Who's on your hockey Mount Rushmore?

[Slimpikins]

Mt USA:

Modano
Roenick
Chelios
Richter

 

[dash]

Mt USA:

Modano
Roenick
Chelios
Richter

I like it, but I would like it better with Joey Mullen

 

[Slimpikins]

You mean the first American player to reach the 1,000 point mark? I left him off in favor of putting a goalie in there but yes, he should probably be in there instead of Richter.

 

[Gooch1034]

Does Ulf Samuelsson not count as a pest?

Maybe he has to go on the Dirty Bastard Mt. Rushmore

I heard this in a Norm McDonald voice as I read it.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Mt Turtlemore:
Claude Lemieux
James Kneel
Tim Erixon
James Kneel

Mt Wasted pick:
Daigle
Zherdev
Falloon
Lawton

Mt Roman
Cecmanek
Turek
Hamrlik
Cervenka

I'd have Lawton number 1 on the wasted pick list. Minny could have drafted Yzerman or LaFontaine instead.

 

[blindbaby]

Mount Rushmore of pests:

Chris Nilan
Bobby Clarke
Claude Lemieux
Ken Linseman

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Mount Rushmore of pests:

Chris Nilan
Bobby Clarke
Claude Lemieux
Ken Linseman

I never considered Clarke a pest. He had the biggest badest team around him so I'm sure he felt he could get away with just about anything.

Darius Kasparaitis should be on that list though.

 

[DragonfromTO]

I thought about it, but didn't know who to take off. Do you remove the winningest coach in history (by a huge margin)? The 2nd winningest who also won 4 straight Stanley Cups? The only 3-time Jack Adams winner (he gets an extra Rushmore nod for his HHOF snubbing)? Or the guy who has the trophy named after him?

I'd probably take off Adams. Maybe Burns, but probably Adams. Having the trophy named after him isn't really a point in favour in my book and has always seemed to me to be more like an honour he got for sticking around so long and mostly for being one of the good old boys that always stuck up for the owners, but either way his coaching record just isn't impressive enough to be there ahead of Blake. I'm supposed to get all excited about a .512 career winning percentage? Hell, Blake won 87 more games while coaching in 50 fewer. I'll take the guy with 8 cups in 13 seasons over the guy with 3 in 20.

 

[4thstreet]

Chris Nilan has to be on goon's list

 

[Judge Fudge]

All time: Gretzky, Orr, Howe and Lemiux
Current: Ovi, Towes, Nash, Price

Canucks: McLean, Bure, Linden, Danny Sedin

 

[MrFlyingV]

Mt Rushmore of playoff underachievers:

Joe Thornton
Patrick Marleau
Joe Thornton
Patrick Marleau

 

[Slimpikins]

Mt Rushmore of playoff underachievers:

Joe Thornton
Patrick Marleau
Joe Thornton
Patrick Marleau

I think you could add Nabokov to the list as well.

 

[MrFlyingV]

I think you could add Nabokov to the list as well.

I forgot 2 others: Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

 

[blindbaby]

Forgot Dale Hunter. Who could forget his role in that 1984 Good Friday Brawl. One of the best brawls I have ever seen live on TV back when they were showing NHL games on USA network, if I remember right.

I knew there was somebody I was leaving off the mountain.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

I knew there was somebody I was leaving off the mountain.

He's a good coach to. This is coming from somebody who hates his guts for what he did to Turgeon in 1993.

 

[DragonfromTO]

He's a good coach to. This is coming from somebody who hates his guts for what he did to Turgeon in 1993.

Gotta disagree here. But if you want your team offense killed and lots of Tortorellaesque shot-blocking, he's your man.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Gotta disagree here. But if you want your team offense killed and lots of Tortorellaesque shot-blocking, he's your man.

Well Ovechkin might not have scored as many goals as he has this year, but the Capitals won more games than they have this year. I think Leonsis would disagree with you. He didn't want Hunter to leave.

 

[DragonfromTO]

Well Ovechkin might not have scored as many goals as he has this year, but the Capitals won more games than they have this year. I think Leonsis would disagree with you. He didn't want Hunter to leave.

I wasn't talking about Ovechkin, which is why I said "team".

As far as Hunter "winning more games"... they had 107 points the year before Hunter, were on a 94 point pace (small sample) when Boudreau was fired, played at a 91 point pace under Hunter, and had a 97 point pace with Oates the year after after Hunter left. I'm not sure there's much of an argument to be made that they "won more games" with/because of Hunter.

As far as Leonsis' opinion, if the subject is business I'll probably consider him an expert. If the subject is hockey or hockey coaching I'm not sure why I should.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

The Caps might not have been as fun to watch, but they were structured well. His record in the OHL speaks for itself. The guy can coach. I'm not a fan of him as a player, but I don't doubt one bit his coaching ability. I think Washington was headed in the right direction under Hunter. We'll obviously never know how things might have turned out if he had chosen to stay.

 

[DragonfromTO]

The Caps might not have been as fun to watch, but they were structured well. His record in the OHL speaks for itself. The guy can coach. I'm not a fan of him as a player, but I don't doubt one bit his coaching ability. I think Washington was headed in the right direction under Hunter. We'll obviously never know how things might have turned out if he had chosen to stay.

Personally I think that building an OHL team and coaching them is pretty different from coaching an NHL team. Handling pros isn't like handling kids.
I also think that part of Washington's problems during their decline have come from focusing on getting/keeping "gritty" players who "play the right way" without proper regard for whether or not those players are actually skilled. That seems like it only would have been worse with Hunter on the bench.