Datsyuk - Bergeron - Hossa vs Kariya - Kopitar - Guy Lafleur

[HFpapi]

This poll is a great example of when two-way play gets way overrated. Datsuyk - Bergeron - Hossa would indeed be an absurd line and a shut down line like no other but Lafleur is BY FAR the best player in this poll and peak Kariya is the second best.

Also, hot take but I think Kopitar > Bergeron and if they switched localities for their career, no one would doubt that. Kopitar not only played on the Pacific coast (thus less attention from media & fans) but played much of his career under one of the most offensively stifling coaches and still was far more offensively prolific than Bergeron while being his equal (or close to it) defensively.

I think this poll is heavily influenced by the cult legend status Bergeron and especially Datsyuk have taken on. Datsyuk was amazing and better than his stats suggest but he was never more than a fringe top 10 player, had a very short peak, and was a mediocre-at-best playoff performer.

 

[Coffees]

The fact that the second trio somehow lost is f***ed up

They didn’t lose, boubs, Poll is still open and I will not give up. We will get justice

If the poll closes and we still lose, then it was not meant to be and we live in a illusion world

 

[BraveCanadian]

The fact that the second trio somehow lost is f***ed up

Two outta three on the first are HFBoards overrated darlings.

Just be glad they didn't put Fedorov in there to go for the sweep.

This is easily line 2 for a few reasons.

 

[wetcoast]

This thread is starting to show just how underrated Lafleur is on these boards. No one in this poll is even close to him. He is the X factor in a list of players who all rank in and around the same level, as a top 20 player of all time, while no one else has a firm case for top 100. His prime is amongst the best ever and he was clutch AF. As Scotty Bowman said "When he was on his game, there was no one better.".

This whole "no one on line 2 would touch the puck" nonsense is just laughable parody. Line 1 would touch the puck plenty of times but a lot of it would be fishing the puck out of their own net.

Sure Lafleur does better in an all time ranking but in a 7 game series with players at their peak Datsyuk and bergeron are pretty good in their own right as was Hossa.

Then again I think Lafleur is over rated because of the circumstances of his 6 year peak already so there is that.