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McDavid Or Coffey: Who Is Faster?

Supreme King

Registered User
Aug 24, 2011
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Paul Coffey, to this day is still the best skater I have ever seen in the NHL. But in terms of "pure" speed, who is faster, Connor McDavid or Paul Coffey? I'm interested in those who saw both play and what there verdict is.
 
Bobby Orr and Pavel Bure would be up there. Would be fun to see a race between those four.
 
Well I'd give the slight advantage to McDavid now seeing as Paul is about 55 years old.
 
Supreme King said:
Paul Coffey, to this day is still the best skater I have ever seen in the NHL. But in terms of "pure" speed, who is faster, Connor McDavid or Paul Coffey? I'm interested in those who saw both play and what there verdict is.
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deezer said:
but ur also 21 years old and have never seen Paul Coffey live, so...
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I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that you'd make such statements when you can't even be bothered to read or you can't comprehend the post that's 2 above yours.
 
Fourier said:
Or perhaps I have seen Coffey play live about 300 times. How many for you?
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Talking pure speed gotta give it to McDavid, watched the Oilers live from 1972 on. Coffey was the best skating defenseman of his era, even better than Orr, you have to remember that when Bobby Orr was in his prime, the game overall was much slower. Watch the old films, players weren't the athletes they became later. Lol, some of them were smoking a pack a day.
 
I always thought Coffey was crazy smooth and effortless, with McDavid you can tell he's trying at least a bit. McDavid is a forward so his top speed is certainly more evident and i'd certainly guess he's faster. I think Bure could give him a run for his money though in terms of speed. Personally i'd say Coffey was the smoother skater. The best skater i've ever seen in relation to his peers though is still easily Bobby Orr.
 
Dieseloil said:
Talking pure speed gotta give it to McDavid, watched the Oilers live from 1972 on. Coffey was the best skating defensemen of his era, even better than Orr, you have to remember that when Bobby Orr was in his prime, the game overall was much slower. Watch the old films, players weren't the athletes they became later. Lol, some of them were smoking a pack a day.
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There were still guys who could fly crazy fast, guys like Hull, Cournoyer, Savard were insanely fast and amazing skaters. Certainly there were some guys who were pretty bad though, but in fairness it was a symptom of the times. Worse training, nutrition, and most of all terrible skates compared to now.

Also on the smoking front Lafleur used to do nothing but smoke for hours before a game, in full equipment, and was still crazy fast so it's still doable.
 
I'm not old enough to have seen Coffey play live, but I have watched my fair share of hockey. The way McDavid can reach top speed so quickly without or with the puck puts him in a tier of his own in today's NHL. Watching him live honestly took my breath away....I haven't seen anything like him in my lifetime!
 
Eskimo44 said:
There were still guys who could fly crazy fast, guys like Hull, Cournoyer, Savard were insanely fast and amazing skaters. Certainly there were some guys who were pretty bad though, but in fairness it was a symptom of the times. Worse training, nutrition, and most of all terrible skates compared to now.

Also on the smoking front Lafleur used to do nothing but smoke for hours before a game, in full equipment, and was still crazy fast so it's still doable.
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They were the speedsters of their era no doubt. It's hard to compare them to the guys now.
 
Dieseloil said:
Talking pure speed gotta give it to McDavid, watched the Oilers live from 1972 on. Coffey was the best skating defenseman of his era, even better than Orr, you have to remember that when Bobby Orr was in his prime, the game overall was much slower. Watch the old films, players weren't the athletes they became later. Lol, some of them were smoking a pack a day.
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I agree that Coffey was an incredible skater, beautiful to watch. McDavid may look choppier but I wonder if that is in part because so often we see him attacking a defenseman with the puck on his stick. As such he is often making quick lateral moves at the same time. In this respect he reminds me a lot of Gretzky who while not as fast as these two was probably as agile as anyone I have ever seen.

The big thing for me is how often even great skaters on defense are forced to bail out well before McDavid gets to them just to have chance. I am not sure that even Bure would have made them do so in the same manner.

I never saw Orr live. And it does make a difference seeing players live in this regard.
 
I asked my papa and he says McDavid is better terms of top speed.
I was born shortly after the last cup.. cursed!
 
Fourier said:
I agree that Coffey was an incredible skater, beautiful to watch. McDavid may look choppier but I wonder if that is in part because so often we see him attacking a defenseman with the puck on his stick. As such he is often making quick lateral moves at the same time. In this respect he reminds me a lot of Gretzky who while not as fast as these two was probably as agile as anyone I have ever seen.

The big thing for me is how often even great skaters on defense are forced to bail out well before McDavid gets to them just to have chance. I am not sure that even Bure would have made them do so in the same manner.

I never saw Orr live. And it does make a difference seeing players live in this regard.[ Quote] I saw Orr live, but this was later in his career. I agree about the defense bailing out, lol. They don't wanna be the guy that get's beat. Skating backwards does't work well with McDavid, once he's beside you it's over.
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Fourier said:
I have never seen anyone live skate as well or as fast as McDavid.
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He does seem to be even faster than Hall, who has a great straight line speed, but not nearly as shifty. McDavid seems to be able to accelerate when it already seems like he's at full speed. And he needs so little space separate even from best defenders--if they don't manage to pin him against the wall near the zone entry, he's gone.
 
LTIR said:
Coffee smooth McDavid fast.. this isnt close..
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I think it's a great question though. I have a hard time answering it because the two eras are very different. Watching Coffey skate end to end, going through defenders was breath taking. Nobody did it better than he did back then.

What McDavid does today reminds me of that. The difference to me is that today's players are much bigger and faster than the guys Coffey had to deal with. There isn't anywhere near as much room on the ice today as there was back then and that's what makes McDavid more impressive. I can't imagine how dominating he'd be if he played in the 80's.
 
Mcdavid is faster. Coffey was the greatest all around skater of all time until Mcdavid. I think Mcdavid is the best overall skater and fastest of all time.
 
Eskimo44 said:
I always thought Coffey was crazy smooth and effortless, with McDavid you can tell he's trying at least a bit. McDavid is a forward so his top speed is certainly more evident and i'd certainly guess he's faster. I think Bure could give him a run for his money though in terms of speed. Personally i'd say Coffey was the smoother skater. The best skater i've ever seen in relation to his peers though is still easily Bobby Orr.
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Your first sentence described Coffey very well. He could look like he was taking a leisurely casual skate and still blow by guys that were trying hard to keep up. Who was faster? No way to say for sure but probably McDavid but Coffey still was an amazing skater.
 
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