Who is the best player you saw live?

[illone84]

Aki Berg in Toronto

 

[ExarKun80]

Tom "Top Six" Sestito

 

[Jumptheshark]

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.

Grew up in the 80's in Edmonton... so.....

 

[Legionnaire11]

Gretzky, he had five assists in the game.

Otherwise Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, Ovechkin, Hasek, Brodeur, Roy, Forsberg, Sakic, Yzerman, Lindros, Fedorov, Datsyuk, Lidstrom, Coffey, Messier... Pretty much everyone who played between 98-08. I don't think I went to fewer than 7 Preds games a season back then, and as many as 46 in a season with preseason and playoffs.

 

[KAWAIlllI]

McDavid, Forsberg, Crosby... could be a long list

 

[karlstegger]

Crosby (and sorry Giroux, as much as I love you, you weren't better)

 

[NTDP]

Connor McDavid - Erie Otters from 2013-15. To see him in junior was something I'll never forget.

 

[Pucklington]

Gretzky, McDavid, Hasek, Ovechkin, and Crosby.

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Crosby.

 

[Mitch nylander]

I've seen a lot of the current stars so I'll deviate from the obvious answers, but 3 guys who have impressed me:

1. Matthew Barzal - The skating is phenomenal, just so dynamic. Every game I've seen of him, he's been the best guy on the ice.
2. William Nylander - He does things nobody else does. Really cool to see him live, just incredible on his edges.
3. Patrick Kane (2016) - Wow was he incredible. So dynamic, and his hands were ridiculous.

 

[byrath]

I've only been to 2 NHL games and I barely remember them... I probably saw Bure in Edmonton in 94-95, and I saw Niedermayer in Kamloops.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Watched the KLM (Krutov - Larionov - Makarov) line in 1988 in Saint-Petersburg vs local SKA.

 

[General Fanager]

Mario

 

[Skolman]

97, easy

 

[Boonk]

When I worked at CLC here in Winnipeg I got to see a lot of the leagues talent. I have seen McDavid a few times now, and everytime he did crazy shit on the ice so casually that he looked like an AI robot from a different planet compared to everyone else on both teams. He is a literal supercomputer on skates and is unbelievable to watch in person.

Underrated shoutout to Kaprizov tho, he singlehandedly makes that Wild team and forward core somewhat relevant all on his own and was a danger anytime he was on the ice.

 

[FDBluth]

I saw Crosby live in 08-09. His awareness, skating, puck protection, reactions etc really stood out compared to normal players live. I haven't seen a ton of live games so it was really cool to see him and see how the difference translated when being there in person. Had the chance to see McDavid's game in Vancouver that was the final nail in Boudreau's coffin as coach but didn't go, dang it.

 

[knuck]

Martin Brodeur- 1-0 shutout game in MTL

as a Habs fan, this gives me vietnam style PTSD flashbacks

 

[TheYardMachine]

Young Ovy was pretty special scoring and banging everything on the ice

 

[Roof Daddy]

Young Ovy was pretty special scoring and banging everything on the ice

Would have been a great fit on the 2018 WJC Canadian team.

 

[Kranix]

Prime Oliwa

 

[KevinFinnerty]

Sergei Fedorov at MSG as a kid in late 90s.

 

[HabzSauce]

Hal Gill baby

 

[KingsHockey24]

Alexander Frolov.

 

[Ladyfan]

Bobby Orr
Cam Neely
Patrice Bergeron
many more

 

[eklund2chicago]

As a European that has never been to an NHL game I give you:

Biggest names: Ovi and Datsyuk in 2016 worlds. They weren’t very good in that tournament though.

Best performances: Panarin in the same tournament (Him, Schipachov and Dadonov were crazy good) and Elias Pettersson in his D+1