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Brian Leetch: Greatest American Player Ever?

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Zanex

Registered User
Jan 12, 2022
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I was just looking at Brian Leetch's stats on elite prospects, and it's crazy how much he dominated not only the NHL, but also College hockey. Is there an American who can match what he did at all levels? Here are his achievements: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/8994/brian-leetch

I think the only player close is Patrick Kane. Modano doesn't have the hardware. Chelios? Longevity and more physical than Leetch, but that's it.

Can a case be made for Leetch being the greatest American born player ever? Certainly he's the best American Defenseman, at least.
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Leetch is right there . I take Leetch and LaFontaine and I think Tkachuk and JR should get some love over Modano , but...it is all a matter of opinion .
 
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nyr2k2 said:
Leetch, Chelios, Modano, Hull. In some order. Kane is up there now.

LaFontaine was the most talented of that group, IMO, and if he stayed healthy I think he'd be tops.
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Kane is definitely a contender.
 
Obvi there's no such thing as best ever except in conversation,
despite our bias, it's not hands-down even that Leetchie was best US D ever.

I loved Leetch but Chelios was also a tone-setter.

Just like there's no concensus of best NHL player ever

I saw mid/late Gordie, prime Orr, all of Gretz and Mario, and Sid and McJesus,

Orr made the game watch him. Best I saw.
But as mentioned above, it's all just personal opinion.
 
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The usual suspects in this discussion have been Leetch, Chelios, Hull, Modano, LaFontaine, Tkachuk, and Roenick. Kane is now firmly near the top of forward group, IMO. Take your pick between Leetch and Chelios for defenseman, two very different players but both excellent.
 
Machinehead said:
Chelios was in the box 1:30 per game.

I'll now wait patiently for somebody to tell me that's actually good somehow.
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Well, I don't see it as bad either. Most of that is fighting which is an offsetting penalty and was valuable (at least seen as) back then and Chelios wasn't fighting total plugs either.
 
Crease said:
The usual suspects in this discussion have been Leetch, Chelios, Hull, Modano, LaFontaine, Tkachuk, and Roenick. Kane is now firmly near the top of forward group, IMO. Take your pick between Leetch and Chelios for defenseman, two very different players but both excellent.
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One guy that's very underrated is Joe Mullen. Over 500 goals, 1,000+ pts, Stanley cups in Pittsburgh and Calgary. Phil Housley had many great seasons in Buffalo as well.
 
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Machinehead said:
Chelios was in the box 1:30 per game.

I'll now wait patiently for somebody to tell me that's actually good somehow.
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Loved Chelios but yeah his PIM is very bloated. Amongst elite Defensemen of that era, Leetch's career PIM may be the lowest of all of them, which is a testament to how responsible he was defensively.

Look at MacInnis. Great Defenseman, but has 1501 career PIM in 1416 games. Leetch has 571 in 1205 games. And MacInnis played on much better teams later in his career than Leetch did.
 
Crease said:
Take your pick between Leetch and Chelios for defenseman, two very different players but both excellent.
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From a pure talent and highest peak perspective, it's Leetch no question. If you prefer a more physical Defenseman and longevity than Chelios is your guy, although Leetch isn't bad either as far as longevity goes, and he could also be physical when needed. He threw some of the best hip checks along the boards.

I prefer pure raw talent and high peak, so Leetch is my choice. Leetch was one of the best skaters ever, great vision and one of the best precision passers ever. His peak is also the best ever amongst Defensemen.
 
cwede said:
Obvi there's no such thing as best ever except in conversation,
despite our bias, it's not hands-down even that Leetchie was best US D ever.

I loved Leetch but Chelios was also a tone-setter.

Just like there's no concensus of best NHL player ever

I saw mid/late Gordie, prime Orr, all of Gretz and Mario, and Sid and McJesus,

Orr made the game watch him. Best I saw.
But as mentioned above, it's all just personal opinion.
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Orr was easilythe best I ever saw. It was astounding to watch how much better he was than every other player.

I know plus/minus is pooh-poohed, but a season of +124?
 
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chosen said:
Orr was easilythe best I ever saw. It was astounding to watch how much better he was than every other player.

I know plus/minus is pooh-poohed, but a season of +124?
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Orr was great but benefitted greatly from playing in the weakest era in NHL history. Literally half the league were expansion teams, and I don't mean Vegas Golden Knights expansion either. I'm talking Mighty Ducks expansion teams.

Leetch is considered the greatest Ranger ever, which would obviously put him above Brad Park. Park was runner-up to Orr many times for the Norris.

Put Leetch, Bourque, Chelios, MacInnis in that era and Orr wouldn't be racking up Norris wins year after year. He'd win some, but so would those other guys.
 
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Zanex said:
Orr was great but benefitted greatly from playing in the weakest era in NHL history. Literally half the league were expansion teams, and I don't mean Vegas Golden Knights expansion either. I'm talking Mighty Ducks expansion teams.

Leetch is considered the greatest Ranger ever, which would obviously put him above Brad Park. Park was runner-up to Orr many times for the Norris.

Put Leetch, Bourque, Chelios, MacInnis in that era and Orr wouldn't be racking up Norris wins year after year. He'd win some, but so would those other guys.
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Comparing players from different eras is impossible, so you have to look at how they compared to their contemporaries. Different equipment, different conditioning, way different access to medical knowledge, among other things.

The quality of the sport has risen, like every other sport, that's just a fact of getting better at building good athletes.

All of the defensemen you cite were at times at the very top of defensemen in the NHL. Orr was by far the best PLAYER in the entire sport every season, including his rookie season, until somewhere around his 8th knee surgery.

P.S. While it's close, Park was good as Leetch on offense and was arguably the most physical player on the entire team. The only knock on Park is that he wasn't a Ranger for nearly as long because of the biggest trade in Rangers history.

Any list you were to find of best defensemen in the history of the NHL is pretty likely to list Park ahead of Leetch and it's usually not close. That doesn't prove I'm right but it's not a bad argument for my opinion.

By the way, the best story about Orr is the first time Bobby Hull played against him, Hull supposedly skated over to the ref after the first period and said that they'll need two pucks for the 2nd and 3rd periods. One for Orr and one for the rest of us.
 
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I mean, if I'm starting a team and I have to draft any American player that ever played as my first draft choice then I'm taking Leetchie. That's about all there is to it. Hull was born in Ontario if I'm not mistaken.
 
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