlyle

Not even close. Paul Reinhart would be the peak answer, Doug Lidster or Rick Lanz for their body of work in the 80's. Anyway, none of them comes even close to consideration, although Reinhart is pretty underrated.

The answer to the OP is Ray Bourque. I won't say "AINEC", but I didn't have to think about it for long. If Potvin had more of his career in the 80's, I might have considered him for a bit, before choosing Bourque.

 

[The Panther]

Not saying Bourque wasn't the best overall throughout the decade, he was IMO, but that Norris voting record for Potvin is an embarrassment to the writers. What the hell games were they watching? The writers were an embarrassment for the first half the decade.

C'mon, everyone knows that Randy Carlyle was better than Potvin in 1980-81!!!!