to set the record straight, mccrimmon rarely if ever played with macinnis. when mccrimmon was in calgary, macinnis' partner was usually macoun. mccrimmon played with suter, and i think his partner was ramage when suter was injured during the '89 cup run.
also, mccrimmon only was bourque's partner for one of the three seasons they were teammates. hard to say mccrimmon had a lot to do with bourquee's development when bourque was a first team all-star as a 19 year old rookie, while mccrimmon was playing third pairing minutes and having trouble living up to his pre-draft billing as a 20 year old rookie the same year. in fact, the three years they were teammates, bourque was a first team all-star the two years he wasn't mccrimmon's partner, and "only" a second team all-star the year they were paired. if anyone should be credited with bourque's development, it's hall of famer brad park, as well as mike o'connell, who went to boston in bourque and mccrimmon's second year. bourque has publicly acknowledged his debt to both park and o'connell.
mccrimmon certainly was howe's ideal partner, and that was a phenomenal pairing. they brought out the best in each other.
but the mccrimmon that's being celebrated as a moulder of great young defensemen is the guy who went to calgary and was paired with 23 year old gary suter, who was coming off a disappointing sophomore season to follow his calder year. their first year together, mccrimmon helped suter to a career high 91 points, both were top five in +/- with mccrimmon leading the league, and both were second team all-stars (the only time for either guy).
and definitely, mccrimmon has to be credited with the development of lidstrom and pronger. by that point, he was a guy you wanted to pick up if you had a young potential star offensive defenseman that needed to be shown the ropes.
i still wish my canucks had hired him when he didn't get the atlanta head coaching job and alain vigneault was coming off that disappointing season where the canucks imploded down the stretch and missed the playoffs. i can only imagine what he would have done with edler and bieksa, and i bet he could have turned shane o'brien into a solid citizen and a non-liable contributor. more importantly, he would still be alive today.
but all that said it seems nuts to claim, as ron maclean implied last night, that a 20 year old mccrimmon helped 19 year old bourque the same way he helped 19 year old pronger as a 34 year old. there's remembering what a guy did, and then there's revisionist history, which in my opinion is unfair to the great things mccrimmon did do in his career.
