Best passers of the past 30 years

[Uncle Danny 155]

From eva

Gretzky, Oates, Lemieux, Janney, Housley, Coffey, Yzerman, Fedorov, Datsyuk, Crosby, Forsberg, Turgeon, Thornton, Zubov, Larionov.

Not a bad list. I'll go with:

1) Gretzky

2) Lemieux

(christ can we do a list that doesn't start this way?)

The rest in no order:

Forsberg,

Datsyuk

Thornton,

Larionov,

Lidstrom,

Weight (oh, i'll catch s*** for this one),

Oates,

Fedorov,

Leetch

A couple of the young guns on here I'm sure will overtake, but I want to see a few more years from them first.

Edited April 1, 2011 by Uncle Danny

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

From eva

Not a bad list. I'll go with:

1) Gretzky

2) Lemieux

(christ can we do a list that doesn't start this way?)

The rest in no order:

Forsberg,

Datsyuk

Thornton,

Larionov,

Lidstrom,

Weight (oh, i'll catch s*** for this one),

Oates,

Fedorov,

Leetch

A couple of the young guns on here I'm sure will overtake, but I want to see a few more years from them first.

(in response to "christ can we do a list that doesn't start this way?")

Sure... ditch the last 30 years part of the question.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros 1,029]

Scott Nidermayer and Ron Francis are a couple guys that weren't mentioned. How about Joe Sakic?

[MGreenberg 105]

I think you could make a case for Zetterberg.

[Finnish Wing 110]

I think Lidstrom is a pretty good passer as well.

Raimo Helminen was one player who played only a couple seasons in the NHL, but gained huge reputation in Finland, Sweden and on the international level because of his playmaking abilities. To many he was the King of the saucer pass, both forehand and backhand - the puck just always dropped onto teammates stick.

Another Finnish (yeah) famous for his breakout pass is Petteri Nummelin. He too played only a couple seasons in the NHL, but has been the top puck-moving defensemen outside NHL for a lot of years and succeeded greatly when representing Team Finland.

Edited April 1, 2011 by Finnish Wing

[Crabik 1]

Jagr, he's the only reason Prucha had some sort of success in the nhl.

[matt198913 932]

I'm biased but I'd have to go with Gretzky, Lemuix, Datsyuk

[nosyt612 103]

I think Crosby, St. Louis and Henrik Sedin should be on the list somewhere.

[Chairman Maouth 97]

Yeah I'm a Canucks fan, but the fact that no one has mentioned the Sedins is ludicrous. Henrik Sedin may be the best passer ever. At the very least Henrik definitely, and possibly both of the Sedins deserve to be high up on anyone's top 10 list.

edit: just noticed nosyt612's post. Not everyone here has blinders on.

Edited April 1, 2011 by Chairman Maouth

[HankthaTank 1,100]

Yeah I'm a Canucks fan, but the fact that no one has mentioned the Sedins is ludicrous. Henrik Sedin may be the best passer ever. At the very least Henrik in particular, and possibly both of the Sedins deserve to be high up on anyone's top 10 list.

The guy above you named them. And you also noticed it. They do have sick talent and are probably quite close to the top 10. Top 15, yes.

So maybe that helps you feel a bit better.....

Edited April 1, 2011 by HankthaTank

[Chairman Maouth 97]

The guy above you named them. And you also noticed it. They do have sick talent and are probably quite close to the top 10. Top 15, yes.

So maybe that helps you feel a bit better.....

Don't need anyone with a chip on their shoulder to make me feel better Hank. Someone piss in your cereal this morning?

[HankthaTank 1,100]

Don't need anyone with a chip on their shoulder to make me feel better Hank. Someone piss in your cereal this morning?

My oatmeal!

Not a chip, brotha, just stating in that list they just would be a tad under. Who has blinders right now?

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Henrik Sedin probably would take the current title.

[Chairman Maouth 97]

My oatmeal!

Not a chip, brotha, just stating in that list they just would be a tad under. Who has blinders right now?

I think Henrik is top three and possibly the number one passer ever -- and Daniel isn't far behind. For me, my opinion trumps yours. For you, yours trumps mine.

[Wings_Toledo 233]

I think Henrik is top three and possibly the number one passer ever -- and Daniel isn't far behind. For me, my opinion trumps yours. For you, yours trumps mine.

I have to agree. He makes his best passes to his brother (obviously) and some of the plays they make are just mind-boggling. The fact that he did it last year with Daniel being injured for a good period of time just backs up his case.

[Chairman Maouth 97]

I have to agree. He makes his best passes to his brother (obviously) and some of the plays they make are just mind-boggling. The fact that he did it last year with Daniel being injured for a good period of time just backs up his case.

Their cross-rink 80 feet down the ice 20 feet up in the air backhand saucer passes always leave me boondoggled in amazement.

Slightly off-topic -- I try not to intrude in your guys Wings only threads -- but I gotta say I'm (hesitatingly) hoping the Wings recover their mojo. They've had a rough go of it lately, but a Canucks/Wings western final could be epic.

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

Datsyuk doesn't rank ahead of Thornton. Thornton has had way more assists than anyone else over the last 7 or 8 years. It's not even close.

Like others here, I'd also rank Gretzky and Lemieux 1 and 2. The other names have been mentioned, but I don't really know how I'd rank them after those two.

Edited April 1, 2011 by GMRwings1983

[Yzerman191 37]

Henrik Sedin as the best passer ever? Don't you think that's a little bit over-reaching? Gretzky's assist totals are higher than the next highest's players total points, not even mentioning the statistics of some of the guys below.

My list, in no order, would involve Gretzky, Lemieux, Forsberg, Oates, Jagr, and perhaps Sakic, Yzerman, and Francis scattered in there. Also, a player that has yet to be mentioned is Paul Coffey. And as previously mentioned, Thornton, Datsyuk, Crosby, and Henrik Sedin could be mentioned as some of the best set up men of the last five or ten years.

[Tr!PoD#19 524]

Yeah I'm a Canucks fan, but the fact that no one has mentioned the Sedins is ludicrous. Henrik Sedin may be the best passer ever. At the very least Henrik definitely, and possibly both of the Sedins deserve to be high up on anyone's top 10 list.

edit: just noticed nosyt612's post. Not everyone here has blinders on.

Holy ******* homer.

Edit: Wait, it's April 1st. I just fell for a horrible joke.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Tr!PoD#19

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

Yeah I'm a Canucks fan, but the fact that no one has mentioned the Sedins is ludicrous. Henrik Sedin may be the best passer ever. At the very least Henrik definitely, and possibly both of the Sedins deserve to be high up on anyone's top 10 list.

edit: just noticed nosyt612's post. Not everyone here has blinders on.

Just like Luongo is the best goalie ever?

[Manoir 70]

I would put Marc Savard on this list, I've seen many Bruins games and he is an amazing passer.

From the new guys, Krejci is a really good passer.

Also, why is Oates not in the hall of fame?

[eva unit zero 271]

Oates belongs in the top five, and anyone who argues against that never saw him play. Brett Hull won a Hart trophy, but it should have gone to Oates because only a handful of players in the league at the time could have set Hull up the way Oates did. And then Cam Neely, to follow up. Oates is perhaps the greatest pure playmaking center ever; a center whose entire purpose on the ice was to set up the play, and get the puck to the scorer.

Beyond that...

Zetterberg, Leetch, Lidstrom, Jagr, Krecji, those guys are all excellent passers and playmakers ...but this is a different level. If we're bringing them in, we'd have to bring guys like Gomez and Getzlaf, as well as a lot of other skilled guys around the league like Toews, Stastny, Kopitar, Malkin. And ultimately even Hudler, because while Z is better at making players, Hudler might be the better passer.

Savard and Weight, those are two excellent names I didn't put down. Weight was one of the top passers in the league in his prime.

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

Oates belongs in the top five, and anyone who argues against that never saw him play. Brett Hull won a Hart trophy, but it should have gone to Oates because only a handful of players in the league at the time could have set Hull up the way Oates did. And then Cam Neely, to follow up. Oates is perhaps the greatest pure playmaking center ever; a center whose entire purpose on the ice was to set up the play, and get the puck to the scorer.

Beyond that...

Zetterberg, Leetch, Lidstrom, Jagr, Krecji, those guys are all excellent passers and playmakers ...but this is a different level. If we're bringing them in, we'd have to bring guys like Gomez and Getzlaf, as well as a lot of other skilled guys around the league like Toews, Stastny, Kopitar, Malkin. And ultimately even Hudler, because while Z is better at making players, Hudler might be the better passer.

Savard and Weight, those are two excellent names I didn't put down. Weight was one of the top passers in the league in his prime.

Can anyone pick out the name that doesn't belong here?

Edited April 2, 2011 by GMRwings1983

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros 1,029]

Holy s***..come on, eva...

[Broken 16 381]

I think Henrik is top three and possibly the number one passer ever -- and Daniel isn't far behind. For me, my opinion trumps yours. For you, yours trumps mine.

Credibility just walked out the door. Good luck in the playoffs.

I actually like eva's list. I'd probably replace Coffey with Lidstrom though. Saw him cough the puck up way too many times in a Wings uniform. Maybe ship Janney for Francis.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Broken 16