If you could start over any player’s career..

[CraigsList]

Sam Bennett.

Feel like we could’ve developed him better. He needed AHL time.

 

[HugginThePost]

Lindros in the current era where people aren't headhunting him like crazy.

This is the correct answer.......he would wreck the current league.

 

[HugginThePost]

Let's put Hasek on a bad team but give him a (comfortable) starting job circa '88 or something.

Let's put Theo Fleury in a city with no night life to start his career.

Heck, let's put both those guys in Hartford in 1988.

You need to go back a lot further than that if you want to help Theo.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Mario Lemieux is the easiest answer.

I'd like to watch Paul Karya too.

 

[Soundgarden]

It would've been interesting to see what David Legwand could've done on an established team with better players around him. Would he have had the offensive impact so many thought he could've had? The two seasons he played with Kariya and Erat we got to see the talent shine through. Would've been fun to see that his entire career.

My thought as well. 50-50-100 in his draft year but was pretty much forced to become a defensive minded center for better or worse by Trotz in those poor expansion team years. Would love to have seen how he developed on a team with twice the payroll pre-cap.

 

[JehovahsChild]

I would love to see a 20 year old Gilbert Perreault in today's game. He can not only skate with these modern players, with their ultra light skates, but he would still be the most exciting player in the NHL. I would, though, demand that his effort match his prodigious skills. This was always his Achilles Heel. He was so talented that he could float and still put up hall of fame numbers!

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Any star before I starting watching NHL hockey in the early 80s, particularly Orr. Iafrate without the injuries.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Mats Sundin, I think he'd be better than Auston Matthews in today's league.

 

[matt trick]

Never got to experience Bobby Orr, so that would be the easy choice for me!

 

[Llewzaher]

Bobby Orr
Hawerchuck .. was my favourite player

And completely out of left field ..Krys Kolanos …. Was pretty incredible until he got concussed

 

[DomBarr]

Pretty simple idea- if you could start over any player’s career in the modern day who would you choose and why? I figure the reasons for selection would be-

1) The player was before your time and you wanna see them.
2) You think their career coulda gone better/differently.
3) You think they’d do well in the modern game.

For me it’s Max Afinogenov. I’m still convinced the right coach coulda made him something special, and he’s definitely built for today’s game. Dude was also just a treat to watch- even if his career went exactly the same id be happy tuning in for it.

HM: Briere, Derek Roy, Orr, Lemieux, although I kinda like having those last two be legends.

Lindros is the top Starting with the right representation so that he starts his career correctly not as a whiny b****. Lindros would be unstoppable in todays NHL

HM to Orr, Lemieux

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Lemieux - Obvious choice, would have been on an even more elevated level without the cancer and injuries and all that. His combination of strength, skill, and size would be even more dominant in this era, I think.

Crosby - Same thing... Missed a lot of his prime with severe injuries from dubious plays and poor medical management.

 

[FlyguyOX]

Lindros in the current era where people aren't headhunting him like crazy.

This is the right answer

I'd also like to watch Pronger again, though. What an alpha

 

[DomBarr]

This is the right answer

I'd also like to watch Pronger again, though. What an alpha

Except Pronger makes Lindros the wrong answer again...

 

[Duffy13]

Besides the big names like Lemieux, Bossy etc etc .... I'd like to see an injury free Pat LaFontaine, Paul Reinhart, and Tim Kerr. Would like to see if Alexander Daigle or Yakupov could be the player they were hoped to be in this era.

 

[AvroArrow]

Bobby Orr was way before my time, but with how good of a skater he was, I'd love to see him in the modern game.

I wish Taylor Hall could get a career restart. Legitimately elite talent with all the tools and work ethic, was thrown into the worst situation imaginable and completely derailed his career. Either him or Lindros, career derailed by injuries, he had a legitimate chance to be up there with 99 and 66.

Pavel Bure in the modern NHL would be putting up McDavid/Mackinnon numbers IMO, but he was still an elite talent even then but he would be in the conversation for best player in the world with todays rules. Can't hold, slash and hook guys on breakways or guys coming in with speed, he would have been an absolute menace.

 

[ChikN]

A healthy Mario Lemieux in this era of hockey would be amazing to witness.

 

[Mike C]

For the Islanders I’d Take Dennis Potvin or Bossy.

In today's game, I'd like to see Barzal in the Western Conference where the game is more wide open and less defensively structured and not as tight checking

The guy's skills don't mesh with the style of play featured in the east

 

[miscs75]

Ziggy Palffy

 

[NotCommitted]

Selänne would be interesting to see in today's game. I mean even at age 35-40 he was still a great player after getting his knee fixed and with post lockout rules. He spent most of his prime in the dead puck era. Also if he didn't have those bad leg injuries early on 2nd time around. Plus we need to get him away from twitter.

 

[NWWisconsinDuck]

Weird one but Maxim Afinogenov… I always felt like he was electric for Buffalo when I watched, had a bazillion scoring chances but rarely ever finished

 

[BB79]

Here's mine-

Hasek- he didn't even play his first full NHL season until he was something like 27 or 28 years old. We deserved another 7+ years of watching the GOAT

Neely- in a league without dirtbags Ulf and Claude targeting him every shift when they played against him..he was the ultimate power forward.

Everyone aboard Lokomotiv Yaroslavl's plane that crashed back in 2011. I always wonder what these guys would be doing today and how their careers would have played out had that never happened. If any of them would have ended up back with an NHL club as a coach or whatnot. RIP to all of them.

 

[Scrantonicity 2]

Paul Kariya - seeing him hit his prime in today's game would be a treat to watch.

Sergei Makarov - transporting him into the NHL for the entirety of his career.

Vladislav Tretiak - seeing him in the NHL period would have been incredible.

 

[banks]

I'd love for Martin Havlat to get another try. If he had better injury luck, or played for a team with Cup hopes, I think he's be HHoF worthy. He was such a determined talent.

But I think the best answer here is Eric Lindros. The current NHL is perfectly made for a player like him. He'd be a thrill to watch today.

 

[super6646]

Fun to see this one bumped.