Dustin Brown where does he stand amongst power forwards

[Statto]

I’ve just been watching some old highlight videos. I watched a lot of Dustin Brown and a body checking master class and drawing lots of penalties without all that many fights.

Now when he started people wanted power forwards to fight but not so much these days. So that is something that used to be held against him but history probably won’t do so.

Brown also provided good scoring and was pivotal in our first cup run and arguably was at least in the Conn Smthye conversation.

He then went through a few down years due to a perfect storm of form, injury, system and wrong coach (for him). However he’s now having a strong bounce back and assuming he maintains it for the rest of the year and shows next year it’s no fluke where does he stand/rank amongst similar players?

For me he’s no1 for the Kings (Deadmarsh didn’t play long enough for us). I’d put him career wise ahead of Lucic but behind say Owen Nolan. What do you guys think? Given there’s nothing going on I though it was a good discussion.

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[Raccoon Jesus]

Historically, you mean?

He's a far cry from guys like Lindros or even Jamie Benn, but there's not more than a handful of active players better. Historically, though, he's mediocre, especially given the lack of fighting.

I will say though in the modern game he's a rare breed--only guys in the 50-60 point, league leading hit class were him and Ovechkin and Ladd did it like twice. And Dustin Brown might be the most effective hitter of the 2000s for that ability to change games and draw penalties. Never seen so many people get pissed off at random clean hits. Pietrangelo coming unglued after a hip check always cracks me up.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I'd first look to rank the best power forwards in the history of the game...

Cam Neely, Eric Lindros, Rick Tocchet, Keith Tkachuk, Brendan Shanahan, Wendel Clark, Gary Roberts, Jarome Iginla, Terry O'Reilly, Clark Gillies.

You could consider Gordie Howe and Mark Messier as power forwards as well, but I tend to view them more as highly aggressive centers. Same with Stan Mikita.

Then you have guys like Adam Deadmarsh, Kevin Stevens, Todd Bertuzzi, Mike Peca, Owen Nolan, Milan Lucic, who were considered top power forwards for a period of time as well.

I think Dustin Brown could slide into that second tier of power forwards. He was often times at the top of the league in hits while also being a 20+ goal, 50+ point producer, and hopefully he is on his way to producing similar numbers this season.

 

[KINGS17]

Dustin Brown belongs in the second tier of very good power forwards. He is not HOF material, but has been a great warrior for the Kings and has been instrumental to their success.

 

[BigKing]

He only makes a power forward list if you decide to make two lists consisting of pre-lockout (the mid-2000s one) and post-lockout. Even then, he came up in a time where you were expected to fight if you played the way he did so it is kind of a slap in the face to label him as the same type of player as Tkachuk/Clark/Shanahan/Neely etc. Hell, we just saw the last of the elite power forwards in Iginla last season scoring power play goals and fighting heavyweights.

What I'm saying is that he is a power forward only under "The New NHL" standards, so he would need to be included on a different list from the original power forwards. You can do that second list and include guys like Ovechkin and Brown who hit and never fight but they shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as the old guys.

If you want to talk about best hitters of all time though, Brown deserves to be up there. Just the sheer amount of them and the fact that he never skipped on a chance to bury the other team's best player. That kind of goes back to what I'm saying though...if he did that kind of stuff in the 80s or 90s, he'd have been killed.

 

[USE Fi]

You could consider Gordie Howe and Mark Messier as power forwards as well, but I tend to view them more as highly aggressive centers. Same with Stan Mikita.

Gordie Howe was winger.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Gordie Howe was winger.

Doh, that's right. I still don't lump him into that category though, same reasons for Messier. They played on the edge, and you didn't want to mess with them, but they weren't necessarily known for being power forwards primarily.

Also, I swear I had seen him play center before, and here is a clip of him taking an opening draw and playing center with the Whalers.

 

[Fishhead]

I've never considered Brown a power forward. I've always thought of him as an elite energy/hitter/pest guy, that role is much more descriptive of his play style. I think that's how most of the other fans around the league would describe him as well, he really annoys them.

 

[Statto]

Thanks guys. I agree I’d call him a power forward in the context of the current game and not grouped with the lindros, Neely types. I personally never included fighting as a requirement as his hitting made him intimidating but I know I’m in the minority.

But yes I’m talking about the game as it is today and that’s why I put the caveat of completing this bounce back season well and following it up solidly next year. That way I think he will get the credit he deserves beyond just how highly most Kings fans regard him. I do not think he’d be HOF but I would retire his shirt and that’s not something I say lightly.

 

[RangerFan23]

He's the best of all time!