Where does the Ray Bourque Cup win rank all time in NHL history?

[67 others]

Lidstrom had the chance to play with great Red Wings teams in the 90's and 00's. Those teams were far better than Bourque's Bruins. The only comparable team for Bourque was the 00-01 Colorado Avalanche team and he won the Cup. I'm pretty sure if Bourque had played with the Red Wings instead of Lidstrom, they win as many if not more Stanley Cups.

Concerning Norris trophies, Lidstrom started to win his bunch of Norris trophies when most of the top defensemen in the 80's and 90's were past their prime or retired. The competition was worse by far in the 00's, it's not even comparable to what Bourque had to compete against in the 80's and 90's for the Norris compared to Lidstrom in the 00's. And despite of it, Bourque still won the Norris more than anyone else during the 80's and 90's.

Yes the 80's to early 90's was the most stacked tough field of defensemen of all time. And yeah, Lidstrom was lucky to be drafted by the wings at the right time. I agree, the wings probably have 5 or 6 cups with prime Bourque

 

[VanIslander]

Officially, ...

Bourque's cup win PALES in comparison to his top-3 postseasons. He just had better help.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Lidstrom had the chance to play with great Red Wings teams in the 90's and 00's. Those teams were far better than Bourque's Bruins. The only comparable team for Bourque was the 00-01 Colorado Avalanche team and he won the Cup. I'm pretty sure if Bourque had played with the Red Wings instead of Lidstrom, they win as many if not more Stanley Cups.

Concerning Norris trophies, Lidstrom started to win his bunch of Norris trophies when most of the top defensemen in the 80's and 90's were past their prime or retired. The competition was worse by far in the 00's, it's not even comparable to what Bourque had to compete against in the 80's and 90's for the Norris compared to Lidstrom in the 00's. And despite of it, Bourque still won the Norris more than anyone else during the 80's and 90's.

Trust me, I've made arguments to that affect many times over the years. I rank Bourque ahead of Lidstrom without any hesitation (and without any offense to Lidstrom).

I just meant that someone can make an honest, logical argument for Lidstrom over Bourque (even if I, personally, wouldn't). But once you add Karlsson > Bourque into the mix, the logic (and probably honesty) is gone.

 

[67 others]

Trust me, I've made arguments to that affect many times over the years. I rank Bourque ahead of Lidstrom without any hesitation (and without any offense to Lidstrom).

I just meant that someone can make an honest, logical argument for Lidstrom over Bourque (even if I, personally, wouldn't). But once you add Karlsson > Bourque into the mix, the logic (and probably honesty) is gone.

Its a reasonable position. Bourque had a higher peak. In fact his best 4 years are better than Lidstrom's best year. He also had a longer prime where he was considered a top Defenseman because Lidstrom wasn't really a Norris finalist caliber until he was 27 and the competition was aging out.

Its also a matter of how flaky the voters were in the 80's. I love Rod Landway, but if you told me stay at home Scott Stevens was taking 2 of Lidstrom's Norris trophies, i would be pretty upset

 

[mobilus]

For Ray Bourque it ranks #1.

 

[daver]

Purposely joining another team to win a championship is inherently against the spirit of sport. That being said, Bourque is up there with any other player in league history who deserved a championship based on the quality of their career accomplishments.

 

[cole von cole]

I'd say it's a top 5 Stanley Cup moment for me

and yet if Erik Karlsson played in the 80's, odds of him being #1 in assists were nonexistent with Gretzky around

Now that you mention it, Bourque would've led the league in assists in 86-87 if not for Gretzky

 

[Hasbro]

Bourque got a ton of legacy votes that year. He was still good, but not on par with Zubov & co.

Zubov was 8th in Norris voting that year.

 

[Hasbro]

He is. A full year with Bourque's transition game propelled some avs to their best season ever. Foote became rock solid learning from Bourque. Sakic blew his career high out of the water during the lowest scoring era.

People also forget the bruins squads he rolled with were not exactly star studded lineups when compared to cup winners at the time.

Thanks to Synden's cheap ass.