Owen Nolan Or Gary Roberts?

[DitchMarner]

Which power forward was the better player?

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[ForsbergForever]

Peak Nolan, but career Roberts.

 

[Ignatius]

Gary Roberts, 2 minutes for Too Much Man

 

[Albatros]

I'll take Nolan, just because he was carrying a rather weak Sharks team with some success for a few years. Roberts was always a bit more of a complementary player.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

love em both but Id have to go with Roberts, I was like 13 or 14 back in their Leafs days and I always thought Roberts had a bigger presence out there, I swear their production were pretty close, I can imagine many would go with Nolan, iirc he was much better in his SJ days than his TOR days.

still will never forget Nolan sitting on the bench with 2 black eyes, guy was a warrior.

 

[BruinDust]

Gary Roberts. His work dragging the 2001-02 Leafs to the conference finals doesn't get talked about enough. Sundin only played 8 playoff games that year.

In the playoffs, I'll take Roberts over Nolan.

 

[thadd]

Nolan had more high end skill for longer, but Roberts was a much more complete player.

 

[SillyRabbit]

Give me peak Nolan.

 

[Toby91ca]

Peak Nolan, but career Roberts.

Really? I think they are very close, with the edge to Roberts, but if you are talking peak, that's more clear in Roberts favour in my opinion

 

[Regal]

Really? I think they are very close, with the edge to Roberts, but if you are talking peak, that's more clear in Roberts favour in my opinion

Nolan’s 99-00 is the best season between the two imo. He was 2nd in goals, tied for 6th in points, and 5th in Hart voting. Roberts was tied for 3rd in goals but “only” 17th in points in his best year 91-92. Though Roberts’ run from 91-92 to 93-94 before his injuries where he almost didn’t play again might have been a better sustained period of play.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Peak Nolan, but career Roberts.

Can’t like posts because I’m on probation but I agree

 

[Toby91ca]

Nolan’s 99-00 is the best season between the two imo. He was 2nd in goals, tied for 6th in points, and 5th in Hart voting. Roberts was tied for 3rd in goals but “only” 17th in points in his best year 91-92. Though Roberts’ run from 91-92 to 93-94 before his injuries where he almost didn’t play again might have been a better sustained period of play.

Yeah, I guess....he had the best single season comparatively, kind of a one-off year though....I'm not one of those guys that suggest peak needs to be "best 4 year run" or something.....but I guess that's almost how I was looking at it.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Agreed with the posts above that Nolan was more of a game-breaker and centerpiece player, Roberts was more complete with a longer career.

If it’s one hockey game, Nolan. If it’s building a franchise, it depends on who else you’re surrounding them with.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Roberts before his neck injury was the best of the two.. as it turned out Nolan was mostly better except when Gary went beast mode in the playoffs.

 

[Regal]

Yeah, I guess....he had the best single season comparatively, kind of a one-off year though....I'm not one of those guys that suggest peak needs to be "best 4 year run" or something.....but I guess that's almost how I was looking at it.

Yea, fair enough, I guess it depends on how we look at it. Nolan’s year was a bit of an outlier like you say, and Roberts was probably a bit underrated in the years leading up to his neck injury.

 

[Staniowski]

At their respective bests, Roberts was definitely the better player. In his first years on Calgary, he played mostly with Nieuwendyk and Loob, then Nieuwendyk and Makarov. On these lines, he usually took a backseat to his linemates. But he deliberately set out to improve his fitness (something which he is famous for today) and became a real force in the NHL in the '92 season, and continued the following season. He was truly one of the best players in the NHL. He had great hockey sense, really good hands, and was very agressive, assertive, and focused.Then his neck injuries started and he was never quite the same again.

Without the injuries, an easy hall of famer.

Roberts tends to get overlooked somewhat, probably because the league was overflowing with talent when he was at his best.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Nolan was the better player. Roberts is a legend though.

 

[aylib]

Too much man