Most perfect career in hockey?

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Ray Borque.

2nd or 3rd best d-man of all time (I'd take Lidstrom by a hair). Raises the Cup in his last NHL game. Fairy tale ending to a stellar career that had every hockey fan on the planet teary-eyed.

 

[PaulD]

Ken Dryden
8 seasons. 6 Cups.
Cup and Con Smythe first season.
Rookie of Year.
Took a year off to article at law firm. Came back won 4 more Cups.

Slam Dunk. It's over.

Beliveau is my answer too.

One of the few guys to have the privilege to be a legend for their childhood team.

Imagine being a kid and dreaming of raising the Cup for your favourite team? And then getting to actually do it?

Beliveau, Lafluer, Lemaire, Trembly, Serge Savard, Guy Lapoint, Pierre Larouche, Roy, Laperiere, Cournyer, Lambert, Carbonneau,

 

[blankall]

Howe or Crosby. Among the top guys, they are the only ones who played full length careers without significant injuries. Gretzky was dealing with back injuries for much of the tail end of his career. Lemieux and Orr clearly didn't have full careers.

You could also make a case for ovy. For goalies Brodeur and Roy are the best candidates. Maybe guys like Sawchuk or Plante too?

 

[HabsQC]

Henri Richard. Won the cup 11 times

 

[ViD]

Pat Maroon

Half joking

 

[WatchfulElm]

To be considered a perfect career, I think you need the following :

- Many Stanley cups (remove Dionne, Iginla, Thornton, etc)
- Many individual awards (remove Kurri, Park, Lafontaine, etc)
- International success (remove Malkin, St. Louis, Chara, Tavares, maybe even Ovechkin)
- Longevity (remove Orr, Dryden, Bossy, etc)
- Health (remove Lemieux)
- Most career with the same team (remove Coffey, Housley, maybe even Gretzky?)
- No controversy (remove Lindros, Theo Fleury, Bobby Hull, Gilmour, etc. Even Gretzky is controversial nowadays)
- Good on both side of the ice (remove Bure, Gainey, etc.)
- Successfull post-playing NHL career as coach or executive (guys like Savard, Robinson, Lemaire gets bonus points)
- Being universally respected (guys like MAF, Bergeron gets bonus points)
- Retired before their full decline (guys like Lidstrom, Sakic gets bonus points)

So who's left?
Lidstrom?
Brodeur?
Crosby?
Yzerman?
Sakic?
Béliveau?
Bourque?

Joe Sakic fits pretty much every criteria out there. He's my pick!

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I really don't get people picking guys who lost significant time to injury or retired early.

Bossy? Crosby? Lemieux? Orr? How is having career altering/ending injuries perfect?

I generally agree with this although I would be OK with keeping Crosby since he did have a pretty long career in the end.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, I don’t know how Morenz got included in the list. He was very successful in his time but his career ended after he died from complications of a hockey injury. Far from perfect if you ask me.

 

[Plural]

Gretzky in my books.

I do like Beliveu's career too. And Richard's.

I hate the guy, but Messier did pretty well.

If I would try to answer a question who tapped most out of his potential career wise, I might go with Messier.

 

[Plural]

Mike Bossy with nine straight 50 goal seasons. Only missed his final year and IMO would have gotten there if not for his back.

If we don't consider injuries as negative in perfect career sense, Bossy is left in the dust compared to Orr.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Probably Crosby when you factor in money.