one two center duo in History

[Phil68]

Looking back now and having watched what McDavid and Drai have been doing. To me as of right now, Outside Gretzky Messier, Lemieux, Francis,

Crosby, Malkin will go down as the 3rd best one two center combo in history.

 

[RussianBum86]

Yzerman and Fedorov
Sakic and Forsberg
All four of those centers were HOF caliber players that showed up when it mattered most.
Those guys won cups, mvps, hardware, and battled it out with each other for a decade plus.
McDavid and Drai don't have the hardware yet to be considering the best 1 2 punch because they can't win when it counts.

 

[PistolPete]

Yzerman and Fedorov
Sakic and Forsberg
All four of those centers were HOF caliber players that showed up when it mattered most.
Those guys won cups, mvps, hardware, and battled it out with each other for a decade plus.
McDavid and Drai don't have the hardware yet to be considering the best 1 2 punch because they can't win when it counts.

Hockey isn't a two man sport.

 

[RussianBum86]

Hockey is a two man sport.

No but it takes leadership and perseverance to inspire your team to sacrifice everything to win. Yzerman, Sakic, Forsberg, and Fedorov had to adapt their game to win cups.

 

[BadgerBruce]

Jean Beliveau and Henri Richard.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Looking back now and having watched what McDavid and Drai have been doing. To me as of right now, Outside Gretzky Messier, Lemieux, Francis,

Crosby, Malkin will go down as the 3rd best one two center combo in history.

Crosby Malkin are ahead of Lemieux Francis. More cups and Francis is the worst of the 4.

 

[PistolPete]

No but it takes leadership and perseverance to inspire your team to sacrifice everything to win. Yzerman, Sakic, Forsberg, and Fedorov had to adapt their game to win cups.

Still, again, hockey isn't a two man sport.

Compare the rosters of Cup winning teams with teams who had top end tslent but no Cups. You'll likely find the Cup winning teams had more of thr ingredients necessary to win- such as goaltending.

There is absolutely nothing Drsisaitl nor McDavid can do about Edmonton's horrible goaltending. Their defense? What are they do about that?

And what made Florida so damn hard to beat this year? Great goaltending and scoring from multiple sources.

The paradox of your argument is if the Oilers pull off a win but McDavid and Drsisaitl play the very same, now just by merely being on a winning team they're suddenly true leaders.

 

[CapsJunkie]

Backstom and Kuznetsov not the best in history but great

 

[tarheelhockey]

Jean Beliveau and Henri Richard.

Came here to say this. In modern terms it’s like having Crosby and Yzerman down the middle.

 

[landy]

Looking back now and having watched what McDavid and Drai have been doing. To me as of right now, Outside Gretzky Messier, Lemieux, Francis,

Crosby, Malkin will go down as the 3rd best one two center combo in history.

If only McDavid and Draisaitl actually centered their own lines. They’re the fakest 1-2 ever.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Looking back now and having watched what McDavid and Drai have been doing. To me as of right now, Outside Gretzky Messier, Lemieux, Francis,

Crosby, Malkin will go down as the 3rd best one two center combo in history.

Just from the guys I watched (feom thw mid 90s), I think you have to include Yzerman and Fedorov. They both were exemplary 2 way players, and SF is IMO the most underrated superstar of the last 30 years. I hate the Wings, but he was just unreal.

 

[D1az]

Yzerman and Fedorov
Sakic and Forsberg
All four of those centers were HOF caliber players that showed up when it mattered most.
Those guys won cups, mvps, hardware, and battled it out with each other for a decade plus.
McDavid and Drai don't have the hardware yet to be considering the best 1 2 punch because they can't win when it counts.

I think salary cap needs to be taken into account, and the fact that those guys listed were on teams which spent 50-250% more than most other teams in the league.

https://archive.triblive.com/news/2001-national-hockey-league-payroll-rankings/

They were essentially only each others' worst opponents.
Looking at this data, the Devils come up as a really impressive team, but I don't think people would really love for someone to come up with a new version of completely slowing down the game.

 

[Quatre Vingt Treize]

Looking back now and having watched what McDavid and Drai have been doing. To me as of right now, Outside Gretzky Messier, Lemieux, Francis,

Crosby, Malkin will go down as the 3rd best one two center combo in history.

Beliveau and Pocket Rocket

 

[Khelandros]

Hockey isn't a two man sport.

Yet here we are, debating who the best one two center combination in NHL history is.

 

[PistolPete]

Yet here we are, debating who the best one two center combination in NHL history is.

Difference between debating a component of a team and attributing team wins and losses to just two players themselves.

 

[tfwnogf]

Sorry I don't see how they are better than Mackinnon/Kadri. That team was the best since 85 Oilers.

 

[PistolPete]

Sorry I don't see how they are better than Mackinnon/Kadri. That team was the best since 85 Oilers.

Which team are you speaking of?

 

[HockeyVirus]

McDavid and Drai will never count for this ranking because Drai plays wing for McDavid more than he plays his own line. Every single time the go to is moving him as a winger. They are absolutely insane together, but this is not Crosby / Malkin

 

[Realgud]

Detroit always had that with Yzerman/Fedorov, then Zetterberg/Datsyuk and these days with Larkin and the great one JT Compher.

 

[Gerulaitis]

Certainly must be in the conversation:
Fedorov and Yzerman
Forsberg and Sakic

Non-NHL:
Larionov and Bykov

 

[Guttersniped]

No but it takes leadership and perseverance to inspire your team to sacrifice everything to win. Yzerman, Sakic, Forsberg, and Fedorov had to adapt their game to win cups.

In 1997, Joe Sakic signed an offer sheet from the NYR for 21m/3 years than included a 15m signing bonus.* The Avs only were able to keep him because the movie Air Force One made a lot of money.

*15m in 1997 = ~30m today

Federov signed an offer sheet from the Canes worth up to 38m. After matching, the Red Wings had to pay him 28m in 1997-98 alone.**

**28m in 1998 = ~55m today

Such sacrifice.

 

[GMR]

Gretzky/Messier and Beliveau/Richard are probably the standard.

Henri Richard is often overlooked.

 

[Planetov]

No but it takes leadership and perseverance to inspire your team to sacrifice everything to win.

It sounds like you looked at results and applied a bunch of superlatives to positive outcomes. Let me guess, Yzerman/Ferdorov “wanted it more,” Sakic/Forsberg “played for one another.”

Yzerman, Sakic, Forsberg, and Fedorov had to adapt their game to win cups.

It is painfully obvious those four had better depth and goaltending than McDavid/Draisaitl. FFS, The Avs had Patrick Roy, and the Red Wings had a veritable all-star team.

 

[PistolPete]

It sounds like you looked at results and applied a bunch of superlatives to positive outcomes. Let me guess, Yzerman/Ferdorov “wanted it more,” Sakic/Forsberg “played for one another.”

It is painfully obvious those four had better depth and goaltending than McDavid/Draisaitl. FFS, The Avs had Patrick Roy, and the Red Wings had a veritable all-star team.

Yzerman won it for the Gipper!

 

[BadgerBruce]

Came here to say this. In modern terms it’s like having Crosby and Yzerman down the middle.

True enough — and we likely should remember that the third line centre playing behind Beliveau and Richard, Ralph Backstrom, was one helluva player.

Speaking of trios, one could also make a case for the Syl Apps/Teeder Kennedy/Max Bentley trio with the SC winning Leafs in 1948. I hesitate to name the top 2 — probably Apps and Bentley, given that Kennedy was just entering his prime at age 22. But all three were awfully good.