I don't expect it to ever be gotten "right," because there is no one right answer. We'll all have our opinions, but you know what they say about those. I know fully well that another informed group could come up with a list quite different from whatever ours turns into, and they wouldn't be wrong for it.
My post wasn't intended to say anything other than pointing out what's probably the biggest source of difficulty, at least for me. I absolutely agree that education is the most important part, and I for one can say that I've already learned plenty and look forward to what I'm still to learn. That's why I wanted to take part in this to begin with. I haven't been disappointed. So far from that, I've found this much more profitable than I expected, and we've barely begun.
At the same time, the farther you go down the list, the smaller the gap gets. I think it's fair to say that there's noticeably less difference between Makarov and Kurri (though still significant, no doubt) than between any of the big four and anyone around #50. To further that point, just think about how much different the gap between the players you listed seems to someone who views the "higher" player just a little lower and the "lower" player just a little higher, and that's going to happen with a sizeable group of participants. There are already specific players that I have no doubt I'm going to view noticeably higher or lower than the group as a whole, and I'm sure we're all going to be like that. It would be boring otherwise. That's going to be the difference in the "no way's" and "definitely's" in some cases.
I can't help but think about Lidstrom and Bourque here. Debating the two of them has been popular for years, and when you put them with Shore and Harvey, you've got four guys that could all be legitimately ranked anywhere from second to fifth among defensemen. I can see any potential order for the four of them. So, someone that ranked either Lidstrom or Bourque second among defensemen and the other fifth could conceivably have one of them as high as fifth overall, even if it's a stretch, and the other could be say, 25th, even if, again, it's a stretch. Right there, you've got a gap of perhaps up to 20 ranks between two players that I think we'd all have to agree are, in truth, pretty close. Again, I'm stretching some of the limits there, but it makes the point. We're going to be dealing with players more closely bunched than that by the end of this project.
