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Best/Worst 10 Habs of All-Time


puck7x

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I'm sure most of you have seen Red Fisher's list of his top-10 habs of all-time, it caused a bit of controversy, Gros Bill ahead of Rocket? No goalies? Well, instead of arguing over Red's list lets make our own. I'm also going to take this opportunity to list the Worst 10 habs of my lifetime. (the top-10 will include players before my time... Otherwise the list would be awful)

1)Maurice Richard (pretty easily imo)

2)Jean Beliveau (Class act, would be #1 on just about any other team)

3)Guy Lafleur (All-time points habs point leader, electrifying player)

4)Doug Harvey (Changed the way defenseman play)

5)Patrick Roy (Popularized the butterfly style, changed the way goalies play.. Compared to the rest of the players on this list he played on very average teams)

6)Henri Richard (Gotta love the pocket rocket)

7)Jacques Plante (Made the mask popular, great career)

8)Larry Robinson (Big Bird was a Dominant D on both sides of the ice)

9)Bernie Geffrion (Boom Boom was overshadowed by Rocket, but had a great career)

10)Yvon Cournoyer (So many cups! , great career)

Honourable Mention: Serge Savard, Bob Gainey, Dickie Moore, Guy Lapointe, etc.

Now onto the worst-10 from my memory... I'll list players who played a significant number of games for the habs and not guys who played 1-2 games (reverse order for suspense). 1992-1993 was the first year I seriously started following the club (watching every game, reading all the news, etc) even though I had been semi-following the club for a few years beforehand. Thats why the players on the list are post-1993.

10)Donald Brashear (He only improved after we traded him)

9)Matt Higgins (a big disappointment)

8)Robert Dirk (absolutely horrible)

7)Pat Jablonski (Roy had some crappy backups... poor jabber)

6)Jim Campbell (Damn you soupy!)

5)Mariusz Czerkawski (barf)

4)Andre Racicot (seemed like a nice guy, but not a very good goalie)

3)Jason Dawe (Whats the deal with Islanders castoff wingers?)

2)Christian Laflamme (I actually kind of liked him, but he was such a crap player for us)

1)Patrick Traverse (Deserved? probably not... I just really dislike this player)

[Edited on 2005-2-2 by puck7x]

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I've got a couple of arguments with your best ten list. A couple of big time misses IMO are Ken Dryden and Howie Morenz. I had to look twice to check if Dryden was there, i don't know if you forgot him but i can't see how anyone could leave him off the list. I have to believe he would have at least got an honourable mention. Morenz is considered by most to be hockey's first superstar. He won three Hart Memorial trophies, which is a many as Beliveau and Richard combined.

As for my list:

1.)Richard

2.)Beliveau

3.)Lafleur

4.)Harvey

5.)Roy

In Agreement so far

6.)Dryden

7.)Robinson

8.)Morenz

9.)Plante

10.)Geoffrion

By the way, one player to consider for the 10 worst would have to be Sergei Berezin.

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Originally posted by Quebecois

I've got a couple of arguments with your best ten list. A couple of big time misses IMO are Ken Dryden and Howie Morenz. I had to look twice to check if Dryden was there, i don't know if you forgot him but i can't see how anyone could leave him off the list. I have to believe he would have at least got an honourable mention. Morenz is considered by most to be hockey's first superstar. He won three Hart Memorial trophies, which is a many as Beliveau and Richard combined.  

longevity had a part in my list, Dryden played in 7 (parts of 8) seasons for the Habs. I can easily put Roy/Plante ahead of him, but yeah he could of been an HM.

[Edited on 2005-2-2 by puck7x]

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Here is mine:

Best

1) Maurice the Rocket Richard

2) Jean Beliveau

3) Guy Lafleur

4) PatrickRoy

5) Bob Gainey

6) Larry Robinson

7) Doug Harvey

8) Jacques Plante

9) Ken Dryden

10) Yvon Cournoyer

Worst

1) Mariusz Czerkawski-----by far the worst player to ever play for the Habs( Lazy good for nothing bum)

2) Juha Lind

3) Pierre Sevigny

4) Darryl Shannon

5) P.J. Stock

6) Patrick Traverse

7) Johan Witehall

8) Lindsay Vallis

9) Terry Ryan-----waste of a draft pick.

10) Sylvain Turgeon

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In alphabetical order:

Ken Dryden

Jean Beliveau

Bernie Geoffrion

Doug Harvey

Guy Lafleur

Howie Morenz

Jacques Plante

Maurice Richard

Larry Robinson

Patrick Roy

I wont list the worst Habs. Unhappily, I must agree with you listing Czerkawski :( Geez, he's such a nice guy - I don't know what the hell he was doing and saying during his stay in Montreal :(

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There will always be a special place in my heart for Jim Campbell. He scored a goal in the only Habs game I've ever seen in person.  
I feel the same way about Chad Kilger. He scored the first goal I ever saw live at the Centre de Molson when my brother and I visited Montreal back in January 2001.

We went to three games: vs. 'Canes, vs. The Lightning and vs. The Rangers.

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Originally posted by puck7x

So is anyone else going to post their own lists besides me/quebecois/spidey?

I would only be able to list players from my own lifetime as I know too little about the early heroes. And I have a feeling on a list of all-time best, not many players from the era in question can be compared to the likes of Rocket, Beliveau, Harvey, Vezina etc..

Mats Näslund is my favourite player. Peter Popovic also has a special place in my Habs heart, since he played for my hometown team Västerås IK before he went to play in the NHL with the Canadiens. Carbonneau, Kirk Muller, Brian Bellows and Vincent Damphousse are a couple of other favourites, along with Roy (of course), Eric Desjardins, Mark Recchi and Andy Moog. Of the current Habs I like guys like Koivu (despite the fact his from Finland), Souray, Theo and Sundström (hey, I root for any Swede on the team - I also happen to think Sunny is an underrated two way player).

Add: I was born in 1976, but it wasn't until the mid 1980's that I heard of the NHL and the Montreal Canadiens. I do however think Robinson's jersey should be retired. No habs has worn the #19 jersey since he was traded anyway, right?

[Edited on 2005/2/5 by Doktor Kosmos]

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I think Larry be up in a few years. Roy? I don't think, and he wouldn't be my choice. Too many years with another team, acrimonious exit. On just about every other team, yeah, he would, but if Dryden/Geoffrion/Moore/Cournoyer can't make it, the standard is too great.

I think Robinson is the only one left who doesn't meet the "standard" they have set for # retirement. It's strict, but hey, it has to be. Otherwise, we'd have a team of #50-99 players.:/)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Picking a worst habs is difficult. What do you base it on? Peformance? Over-hype?

If you wanna talk about biggest dissipointment, it's Doug Wickenheiser. Imagine the Habs with Denis Savard during the 80's? Lord Stanley would have visted Montreal more often thats for sure.

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Best habs:

1-Rocket Richard: Best goal scorer of his time and first to score 50 in 50 and 500 in a career.

2-Guy Lafleur: 2 Hart trophies, 3 art ross trophies, 5 stanley cups, a conn smythe trophy, 6 straight seasons with 50 or more goals and 119 or more points. Guy Lafleur did it all.

3- Jean Beliveau: Class act, incredible stick handler and the best player ever for his size.

4- Henri Richard: Always overshadowed by his brother and Beliveau but he holds the record for most stanley cups.

5- Jacques Plante: One of the best goalies of all time, 7 Vezina trophies, 6 stanley cups, creator of the mask.

6- Patrick Roy: 2nd greatest goalie ever after Hasek IMO, but the reason I put him after Plante is because he only played 9 years here and the way he left.

7- Howie Morenz: First montreal canadiens star, although we dont know much about him.

8- Doug Harvey: 8 Norris trophies sais it all.

9- Larry Robinson: The big bird was one of the best two way defensemen of all time.

10- Yvan Cournoyer: Roadrunner was really underrated and probably the faster skater of all time

Honourable mentions to Bob Gainey, Bernie Geoffrion, Toe Blake and Jacques Lemaire.

[Edited on 2005/2/17 by Guy_Guy_Guy]

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TOP 10 GOALIES

1. Jacques Plante

2. Ken Dryden

3. Bill Durnan

4. Patrick Roy

5. Georges Vezina

6. Gump Worsley

7. George Hainsworth

8. Jose Theodore

9. Charlie Hodge

10. Gerry McNeil

TOP 10 DEFENSEMEN

1. Doug Harvey

2. Larry Robinson

3. Serge Savard

4. Guy Lapointe

5. Jacques Laperriere

6. Emile Bouchard

7. Kenny Reardon

8. J.C Tremblay

9. Chris Chelios

10. Tom Johnson

TOP 10 CENTRES

1. Jean Beliveau

2. Howie Morenz

3. Henri Richard

4. Elmer Lach

5. Jacques Lemaire

6. Guy Carbonneau

7. Pete Mahovlich

8. Saku Koivu

9. Vincent Damphousse

10. Ken Mosdell

TOP 10 WINGERS

1. Rocket Richard

2. Guy Lafleur

3. Yvan Cournoyer

4. Bob Gainey

5. Boom Boom Geoffrion

6. Dickie Moore

7. Aurel Joliat

8. Toe Blake

9. Steve Shutt

10. Mats Naslund

[Edited on 2005/2/18 by Leafs Suck]

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