Who is the best player you saw live?

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I will never forget the one and only game I have had the honor, nay, the priviledge, of witnessing live. In the summer of 2014 my dear compatriot Under-the-Bridge Uri passed, leaving $100 in his wallet for me. With this largess I purchased tickets to the Sabres’ season opener that year, vs the vaunted Blue Jackets.

Tyler Ennis or Something Foligno, I do not know which shocked mine eyes more!

 

[Chainshot]

I feel like I've been lucky to see Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr, Roy, Hasek, McDavid, Lafleur, Robinson, Bergeron and Lidstrom all live.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Other than the penguin guys I'm glad I caught a game in Pittsburgh back in 2004 when the Avalanche visited. That team had Sakic, Forsberg, Kariya, Selanne, Hejduk, Blake, and Tanguay, and luckily they all played that night.

 

[Unspecified]

I saw Datsyuk a few times live at Joe Louis and had seats in the lower bowl. The amount of skill that guy had was arguably the best I've ever seen. I've seen a lot of the greats in person and growing up in LA my parents had season tickets to the Kings I got to witness Gretzky quite a lot

 

[kings11]

Ziggy Palffy with the Kings

 

[Summer Rose]

I've been to a lot of games in person over the years, so I'm not really sure I can narrow it down to a single one. Not really sure I can nail down the best individual performance I've managed to see in person either.

What I will say is that the overwhelming majority of games I've been to were Coyotes games, so more often than not, the best players I've ever seen live were members of the visiting team.

 

[Power Surge]

95-96 season Steve Yzerman with Federov

 

[WF19]

I saw Datsyuk a few times live at Joe Louis and had seats in the lower bowl. The amount of skill that guy had was arguably the best I've ever seen. I've seen a lot of the greats in person and growing up in LA my parents had season tickets to the Kings I got to witness Gretzky quite a lot

Sitting right behind the net when Datsyuk scored with a disgusting shootout goal in minnesota. I knew it went in, he and them wings bench knew it but the crowd was stunned. It was unreal

 

[Captain Controversy]

I've seen some great players but Mcdavid and Draisaitl are the two best player I have ever seen live.

 

[PhysicalGraffiti]

Broduer for goalie. Just incredible.

And for player I'll go Kuch. I've seen him in person on a regular basis do some of the most amazing things possible. I was young when I saw Gretkzy play, I've seen prime Crosby, Ovechkin, Matthews, and McDavid.

But because I see Kuch so often, he's the first player I think of because of how amazing he plays on a frequent basis.

 

[M88K]

Gretzky for forwards, Brodeur for goalies
Bourque for defenders

 

[Hoooch]

I was fortunate enough to grow up seeing prime Kariya/Selanne. Got to see some great players but that chemistry was magic.

 

[Hippasus]

Tony Amonte on the Blackhawks made an impression on me as a puck carrier with speed.

Marc-Andre Bergeron on the Oilers did so likewise with his slapshot.

Joe Murphy on the Oilers as a clutch goal-scorer.

 

[DamonDRW]

KLM line.

 

[Acallabeth]

I saw Ovechkin and Backstrom live in Novokuznetsk during the 2012-2013 half-lockout.

The game was exactly on December 21, 2012 - that day that had been hyped as 'the last day of the world', so all my friends kept joking about hell about to freeze over (as I would watch my favorite player not at 5 am).

Not all Novokuznetsk hockey fans follow the NHL, so I remember many laughs about Ovechkin's, ummm, 'efficient' playstyle, often compared to Chris Simon (who was playing for hometown Metallurg). The only difference was that AO ended up with a goal and an assist.

 

[Miro4Norris]

Barkov, Heiskanen, Anttila

 

[Coffee]

I saw Jagr and Ovechkin at the 2011 World Championships. Ovie had 0 points in 5 games. Jagr scored a hattrick in the quarterfinal against the US.

How bout now?

 

[Coffee]

Probably this guy

(Actually it's some guy from one of the few DEL games I've watched, but no one stood out as much and where's the fun in that?)

How did he play?

 

[Fourier]

There are advantages to being old. Looking at the Athletics NHL99 project naming the top 100 players since 1967 I was lucky enough to have seen all but Orr play live. Gordie Howe is not on their list, but I have seen him live as well. I do agree with their assessment that Gretzky was the best, followed by Lemieux. My admittedly biased eyes tell me that McDavid is third on my list of people I have personally seen play live.

 

[Burt Macklin]

Easily Gretzky, I was also fortunate enough to see most of the best players from the late 80s-90s on multiple occasions, and got to witness prime Bure about a 100 times in the Pacific Coliseum.

 

[Vertain]

Most of the games I have seen live have been in Edmonton and Boston.

Without doubt the best player I have seen live was Gretzky.

One that surprised me when I saw him live was Chelios. He was a very highly skilled and entertaining hockey player,

 

[Lshap]

My first game was in 1969 at the Montreal Forum, where the Habs played Chicago. I got to see Jean Beliveau gliding one way and Bobby Hull barrelling the other. No memory who won, I mostly remember the colours of the jerseys and faces of the players (no helmets back then!). I'd only seen them in black-and-white on TV.

Early 70s, I had great seats to see Bobby Orr get crunched into the boards by Larry Robinson. Astrophysicists reported a massive Hall Of Fame singularity in the Montreal Forum.

I saw the Habs many times during the 1970s, featuring Lafleur, Dryden, Robinson, etc. New Years Eve 1975, a relative took me to the famous Montreal vs. The Red Army game, so I got a glimpse of Tretiak and Kharlamov.

Mid-2010s, I saw a game in Washington from right behind their bench. Watched Ovechkin jump back and forth over the bench.

Saw Crosby at the Bell Centre two or three times.

 

[ViD]

I was lucky to see the Globetrotter Rangers in 2002

Bure
Lindros
Messier

 

[banks]

The 2010s were essentially the only time when I could afford to go to NHL hockey games in person. So my list is missing the classic pre-lockout stars and the current stars. And I never managed to see the 'big 3' Sid/Geno/Ovie. Not a ton of HHoF players, but my list is a veritable Hall of Very Good.

Toews
Kane
Kessel
Kopitar
Subban
Kovalchuk
Stone
Karlsson
Tarasenko
Nash
The Sedin twins
Havlat

Oddly enough, the players that stick out to me are the guys who carried lesser teams. Nash, Kessel, Kovalchuk, and Havlat. They were herculean in the games I got to see live.

 

[Jerzey Devil]

Besides Brodeur and Stevens I’ve seen Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux live.