Who was Mike Liut and why did he win the Pearson?

[Sanf]

Everything that I have read from that season makes me believe it was close battle between Liut and Gretzky. Hart trophy voting was close. TSN had anual voting among players. Gretzky won it narrowly. I believe they shared hockey news player of the year title. I don´t believe that there were any conspiracies behind this. Someone made a great post about this in some other thread while ago. That the players just didn´t see Gretzky as a very complete player. Partly due how Oilers played him he was seen as one dimensional...

I also thought he had a great mask as well. The one he had in Cincinnati and St. Louis looked sharp but by the time he got to Hartford the mask he had wasn't so nice looking.

I have always liked Liut´s later mask too. I also like the decision of keeping it complitely white. Kind of ugly beautiful .

 

[tarheelhockey]

Now this story I'm about to unfold took place back in the early eighties, just about the time of our conflict with the Ayatollah and the Iranians. I only mention it 'cause sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause what's a hero? But sometimes there's a man -- and I'm talking about Mike Liut here -- sometimes there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there... and that's Mike Liut, in Hartford. And even if he's a lazy man, and Mike Liut was certainly that -- quite possibly the laziest in Hartford County, which would place him high in the running for laziest worldwide -- but sometimes there's a man. Sometimes there's a man.

Lost my train of thought here.

 

[IComeInPeace]

Now this story I'm about to unfold took place back in the early eighties, just about the time of our conflict with the Ayatollah and the Iranians. I only mention it 'cause sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause what's a hero? But sometimes there's a man -- and I'm talking about Mike Liut here -- sometimes there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there... and that's Mike Liut, in Hartford. And even if he's a lazy man, and Mike Liut was certainly that -- quite possibly the laziest in Hartford County, which would place him high in the running for laziest worldwide -- but sometimes there's a man. Sometimes there's a man.

Lost my train of thought here.

Well, that logic certainly is hard to argue with.

I think your post most certainly puts to rest any discussion that Mike Liut was anything less than a man before the slapshot to the testes, or thereafter.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Prior to lemieux winning it in 87-88 the definition was. "Player who contributed most to the game of hockey" 87-88 and beyond it's been " most outstanding player" this shoes why there are some weird picks on the 80's etc

 

[The Panther]

Just resurrecting this old thread to post this excellent video interview with Mike Liut:


He's so articulate. His stories about how he received the Lester Pearson award and rookie Al MacInnis's shot are gold!