From: mattb@ctron.com (Matt Brown)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey
Subject: Re: Best forwards ever?
Date: 11 Sep 92 12:55:48 GMT
Reply-To: mattb@olympus.ctron.com (Matt Brown)
Organization: Cabletron Systems INc.

(Staffan Axelsson) writes:
>I just received my "Inside HOCKEY, Yearbook '93" and I found an interesting
>article relating to recent discussion on r.s.h.
> By Stan Fischler
> "THE FIVE BEST
> Below are the teams for which the top five six-man forward units in NHL
> history played. Stars-ratings are based on the group as a whole.
> Team			Year			Star Rating
> ----			----			-----------
> Montreal		1955-56			******
>	Beliveau, H. Richard, M. Richard
>	Geoffrion, Moore, Olmstead
> Pittsburgh		1991-92			******
>	Francis, Jagr, Lemieux
>	Mullen, Stevens, Tocchet
> Edmonton		1983-84			****
>	Anderson, Gretzky, Hughes
>	Kurri, Linseman, Messier
> Islanders		1981-82			****
>	Bossy, Bourne, Gillies
>	Goring, Tonelli, Trottier
> Montreal		1975-76			***
>	Cournoyer, Lafleur, Lemaire
>	Shutt, Mahovlich, Lambert"
>
>Stan continues: "Conclusion: Over a five-year period no one can match the
>consistency and arsenal of the 1956-60 Canadiens. Given time, though,
>Pittsburgh just might."
>Any comments? Is Stan correct this time? If so, I believe some people here
>just might have to start munching words.
>Stan also writes (below a picture of Lemieux):
>"There are no longer any doubts Mario Lemieux is the world's best
> hockey player."
>So I guess the guy with the poll was correct by asking for the 2nd best
>player in the world :-)

Coupla comments:
1. Stan is Stan. Then there is reality.
2. For Stan, this is actually pretty rational.
3. On the 56-60 Canadiens comment, No argument about the Canadien's rating,
   and Pittsburgh "might" match it. The big IF is will this 6-man group stay
   together long in this era of rapid player personnel changes.  How long
   will Mario's back hold out? How long will Stevens stay? How much more can
   they get out of Mullen and Francis?  Will they be able to, or want to,
   keep Jagr ($$ dependent)? Absolutely no argument from me on the potential.
   Howver, the likelyhood? About 30%, in my opinion (based less on the player
   skill than on the lack of player/team stability). Nobody needs to do any
   munching for a few years, unless they gave the lineup no credit at all.
4. Lemieux the best: I wasn't one of the ones to dispute this one. Though I
   would still take Gretzy at his peak, at this time Mario is the most skilled
   and talented.  Can he perform constistently to that level.  Maybe not. Can
   he perform well enough to lead a team to a championship. Not a problem so
   far, is it? However, if Messier had led the Rangers to the cup, this
   question wouldn't even be asked (see what I mean about "if").
5. I think the 6 star rating for Pitt was too high, especially if the Edm.
   guys rated only 4. The argument I can see for this would be that the Pitt
   forwards carried the team more than the Edm and Isl forwards, who had over-
   all superior goaltending, and in the Isles case, stronger defense. I still
   would at least raise Edm and Isles to 5, if I didn't drop Pitt to 5. 

All this is based on what Gary P. and Staffan posted, because I haven't seen
the whole article.  It might be interesting to see some individual teams best
six line ups, or maybe the top five years worth, and see if we can kind one
or two that we think would nudge on of Stan's top five.

Matt
If this were world hockey ratings, not just NHL, I'll bet there was a Soviet 
6 that would've made the top 5.