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Fastest skating defenseman

livewell68

livewell68

Registered User
Jul 20, 2007
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Who is the fastest skating defenseman of all time?

This has to include a player who was also a star player.
 
Orr and Coffey are the two obvious answers I guess


*edit*

I see that this is a poll, lol. Well from all reports, I guess it would have to be Bobby Orr.
 
Coffey: coin flip with Orr before his knee problems but that was a short span of time unfortunately.
 
I think if you just isolate the speed factor and not think about anything else then it's Coffey. The poll doesn't say the "best" skater although you could choose Coffey over Orr in that situation as well and make a decent case. But this is the "fastest" skater and I give a slight edge to Coffey. He was so effortless out there and would glide as fast as most others would skate so I think that gets him underrated a bit. However, watch clips of Coffey and just watch the players around him and how he zooms by them with ease.

As for Niedermayer, I have no doubt he was fast, like others, I saw his whole career. But he annoyed you so much. There were times he looked so lazy out there. The way we all think about Jay Bouwmeester today is how I often thought of Niedermayer especially earlier in his career. He would do lovely things like score pretty goals (1995 Cup final, 1996 World Cup semi vs. Sweden) and then you wouldn't see it for another two years. I'm glad he strung together some great seasons at the end of his career but when I think of how much better he could have been it bothers me. You don't always say this about a HHOFer, but this is a guy that could have used his talents better
 
... Coffey was the fastest skating defenseman. Orr looked faster because most of the players from his era were slower. If there were a race between prime Orr and prime Coffey, Paul would beat him soundly.

If you believe Gretzky, Paul also was just as fast skating backward as Glenn Anderson was skating forward.
 
IMO Coffey was the fastest and Orr was the most mobile. Orr would just shift into a different lane, take three strides and get complete separation.
 
Big Phil said:
I think if you just isolate the speed factor and not think about anything else then it's Coffey. The poll doesn't say the "best" skater although you could choose Coffey over Orr in that situation as well and make a decent case. But this is the "fastest" skater and I give a slight edge to Coffey. He was so effortless out there and would glide as fast as most others would skate so I think that gets him underrated a bit. However, watch clips of Coffey and just watch the players around him and how he zooms by them with ease.
Click to expand...

Funny you say this as I happened to watch an Oilers/Flyers playoff game from '85 a few weeks back and saw for all intents a sprint race from a stand still between Coffey and Poulin. Both racing for the puck after it was coughed up by Gretzky. From about the hash marks to redline. By that point Poulin was about a stride and a half ahead...
 
JT Dutch said:
... Coffey was the fastest skating defenseman. Orr looked faster because most of the players from his era were slower. If there were a race between prime Orr and prime Coffey, Paul would beat him soundly.

If you believe Gretzky, Paul also was just as fast skating backward as Glenn Anderson was skating forward.
Click to expand...

You're overrating the difference in speed from Orr's time to Coffey's.

That said, I think Coffey was the faster skater. Orr had a great first step and better acceleration, but Coffey was a little faster to my eye.
 
Stonefly said:
Funny you say this as I happened to watch an Oilers/Flyers playoff game from '85 a few weeks back and saw for all intents a sprint race from a stand still between Coffey and Poulin. Both racing for the puck after it was coughed up by Gretzky. From about the hash marks to redline. By that point Poulin was about a stride and a half ahead...
Click to expand...

That is hard to believe. Maybe the end of a shift for Paul? Maybe he wasn't trying all that hard? I mean, what was the score of the game then? There was a blowout in the 1985 final in the Oilers favour

crobro said:
al iafrate or phil housley
Click to expand...

I don't know, it isn't as if I think Housley was a slow skater, he wasn't, but I think of him as more of a smart offensive minded defenseman who joined or even led the rush and had good instincts. I never think of him, or remember him, with blazing speed.

JT Dutch said:
... Coffey was the fastest skating defenseman. Orr looked faster because most of the players from his era were slower. If there were a race between prime Orr and prime Coffey, Paul would beat him soundly.

If you believe Gretzky, Paul also was just as fast skating backward as Glenn Anderson was skating forward.
Click to expand...

I believe this and I have seen just as much. In the 1987 Canada Cup against the Russians we saw Coffey at his finest. I remember there was a time when he led a rush that was aborted and the Russians countered the other way. Most players have to dig deep to backcheck for support. All of the sudden this promising rush stopped because Coffey - skating backwards - glided, yes glided, back into position in the neutral zone as if he had never left. For the life of me I can't remember if it was Game #1, #2, or #3 but he does it in that series. It is really something to watch if you ever get a glimpse of it. Coffey did this against the Russians who were very fast skaters and he acted as if he was doing it against the 1980s Maple Leafs.

Also, for those that remember there was a shorthanded goal the Russians scored in Game #1 where Makarov sped through the neutral zone on a partial break. Any other defenseman other than Coffey wouldn't have caught Makarov but Coffey did. The end result was a goal eventually but Makarov had to curl back once Coffey caught him since his breakaway was aborted.
 
Orr was not only the fastest D-man in the league but he was the fastest player and was even faster before his major knee surgeries.
Everyone says the same thing about Orr, after his surgeries, he was still fast as all hell but had lost a step. Before his major problems though, he had a gear that no one had seen up to that point and haven't since.

Coffey prolly was the fastest D-man but he wasn't even the fastest player in the league. I would of put Gartner up against him, anytime, any place.
 
Big Phil said:
Also, for those that remember there was a shorthanded goal the Russians scored in Game #1 where Makarov sped through the neutral zone on a partial break. Any other defenseman other than Coffey wouldn't have caught Makarov but Coffey did. The end result was a goal eventually but Makarov had to curl back once Coffey caught him since his breakaway was aborted.
Click to expand...

It was game 2, and as you can see from the youtube clip below (at about 2:33), Coffey was actually AHEAD of him all the time, so he didn't catch Makarov per se. But I would agree that any other Canadian defenseman probably couldn't have kept up with Makarov in that situation.




In the first game, though, Makarov scored a short-handed breakaway goal, when he outskated Ray Bourque.
 
Rhiessan71 said:
Orr was not only the fastest D-man in the league but he was the fastest player and was even faster before his major knee surgeries.
Everyone says the same thing about Orr, after his surgeries, he was still fast as all hell but had lost a step. Before his major problems though, he had a gear that no one had seen up to that point and haven't since.

Coffey prolly was the fastest D-man but he wasn't even the fastest player in the league. I would of put Gartner up against him, anytime, any place.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of hockey players that were just as fast as Bobby Orr (e.g. Bure, Makarov, Fedorov, Gartner, Coffey).
 
Last edited:
Big Phil said:
That is hard to believe. Maybe the end of a shift for Paul? Maybe he wasn't trying all that hard? I mean, what was the score of the game then? There was a blowout in the 1985 final in the Oilers favour
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I've never seen him try harder. The rest of your statement would be excuses. If you get the opportunity watch the series, I don't recall which game it was.
 
IMO, Coffey wass the fastest and best all-around skater ever.

Not to take anything away from Orr, but I think Coffey edges him slightly in skating (and skating only).

Bryan Fogarty's name should probably be mentioned, as well. I never saw him play, though, so it may be that his talent in that department has been exaggerated as part of the 'what if' story. Maybe someone else can speak to that.
 
Reynard said:
IMO, Coffey wass the fastest and best all-around skater ever.

Not to take anything away from Orr, but I think Coffey edges him slightly in skating (and skating only).

Bryan Fogarty's name should probably be mentioned, as well. I never saw him play, though, so it may be that his talent in that department has been exaggerated as part of the 'what if' story. Maybe someone else can speak to that.
Click to expand...

Fogarty's talent wasn't exaggerated, unfortunately, neither were his off-ice issue's :(
 
Stonefly said:
I've never seen him try harder. The rest of your statement would be excuses. If you get the opportunity watch the series, I don't recall which game it was.
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I don't think Poulin was a faster skater than Coffey and I don't think you think so either. He may have beat him to the puck at that instance but in 1971 there have been huge discussions before about how Orr lost the puck to Henri Richard in Game #2 (a game critics on here blast how for how he played) and then Henri blew by Orr like he wasn't even there. To only have watched this goal you'd have thought Orr was slower than a 35 year old Richard. But he wasn't. Maybe this is the same case with Poulin and Coffey. I mean, when you take a broader perspective of things and a larger sample size is there really more times when Poulin outskated his peers over Coffey?
 
I'll recant a bit actually.
Without the puck, there prolly isn't much difference between Coffey and Orr.
With the puck, Orr, 7 times a week and twice and Sunday's ;)


That is also something to keep in mind for that Coffey vs Makarov clip from '87.
Mak had the puck, Coffey didn't.
 
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