Greatest Playoff Performers Since 1967 - #2

[HavingACow4Cowan]

Which player do you consider the next greatest playoff performer of the post-expansion era?

You can vote based on what players did in the playoffs or based on whom you would want to select for a playoff run.

You're picking a player to help you win a series - whom do you take?



Results:

#1. Wayne Gretzky (63.9%)

 

[amnesiac]

St. Patty

add Brodeur and Hasek

 

[Bouboumaster]

Roy, for sure

IMO he should have been #1

4 Cups, 3 Conn Smythes
He was a f***ing hero in both 1986 and 1993, especially in 1993 with his 10 OT victories in a row, which is crazy

 

[VaporTrail]

Hasek

 

[nORRis8]

Bobby Orr

 

[HavingACow4Cowan]

Wayne Gretzky
Something like 382 pts in 208 playoff games.
Ya...I think I'll vote "Other"
Wayne "Other" Gretzky

In fact this poll should have been 2 choices:
*Wayne Gretzky
*Other

This is the second poll of a series. Wayne Gretzky won the first one already.

 

[Xspyrit]

Roy
Forsberg
McDavid

 

[amnesiac]

Wayne Gretzky
Something like 382 pts in 208 playoff games.
Ya...I think I'll vote "Other"
Wayne "Other" Gretzky

In fact this poll should have been 2 choices:
*Wayne Gretzky
*Other

clearly in the title that were doing #2, and clearly in the OP that Gretzky was voted #1

 

[Staniowski]

When picking top playoff performers, it should be picking the best players...i.e. who you would want on your team, in a general sense, in the playoffs.

There shouldn't be an advantage for players who played a lot in the playoffs because they played for good teams.

Given that there's not a single person involved in the hockey world who would actually take Roy over Orr, McDavid, Lemieux, Messier, and many other players....the idea of Roy being ahead of these guys is really wacky, merely because he had the luxury of playing for top teams almost his entire career.

Mike Vernon came pretty close to winning 3 Conn Smythes. That doesn't mean anybody would want him on their team over Orr or Messier.

 

[nORRis8]

This is the second poll of a series. Wayne Gretzky won the first one already.

I see that now

 

[HavingACow4Cowan]

When picking top playoff performers, it should be picking the best players...i.e. who you would want on your team, in a general sense, in the playoffs.

There shouldn't be an advantage for players who played a lot in the playoffs because they played for good teams.

Given that there's not a single person involved in the hockey world who would actually take Roy over Orr, McDavid, Lemieux, Messier, and many other players....the idea of Roy being ahead of these guys is really wacky, merely because he had the luxury of playing for top teams almost his entire career.

Mike Vernon came pretty close to winning 3 Conn Smythes. That doesn't mean anybody would want him on their team over Orr or Messier.

I definitely get where you're coming from, but I think the reason many are voting for him is that he was very dominant in his best playoff runs (and people believe he basically carried two MTL teams to Cup wins). If you get peak playoff Roy, you have a good shot at multiple Cups.

I'm not sure his supporters care all that much about how many playoff games he played for the Avalanche or his goalie stats in the playoffs with COL.

 

[Staniowski]

I definitely get where you're coming from, but I think the reason many are voting for him is that he was very dominant in his best playoff runs (and people believe he basically carried two MTL teams to Cup wins). If you get peak playoff Roy, you have a good shot at multiple Cups.

I'm not sure his supporters care all that much about how many playoff games he played for the Avalanche or his goalie stats in the playoffs with COL.

Right, but he didn't carry Montreal to two Stanley Cups. That's the point!

The vast majority of people who think he "carried" those teams didn't even watch the '86 and '93 playoffs. He was an important part of both teams, but most people who watched know better.

When Roy played, if somebody said they'd take Roy in the playoffs over Gretzky, Messier, or Lemieux, everybody would've laughed. Obviously that's a joke. Now, people (who apparently don't know any better) say it as if it's something serious.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Hard not to take Messier, with almost 300 playoff points and 6 cups.

 

[tabness]

McDavid an option but not Barkov? cmon

 

[HavingACow4Cowan]

McDavid an option but not Barkov? cmon

Will add Barkov.

Should add Kopitar as well next time.

 

[tabness]

Right, but he didn't carry Montreal to two Stanley Cups. That's the point!

The vast majority of people who think he "carried" those teams didn't even watch the '86 and '93 playoffs. He was an important part of both teams, but most people who watched know better.

When Roy played, if somebody said they'd take Roy in the playoffs over Gretzky, Messier, or Lemieux, everybody would've laughed. Obviously that's a joke. Now, people (who apparently don't know any better) say it as if it's something serious.

Roy's 1993 is a legit great goalie playoff run, but yeah, there's definitely a big dissonance of the degree of 1986 between how it was seen then and how it's remembered now. There's also a underrating of the Habs teams and their styles.

I chalk it up to Roy's growing stature as his career went on (Hextall or Ranford or whoever didn't age so gracefully) and the increased popularity of the save percentage and derivative stats from the nineties on, and a general push to include goalies on the same field/level as skaters in general in ranks and the like and so you gotta have a top guy like Roy or Hasek way up high.

 

[centipede2233]

Got to go with Roy. Even his 2001 conn smythe was deserved. He lead all goalies with a .934 save %, Brodeur who was in the finals had a .897 save %. The next closest save % to Roy was Joseph at .927 with only half the games.

 

[wetcoast]

When picking top playoff performers, it should be picking the best players...i.e. who you would want on your team, in a general sense, in the playoffs.

There shouldn't be an advantage for players who played a lot in the playoffs because they played for good teams.

Given that there's not a single person involved in the hockey world who would actually take Roy over Orr, McDavid, Lemieux, Messier, and many other players....the idea of Roy being ahead of these guys is really wacky, merely because he had the luxury of playing for top teams almost his entire career.

Mike Vernon came pretty close to winning 3 Conn Smythes. That doesn't mean anybody would want him on their team over Orr or Messier.

Personally I'd rather see position players only for this topic as goalies are hard to slot in and for positional players I think they do more to create their resumes but Roy should probably be top 5 here and maybe even second. Going to think on this and read more before voting.

 

[centipede2233]

Right, but he didn't carry Montreal to two Stanley Cups. That's the point!

The vast majority of people who think he "carried" those teams didn't even watch the '86 and '93 playoffs. He was an important part of both teams, but most people who watched know better.

When Roy played, if somebody said they'd take Roy in the playoffs over Gretzky, Messier, or Lemieux, everybody would've laughed. Obviously that's a joke. Now, people (who apparently don't know any better) say it as if it's something serious.

I see it as accomplishments. Roy with 4 cups and 3 smythes and the 10 Ot win run in 1993, add in the fact he beat Gretzky’s and Brodeur in the finals that resume just cant be touched other than 99.

 

[boompuffboom]

add Claude Lemieux, seriouslyyyyyy

 

[H3ckt1k]

Add Henrik Zettberg

 

[Trash Panda]

Will add Barkov.

Should add Kopitar as well next time.

Kopitar being a passenger for the last decade in all the Kings playoff games makes him lose quite a bit of the luster he cultivated in 2012-2014.

He was just a non factor in the worst way possible from 2015 till his retirement this year.

 

[HavingACow4Cowan]

Kopitar being a passenger for the last decade in all the Kings playoff games makes him lose quite a bit of the luster he cultivated in 2012-2014.

He was just a non factor in the worst way possible from 2015 till his retirement this year.

I think that's a valid point. I did say in a thread about him that I found it surprising he didn't win a playoff round after 2014.

That said, I'd rather get two strong playoff runs that lead to Cups from a 1C or a star forward than a bunch of nice playoff runs that end in the second or third round (I guess like Aho, although he may win himself a Cup this year).

 

[Trash Panda]

I think that's a valid point. I did say in a thread about him that I found it surprising he didn't win a playoff round after 2014.

That said, I'd rather get two strong playoff runs that lead to Cups from a 1C or a star forward than a bunch of nice playoff runs that end in the second or third round (I guess like Aho, although he may win himself a Cup this year).

I completely agree.

However, his inability to lead his team without an all-star cast of character-rich support, kinda removes him from this poll.

 

[wetcoast]

I completely agree.

However, his inability to lead his team without an all-star cast of character-rich support, kinda removes him from this poll.

Maybe this would be a more valid discussion when we get to the " who is the 30th best playoff performer since 1967" than the current one that is for second overall.

I mean anyone getting added now shouldn't get any votes until then, right?