Rob Blake's #4 to be retired. Is he Top 10?

[Roamer]

More than once I've herd that former LA Kings D-man Rob Blake must rank somewhere in the Top 10 All Time Greats to ever patrol the blue line. I don't think so but, since the LA Kings plan on retiring his # 4 jersey this coming season, the debate is on. So, I wonder, not where media talking heads rank him but you, loyal armchair experts rank him. Is he Top 10?

 

[dash]

Very good defenseman, but I don't think top 10 (likely top 20 though).

/Also, the Kings are smart to get this done before the Avalanche beat them to the punch.
//low hanging fruit.

 

[DragonfromTO]

Definitely not top 10. I'm not sure he's top 20 either, but I'd have to think about it a little more.

 

[Cobiemonster]

Definitely not top 10. I'm not sure he's top 20 either, but I'd have to think about it a little more.

This

 

[Phantomphan]

I think we need to look at the advanced stats before deciding.

 

[forty_three]

Of his era, quite probably top ten.

All time? No.

 

[elocomotive]

27.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Definitely not top 10. I'm not sure he's top 20 either, but I'd have to think about it a little more.

This

Of his era, quite probably top ten.

All time? No.

Exactly.

 

[Harry Crack]

Of his era, quite probably top ten.

All time? No.

Yup

 

[esls79]

I don't need advanced stats to tell me he had a very wide ass and used it well to hip check opponents.


/and the Avs are going to retire Martin Skoula's jersey before Blake's

 

[Nasty_Magician]

All time? No. Of his generation? That's a bit more interesting. Guys I would put above him (that at least played a substantial amount of hockey between 1989-2010).

Lidstrom, Niedermayer, Stevens, MacInnis, Bourque, Pronger, Chelios, Leetch. Any others? Any disagreement?

 

[mattola]

Very good defenseman, but I don't think top 10 (likely top 20 though).

/Also, the Kings are smart to get this done before the Avalanche beat them to the punch.
//low hanging fruit.

i am actually shocked the AVs havent pulled the trigger on this one yet

 

[dash]

All time? No. Of his generation? That's a bit more interesting. Guys I would put above him (that at least played a substantial amount of hockey between 1989-2010).

Lidstrom, Niedermayer, Stevens, MacInnis, Bourque, Pronger, Chelios, Leetch. Any others? Any disagreement?

The first five guys above likely slot in to the top 10 dmen of all time and there's no room for Blake to crack that list. Blake was a regular selection for international play for Team Canada, though.

 

[HUBSTER]

All time? No. Of his generation? That's a bit more interesting. Guys I would put above him (that at least played a substantial amount of hockey between 1989-2010).

Lidstrom, Niedermayer, Stevens, MacInnis, Bourque, Pronger, Chelios, Leetch. Any others? Any disagreement?

I think you've got it covered.

 

[Harry Crack]

All time? No. Of his generation? That's a bit more interesting. Guys I would put above him (that at least played a substantial amount of hockey between 1989-2010).

Lidstrom, Niedermayer, Stevens, MacInnis, Bourque, Pronger, Chelios, Leetch. Any others? Any disagreement?

Rod Langway

 

[DragonfromTO]

Rod Langway

I'm assuming he's including Langway with the previous "generation", since he was already retired by the time Blake made his first All-Star game (at age 23)

 

[KennyBanyeah]

All time? No. Of his generation? That's a bit more interesting. Guys I would put above him (that at least played a substantial amount of hockey between 1989-2010).

Lidstrom, Niedermayer, Stevens, MacInnis, Bourque, Pronger, Chelios, Leetch. Any others? Any disagreement?

A guy like Zubov is in the same class as Blake, IMO. Maybe not better but he's right there.

Other than that I'd say you've nailed them all in his generation.

Add to that guys like Coffey, Potvin, Robinson, Orr, Park, Harvey, Serge Savard, Langway, Horton etc., he's hard pressed to make the top 20 all-time. I'm sure I'm missing some too. He'd end up right around 20-30 in my estimation.

 

[forty_three]

I'm assuming he's including Langway with the previous "generation", since he was already retired by the time Blake made his first All-Star game (at age 23)

I might be inclined to include Chelios, Bourque and MacInnis in that previous generation as well. Hard to do because they all played so long. But I think 80's when I think all three.

 

[esls79]

I might be inclined to include Chelios, Bourque and MacInnis in that previous generation as well. Hard to do because they all played so long. But I think 80's when I think all three.

Who are 3 d-men Al Iafrate is cooler than?

 

[Destroydacre]

1


^^^

So somehow my cat crashing my keyboard onto the floor managed to post the above. Not sure how that happened. Regardless that is not where I rank Blake all time, heh.