Who are the very best players in history who were the best at skating? Any poor skaters?

[bobholly39]

Among say, the top ~25 players of all-time or so, who are the ones who are the very best at skating? What about - are there any that are poor skaters? You can expand slightly beyond top 25 players of all-time if you like - but the idea is really to talk about some of the better players all-time, not just looking at great skaters who weren't necessarily all-time great players too.

Would Orr and McDavid be top 2 for skating? How does someone like Crosby or Jagr fit in - both of which I always found to be super solid on their skates. How about Gretzky, Lemieux?

Just curious to get a conversation going, and hear opinions on skating abilities on some of the greatest players ever.

And yes - best skater doesn't necessarily mean just fastest skater, since there are a lot of aspects to it.

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[Mandar]

Not sure if Coffey is in the top 25 of all time players....definitely in the top 100....best skater I have seen in my 50 or so years watching the game.

A few others.....Gartner, Bure, LaFleur.....

 

[MadLuke]

Brett Hull-Robitaille-young Chara are some to come to mind as great player that were held back at least early with their skating ability.

Has for the great player being also good at skating, I imagine that would be quite common, Crosby-Gretzky are exceptional skaters

 

[VanIslander]

Esposito wasn't a great skater.

 

[Mandar]

Esposito wasn't a great skater.

very true. Marcel Dionne wasnt a great skater either.