Voted Lemieux but i assume its overall health (including back issues) and not just cancer
Orr is a close second
Its diffferent. With Orr we saw him at his best for full seasons and it was great....and then he had to leave. The "what if" is likely more of the same - but for how many more years its the question. Not necessarily as intriguing a question as with Lemieux
Lemieux really only hit his peak ability around 89. And for the next 7 years he was plagued with health issues. Even in seasons where he played a lot he was nowhere near 100% with chronic back pain. To me the "what if" is more interresting as i wonder which single season offensive records he would have been able to beat if he was at 100% capacity during those years
I think people are collectively forgetting how young Orr was when his career was essentially over.
Think of Wayne Gretzky's tearful press conference after being traded to LA. If that was actually his retirement announcement and his career was done would be around the same thing, but he was older than Orr was.
Scott Stevens hit on Lindros. (although I know he had been concussed already).
Mario's cancer diagnose.
Bossy's back.
etc. these happened to them when they were older than Orr.
And he was a defence man. He was just entering his prime. He was a few years younger than guys like Eric Karlsson and Victor Hedman and P.K. Subban and only a year, year and a half older, than guys like Morgan Reilly and Dougie Hamilton when he was done.
He did so much as a kid entering the league that people kinda wash over how young he actually was. He would've only been 31 years-old (32?) when Gretzky won his first Hart trophy. Could you imagine a grown-up mature Orr playing 1980s hockey?
The whole NHL landscape would've been different if Bobby Orr never had such brutal knee problems.
yup, I tried making the point about his age earlier.
career over at 26.
McDavid is 22...imagine saying McDavid only has 4 more years of hockey to play. That's what happened to Orr
Crosby
Him playing full seasons in 2010-11 & 2011-12 completely change his legacy IMO
Voted Other.
(if the details are wrong, please correct me as I heard this story a while ago)
Doug McLean was saying that CBJ won their last game of the year, one year, and leap frogged Washington in the standings.
Washington won the draft lottery and took Ovechkin.
What would have been had CBJ drafted Ovie?
Ya, I imagine that would've had no effect on the player or either franchise.How would that be the biggest what if of all time? Ovy still played, he simply would have played for CBJ instead.
Ya, I imagine that would've had no effect on the player or either franchise.
BAU.