78 showdown borje salming vs guy lapointe
- Thread starter The Oracle
- Start date
Borje's strengths were his skating, his determination and his ability to contort himself like an elastic man.
He didn't fight much, but he was tough, his first NHL fight was against Dave Schultz, it was a draw:
I remember a brawl when Mel Bridgman clearly beat Borje and Borje was completely defenceless but Bridgman kept whaling away at him with full force. He was like a rag doll but MB didn't care. Punch after punch after punch. No mercy. No honour. Just thuggery. It was hard to watch. That's why I hated the Flyers and still do.
The only reason why Bridgeman won that fight, he cross checked Borje in the back of the head, then dropped the gloves. The Flyers weren't tough, they were cheap shot cup cakes.
Bobby Orr was before my time, Larry Robinson is the GOAT defenseman.
As we called them back in the day, the Philadelphia Faggots.
Bobby Orr was before my time, Larry Robinson is the GOAT defenseman.
As we called them back in the day, the Philadelphia Faggots.
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Borje Salming is the best player to ever put on the Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. I will die on that hill.
I didn't remember about Bridgman's cross-check. Thanks.
Orr is number one for a couple of reasons, IMO.
1) He totally revolutionized the game. Nobody had ever previously played the position the way he did. He reinvented it.
2)For a D-man to score well over 100 points more than once (120 and 139--even Phil's best year was 156) and even win the scoring title (the Art Ross) was unfathomable. It was a very defensive league when he came in and the talent level and toughness level were very high, and he was not a big guy. Unfortunately he played for a goon team so I did not allow myself to cheer for him. Watching him in retrospect, my opinion of his talent changed especially watching him in the Canada Cup where he was MVP on one leg.
Even though he played for the hated (in Toronto) Habs I loved the way Larry played and I consider him the second best. He single-handedly dismantled the Flyers. He took on all-comers and beat them all. He totally intimidated them. He exposed them as being babies, not bullies.
It may be surprising but the 3rd best defenceman I saw play was Denis Potvin. Tough as nails and Tim Horton strong. He was by no means flashy, but he did everything great. Nobody wanted to go into corner with him and laid out a lot of right wingers coming down his side. And nobody could out-battle him in front of the net. He had a nasty streak and enjoyed punishing the opposing. I don't remember the exact stat but from the time he was a rookie, he was on the ice for every single power play goal the Islanders scored for a period of 5 or 6 years. It was remarkable.
Then we also had Borje and Guy and Serge and Brad Park and even Carol Vadnais was really good. The 70's was easily the greatest era for defencemen in the history of the league. None of Bourque, Coffey, Karlsson, Makar or even Larry Murphy as a Leaf,(
) and whoever else could match them. The only guy who could be considered would be Lidstrom.It would be tough to make a definitive case against him. I'll die on a hill declaring that he was the most courageous.
Keep in mind when discussing Salming, he didn't have the same quality of a supporting cast that Robinson, Potvin, Savard, Lapointe, or Park had back in the day. Salming did more with less. I often wonder how many Norris trophies he would have won if he was with a better team.
I've always imagined what a blue line of Robinson and Salming would look like.
A big Chicken tries to chop down a Big Bird.
A big Chicken tries to chop down a Big Bird.
