Who is the best player you saw live?

[Jack Spider]

I saw Lemieux as a kid but don't remember.
Jagr in NYR
Price in MTL.
It's peak Malkin in 09 and a Duchene game.

GG boys.

 

[LTIR]

Bure was the best I saw outside of local team Oilers..

 

[Jack Spider]

Bure was the best I saw outside of local team Oilers..

you won't see someone skate like that. gg.

 

[Juha]

Gretzky, but I was such a wee lil' lad I'm not sure it counts. I barely remember the game. Gretzky evens cored a goal and I missed it. I was too busy stuffing my mouth with candy.

 

[HanSolo]

Probably McDavid. My first hockey game was in 97 but it was Kings-Habs and the best player in that game was arguably Luc Robitaille but I wasn't really a hockey fan yet.

Depends on your definition. Some might argue Crosby and Ovechkin are better until McDavid is farther along in his career. But I've seen a number of superstar talents live in my life including Crosby, Ovie, Malkin, Sakic, Forsberg, Lidstrom, Brodeur, Hasek... No one has ever made my jaw drop quite like McDavid.

 

[Jack Spider]

Martin Brodeur- 1-0 shutout game in MTL

 

[Jack Spider]

Brassard in Ottawa

 

[Jack Spider]

Duchene in NJ

 

[Nadal On Clay]

2015 Price, Crosby or McDavid at the 4 Nations would be my top choices.

 

[GlitchMarner]

It's not easy to get tickets to games at Scotiabank Arena. When the Leafs were going nowhere in late 2015, I was able to attend a TOR/FLA game.

I went to a TOR/BUF game in Buffalo in '07. I saw the Leafs play the Sens and Wings at Maple Leaf Gardens. I guess the answer to the question is Nick Lidstrom (assuming he played - I was a kid and don't remember much about the game itself). If not, Yzerman or Fedorov.

 

[57special]

Bobby Orr, followed closely by prime Lafleur, followed by Gilbert Perrault.

Oops, forgot Bobby Hull( 60's). He was a force. Fastest guy on the ice, with a shot that scared everyone. Very strong.

 

[Drake1588]

Saw the Habs play the Oilers in the mid-80s at the Montreal Forum. So Gretzky, at his peak, though both clubs had recently won Cups and the game had the likes of Robinson, Gainey, Carbonneau, Chelios, Naslund, Bobby Smith and Roy in addition to the Boys on the Bus. Take your pick of hockey luminaries.

Every game at the Forum was incredible, when you're a kid and you grew up worshipping the Habs.

 

[dr robbie]

I guess Gretzky. I don't recall him having any spectacular games that I watched live, but he's easily the best player I saw live.

 

[jmelm]

Used to travel to Pittsburgh once a year to see a few games. This was in the Lemieux, Jair, Francis era.

 

[glenngineer]

Bossy and Trottier in 1983.

Gretzky in his last game against Nashville where he had a 5 assist night if memory serves.

Lidstrom many a time.

Peter Forsberg many a time too.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Crosby at the Garden

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Crosby

 

[EdJovanovski]

Vitali Kravtsov

 

[JoVel]

This is going to be incredibly lame, but as someone who's never been to an NHL game either in North America or Europe, my answer would be Nikolaj Ehlers from a Denmark-Hungary game at the World Championship.

The biggest talent I've seen live is Gavin McKenna, but he was barely 16 years old.

 

[Toby91ca]

I guess Gretzky. I don't recall him having any spectacular games that I watched live, but he's easily the best player I saw live.

Gretzky for me too. I've seen him play a few times only with the first being at the 1987 Canada Cup.....5-3 win over Sweden, he had 4pts. He played out West and I grew up out East, no local NHL team, so not a lot of opportunities to see a lot of live NHL games.

I moved to Toronto to start work after university the year he retired, or year after.

 

[Fatass]

99, 66, 4. Messier was pretty damned impressive (live) too. Saw Lafleur, Dionne too. Both great. Perrault was brilliant. Yakushev and Kharlomov were unexpectedly amazing.
Haven’t been to a game in a very long time. Might go see McDavid, McKinnon and Quinn Hughes. They look worth the ticket.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Gretzky, he had 2 goals and 3 assists in a 6-2 win.

 

[BB79]

Brodeur probably. Last saw him live in 2003 towards the end of the season at Boston months before winning the 03 cup.

Being a Bruins fan got to see Bergeron, Chara and company a million times. I got a late start, never really started going to games until around 02.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Been blessed to see Crosby and Malkin throughout their entire careers, so those two of course.

When I used to go to more games, made a point to get to games against particularly high-end players when they're in town.

Ovie, McDavid, Lidstrom, P. Kane, Mackinnon, and Jagr are the first that come to mind.

Jagr was later in his career when he was with Florida. Funny story, there was a middle-aged lady there entirely decked out in Jagr gear. She had Jagr hat, pins, a Czech jersey... the works. She literally held her breath every time Jagr touched the pucked and screamed "Go Jaromir!!!" constantly. I thought her head would explode when he scored a goal. The Penguins started to run away with the game and she left early. We concluded she was definitely a 90s puck-bunny lol.

 

[islesmb]

Gretzky. Yes I'm old.