Canada all time team

[vadim sharifijanov]

didn’t lindros play wing in the 1991 canada cup? at this level that’s probably the best use of him

 

[sr edler]

zamuner sharp graham
kunitz draper maltby

crossman seabrook
odelein gregg

hrudey

all-randos/nepos team, eric brewer would be their captain

I like how they're only running two lines as well, that's some old-school shit.

 

[JackSlater]

Lemieux Gretzky Cook
McDavid Beliveau Howe
Messier Clarke Lindros
Hull Crosby Bergeron
Yzerman, Bossy

Pronger Orr
Bourque Harvey
Potvin Shore
Kelly, Doughty

Roy
Brodeur
Price

Not necessarily who I think the best 25 players are but I've had pretty much this team for a few years now. Doughty is something of a place holder for Makar, but I do think that Doughty is undervalued due to playing in Los Angeles (and some motivation issues) and he is the best defenceman Canada has had internationally this century. Yzerman makes it because he is my favourite player ever and I want him there. For goaltender I wanted all time greats who could probably get along with Roy.

 

[Fatass]

Messier & Lemieux played some LW IRL, which reduces the number of tough decisions....

Messier-Gretzky-G. Howe
Lemieux-Beliveau-M. Richard
Bo. Hull-Crosby-Bi. Cook
Lindsay-Morenz-Bossy

Harvey-Orr
Potvin-Bourque
Kelly-Shore

Roy
Plante

Feels wrong leaving off McDavid (want more time in the developing fluid), Nighbor, & Clarke. Also doesn't sit well to leave off L. Robinson.

This is much more fun if you do it by provinces...

This is great. I’d find a spot for Coffee.

 

[The Panther]

Thread needs more Lindros.

 

[Gerulaitis]

Thread needs more Lindros.

You're joking, right?

 

[MadLuke]

Thread needs more Lindros.

And maybe Sakic, has well.

in the 10 years windows of 95 to 04, Sakic outscored every Canadian by a good amount in the regular season

Ppg

Sakic..: 1.21
Lindros: 1.17
Gretzky: 1.10
Kariya.: 1.07

In the playoff he had like 50 more points than any Canadians.

Proven playoff hero, strong intl resume, MVP of the 2002 Olympics, can play on the power play, the PK... maybe he get overlooked.

Having 0 Canadian players that peaked in between the 1994-2005 lockouts, is obviously possible, but maybe they are getting DPE underrated a little bit here.

You're joking, right?

Imagine the poor defense facing a Beliveau line, a Lemieux line and then a Lindros line, that a lot of size of people that can play going at you.

 

[Gerulaitis]

And maybe Sakic, has well.

in the 10 years windows of 95 to 04, Sakic outscored every Canadian by a good amount in the regular season

Ppg

Sakic..: 1.21
Lindros: 1.17
Gretzky: 1.10
Kariya.: 1.07

In the playoff he had like 50 more points than any Canadians.

Proven playoff hero, strong intl resume, MVP of the 2002 Olympics, can play on the power play, the PK... maybe he get overlooked.

Having 0 Canadian players that peaked in between the 1994-2005 lockouts, is obviously possible, but maybe they are getting DPE underrated a little bit here.


Imagine the poor defense facing a Beliveau line, a Lemieux line and then a Lindros line, that a lot of size of people that can play going at you.

I certainly can imagine that, but I struggle to imagine Lindros as a top-13 Canadian forward of all time.

 

[authentic]

Spinning around with this theme..

There been several threads like this before..but now its 2025.

Any changes? Could any active players outside of Crosby and McDavid take a spot? Mackinnon? Makar?

Bobby - Le gross Bill - Howe
Lemieux - Gretzky - Yzerman
McDavid - Crosby - Sakic
Messier - Lindros - Bossy

Potvin - Orr
Bourque - Pronger
Coffey - MacInnis

Roy
Brodeur

Probably forgot someone.

I would put MacKinnon and Makar in place of Messier and MacInnis.

 

[Johnny Tomala]

Are we putting out there players who never played for Team Canada at international event? Or players who only player for Canada? There are too many posts with people who never suited for Canada.

 

[The Panther]

I certainly can imagine that, but I struggle to imagine Lindros as a top-13 Canadian forward of all time.

At his peak, he absolutely was. I would say, at his best, he's quite easily a top-12 forward of all time (not just Canadian). Of course, when you factor in all the intangibles (longevity, full seasons, etc.) he falls short of some other guys who then move ahead of him.

Even today, among retired Canadian forwards, and counting all those forgettable seasons he finished his career with (NYR, Dallas Toronto), Lindros ranks 10th all time in points per game. Ahead of him are Hawerchuk, Yzerman, and Bossy, who likely aren't ahead of him if their peak scoring seasons hadn't been in the 1980s. It's quite likely that, in considering career totals per-game, Lindros is actually the 7th most productive Canadian (retired) forward of all time. (And that's not even considering his massive physical edge and his hugely impressive ES results that dwarfed contemporaries like Lemieux and Jagr.)

But since we're talking about one team for one tournament here, shouldn't we be focusing on peak / prime, not career?

McDavid is likely to end up well ahead of Lindros for career (unless he plays until he's 45 or something) and certainly also for peak scoring, but who knows if Crosby or MacKinnon's peak years are better than Lindros's at the per-game level? It's debatable anyway:

Through anyone's first 300 career games, Lindros ranks 4th all time in points, behind only Gretzky, Lemieux, and Stastny, and I think it's more than likely Stastny wouldn't be ahead of Eric if not for team / era considerations. So, I would say Lindros is behind only Gretzky and Lemieux for scoring in anyone's first 300 games.

In terms of the fastest players to 500 points, it's:
1. Gretzky / 2. Lemieux / 3. Stastny / 4. Bossy / 5. Lindros
Lindros got to 500 points faster than Connor McDavid. And again, it's likely he'd be ahead of both Stastny and Bossy if the scoring levels were equalized, although that's just a guess.

 

[Michael Farkas]

If nothing else, for a guy that is very "raw counts for Gretzky" and not nearly as friendly to other things (including per game counts for Mario)...this is really quite a red carpet for Lindros haha

 

[MadLuke]

massive physical edge and his hugely impressive ES results that dwarfed contemporaries like Lemieux and Jagr

95 to 98 seasons (included), before Jagr separate himself ahead of everyone:

Player........ .GP EVP +/- evppg
Mario Lemieux. 146 152 .37 1.04
Jaromir Jagr.. 270 271 .93 1.00
Eric Lindros.. 234 223 .98 0.95
Teemu Selanne. 275 230 .46 0.84
John LeClair.. 292 238 115 0.82
Peter Forsberg 266 208 .80 0.78
Ziggy Palffy.. 276 171 ..5 0.78
Ron Francis .. 283 209 .74 0.74
Sergei Fedorov 215 154 .94 0.72
Pierre Turgeon 267 189 .40 0.71

Depends what we mean by dwarfing Jagr ES results

 

[JackSlater]

What should get Lindros on every team is that he is totally unique among players good enough to play at this level. There is no one in contention who brings a game to game physical element like Lindros brought. Yes I know that Lindros paid the price for that, but if this was for a game or a tournament then the odds are that he will be fine. You get a player who at his peak can score with the best Canadians outside of the obvious outliers, but also one who can and is willing to physically dominate. Variety is good for a team. Helps that Lindros' game would translate very well to the wing.

I'd also say that if you are looking to make a representative team tracing the lineage of great Canadian forwards, Lindros pretty much has to be the bridge between Lemieux and Crosby. There is some awkwardness (Beliveau kind of squeezed out for example) but it goes something like Morenz > Richard > Howe > Hull > Lafleur > Gretzky > Lemieux > Lindros > Crosby > McDavid.

 

[MadLuke]

Lindros is one of the best at the faceoff circle (not that it would be an big issue for Canada), can play on the PK, he brings a lot for one of the best Canadian scorer of all time.

 

[The Panther]

If nothing else, for a guy that is very "raw counts for Gretzky" and not nearly as friendly to other things (including per game counts for Mario)...this is really quite a red carpet for Lindros haha

This is an entirely incorrect description of my history of posts and arguments on this forum. Fail.

95 to 98 seasons (included), before Jagr separate himself ahead of everyone:

Player........ .GP EVP +/- evppg
Mario Lemieux. 146 152 .37 1.04
Jaromir Jagr.. 270 271 .93 1.00
Eric Lindros.. 234 223 .98 0.95
Teemu Selanne. 275 230 .46 0.84
John LeClair.. 292 238 115 0.82
Peter Forsberg 266 208 .80 0.78
Ziggy Palffy.. 276 171 ..5 0.78
Ron Francis .. 283 209 .74 0.74
Sergei Fedorov 215 154 .94 0.72
Pierre Turgeon 267 189 .40 0.71

Depends what we mean by dwarfing Jagr ES results

You are correct that Jagr was right up there (as I was posting, I actually thought, 'Hm, what about Jagr?', but I ignored it!). I overstated the case with "drawfed", but, in any event, Lindros was remarkably effective at 5-on-5 in his prime.

 

[MadLuke]

No Canadians were close to him anyway, Francis-Turgeon being a clear tier or 2 below here.

 

[MXD]

To people having Bill Cook over Maurice Richard : ... What?

 

[CokenoPepsi]

I wouldn't. It's just not good value because no matter who they play the game would be out of reach by the time they got to "...stand on guard for thee" haha

I dunno, I think an all time "world" team could be decent, they might not win but games would be competitive

 

[Boxscore]

M. Lemieux - Gretzky - Crosby
Hull Sr. - McDavid - Lafleur
MacKinnon - Lindros - Howe
Messier - Clarke - Trottier
Keon - Bergeron

Orr - Harvey
Bourque - Pronger
Potvin - Robinson
Shore

Roy
Dryden
Brodeur

Coach: Bowman
Assistants: Burns and Neilson

Clear omissions: Esposito, Bossy, Rocket, Beliveau, Coffey, Makar

As great as these guys ^ were, they weren't the right fit for my team. It came down to...

McDavid vs. Beliveau
Lindros vs. Esposito
Hull Sr. vs. Rocket
Lafleur vs. Bossy
Potvin and Robinson vs. Coffey and Makar

 

[Soundwave]

I am sure they are blushing at such high praise.

Well if it makes you feel better I think a prime Crosby is right there with those 3 too, I'd put him 4th and I'd take him over a prime Gordie Howe no questions asked (and pretty much anyone else). Like that may not be fair to Gordie Howe, but I think that's just how it is. Crosby is better than Howe, Beliveau, Hull Sr., Esposito, probably Messier (though he would be up there for me too).

The game gets better as time goes on, it's not fair to the older guys but it just is what it is.

 

[Gerulaitis]

At his peak, he absolutely was. I would say, at his best, he's quite easily a top-12 forward of all time (not just Canadian). Of course, when you factor in all the intangibles (longevity, full seasons, etc.) he falls short of some other guys who then move ahead of him.

Even today, among retired Canadian forwards, and counting all those forgettable seasons he finished his career with (NYR, Dallas Toronto), Lindros ranks 10th all time in points per game. Ahead of him are Hawerchuk, Yzerman, and Bossy, who likely aren't ahead of him if their peak scoring seasons hadn't been in the 1980s. It's quite likely that, in considering career totals per-game, Lindros is actually the 7th most productive Canadian (retired) forward of all time. (And that's not even considering his massive physical edge and his hugely impressive ES results that dwarfed contemporaries like Lemieux and Jagr.)

But since we're talking about one team for one tournament here, shouldn't we be focusing on peak / prime, not career?

McDavid is likely to end up well ahead of Lindros for career (unless he plays until he's 45 or something) and certainly also for peak scoring, but who knows if Crosby or MacKinnon's peak years are better than Lindros's at the per-game level? It's debatable anyway:

Through anyone's first 300 career games, Lindros ranks 4th all time in points, behind only Gretzky, Lemieux, and Stastny, and I think it's more than likely Stastny wouldn't be ahead of Eric if not for team / era considerations. So, I would say Lindros is behind only Gretzky and Lemieux for scoring in anyone's first 300 games.

In terms of the fastest players to 500 points, it's:
1. Gretzky / 2. Lemieux / 3. Stastny / 4. Bossy / 5. Lindros
Lindros got to 500 points faster than Connor McDavid. And again, it's likely he'd be ahead of both Stastny and Bossy if the scoring levels were equalized, although that's just a guess.

McDavid already has made a lot more impact on the game than Lindros.

Lindros can probably make the second team Canada all time.

 

[koyvoo]

I wonder how many people remember how impactful Lindros was in the 1991 Canada Cup…as an 18 year old.

 

[Gerulaitis]

I wonder how many people remember how impactful Lindros was in the 1991 Canada Cup…as an 18 year old.

I remember Lindros scoring against Sweden in that Canada Cup.
But he wasn't a key player.

Interesting that he was Canada's top center at two Olympics -1992 and 1998. And team Canada have lost both.

 

[koyvoo]

I remember Lindros scoring against Sweden in that Canada Cup.
But he wasn't a key player.

Interesting that he was Canada's top center at two Olympics -1992 and 1998. And team Canada have lost both.

I didn’t even remember the goal in 1991, but that’s not where his impact came anyhow. He was physically dominant.

No Canadian Olympic team should be judged for anything in the era that saw amateurs bs pros, and as far as 1998 goes, Canada built a very flawed team with tunnel vision focused solely on beating the Americans.