How hard is it to win both Fastest skater and Hardest shot?

[MuchoMacho]

Kessel





And for the triphecta he would also win the hamburger eating contest afterwards.

 

[billybudd]

Bondra came close, iirc. Blazing speed, but scored a lot of his goals on long-range slapshots, despite not being a perimeter player, really. Goal totals picked up only after scoring started dropping.

Very odd player. I'm not sure there's a modern comparable. You'd have to combine, like, Garrison and Grabner, and even then the comparison is bad.

Edit: Obviously OV used to be incredibly fast and still scores a lot of slapshot goals. For some reason I can't put my finger on, I don't like him as a comparable at all.

 

[billybudd]

Bit of a different time, too. No Weber or Chara, and I don't think MacInnis was competing the year he won hardest shot. It would also require them to compete in both the same year.

Dollars to doughnuts, Iafrate was also hurt for the hardest shot competition that year. He was always hurt for those skills competitions. One year, while they were testing the equipment, he blasted a shot better than the eventual winner's while wearing a pair of sneakers (he would not compete that year because he was not cleared to skate). May have been the year Fedorov won, ntitai.

 

[CapsCrazyX17]

Mid-late 90s Bondra could have done it. He won a couple of fastest skaters at the all-star game and had a big, booming slapshot

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Pavel Bure. Easily the fastest skater and also had a 100 mph slap shot.

 

[Hippasus]

Pavel Bure. Easily the fastest skater and also had a 100 mph slap shot.

He had great acceleration / game situation speed, but wasn't as good at straight-ahead / around the rink speed as some other players from back then, like Fedorov.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

He had great acceleration / game situation speed, but wasn't as good at straight-ahead / around the rink speed as some other players from back then, like Fedorov.

Give him a puck to chase and he becomes the fastest

 

[OzzyFan]

primevechkin could have done it

Actually Semin probably legitimately could have done it had he made it at least once.

I'd say a younger Kovalchuk had a shot too. A more dark horse might be Subban or Burns or Jeff Carter(although haven't seen Carter use his slapper that much, but if it's anything like his wrister....).

 

[CAPS LOCK]

Iafrate was rumored to be the fastest Capital during his short stay in D.C. He once told reporters that he would give up cigarettes as soon as someone on his team could beat him in a race... He was famous for smoking his Marlboro Reds in between periods under the stands in Landover with an old friend and off ice official buddy of mine. Its a shame he never took better care of that body and all that god given talent.

 

[HFBS]

Gretzky would have come in last in both. Surprised he made it.

 

[Hippasus]

I'm going with Ovechkin for the closest to fit the bill in this thread. Even today.

Give him a puck to chase and he becomes the fastest

Haha yeah I always wondered why players couldn't carry the same game skill over to the competitions.

 

[swiftwin]

Apparently you don't have to be a good player to win both though. Christoph Schubert won both at the Sens skills competition once.

Yes, this Christoph Schubert:

 

[urho]

Why wasn't Pulkkinen a part of that slapshot competition? Would've been interested to know how hard he shoots... He shot 100mph in his teen years.

 

[unknown33]

It wasn't an official NHL allstar competition, but on the History section someone posted times and shot speed (measured differently though) for 60s players and I think Bobby Hull was among the best in both.

 

[Ash35]

I bet Al Iafrate could have given it a real chance, he had a booming shot and was very fast as well.

I believe he came in second after Mike Gardiner one or two years for fastest skater.