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Who are some stars (past or present) that couldn't check(play defense) to save their life?
Bob makes a good point. Physical play doesn't NECESSARILY have to equate to Defense. In fact there have been quite a few players who could knock people into next week but still didn't play much defense.
I'm interested in knowing who some of the top scorers are/were that paid little or no attention to where they were supposed to be (or who they were supposed to be watching) when their team DIDN'T have the puck.
Rocket Richard? Based on what I have heard about him and how the Canadians of that era did defensively I am really surprised by that one. Can you justify that?
4 Answers
- Bob LoblawLv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
Pavel Bure really comes to mind. I never saw a guy get so many breakaways, I know he had the speed but the fact that he never came back inside his own blue line had just as much to do with it.
As for a Dman, I always found Patrice Brisebois to be absolutely brutal but it was more that he would just cough up the puck.
Some other guys are guys who were stars in the AHL because they could score but couldn't play D in the NHL to save their life. Guys like John Slaney, who got call ups to the NHL but in the AHL, he was a scoring machine on D but couldn't play D to stick with the big clubs. Someone more recent is a guy named Derrick Walser.
Source(s): I'll add that Gretzky was a decent defender because he was always in the right place on the ice. You don't necessarily have to be physical to play good D, as long as you are positionally correct. Nic Lidstrom may be the best that I have ever seen at being in proper position to make a play without having to knock a guy into next week. Also, when in proper position, you are not caught out of place and thus, you take less penalties. I mean just look at Lidstrom's penalty minutes over the years for a Dman who plays big minutes. He averages like 20 PIM per season or something stupid like that. Gretz was the same way, 20 or 30 PIM's per season because he was not caught out of position, also, he usually had the puck so that helped. As far as not checking, Gretz would be up there though, he was frail, but once again, you don't need to be physical to play great D=see Lidstrom. - Anonymous1 decade ago
Gretzky. He may have been great at offense, but who ever knew of him to be any good at defense? He was always protected and didn't have to check or do any of his own "dirty" work.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Alexei Kovalev. I don't think he knows what backchecking is.
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