Nostalgia vs NOW

[Florida Chris]

The Russian Rocket

[kyuss]

Had some cool conversations with some of our resident BBKLers lately and was comparing some of the all time greats vs the greats to be playing right now

BURE (702GP/437G)
VS
OVECHKIN (691GP/428G)

Goal scorers... mean mean streaks speed and those SHOTS...
Bure takes it for me... at this pace, ovi likely beats him comfortably in goals... but I'm just thinking of the possibilities without his knee problem... 2 60 goal seasons + 3 50+ goals as it is. Better and faster skater/breakaway and lets say better +/- for good measure lol

u can also suggest new comparisons after commenting on the current two

GO

On the bigger ice surface (Olympics etc), Bure and it's not even close.

In terms of excitement watching them play, Bure and it's not even close.

The debate can be made about their effectiveness in the NHL.

My personal feeling is Bure has always been underrated, especially from the younger generation of fans who mostly remember his last few seasons when he dynamism had already been hampered bu knees troubles and he was less eager to contribute away from the scoring areas.

Try to think about Pavel Bure in his prime without the red line, without the allowed and systematic hooking&grabbing, and give him a legit n.1 center instead of Murray Craven.
In today's game and with a legit n.1 center he would have been almost unstoppable and definitely scoring more than anyone else, Ovechkin included (who has had Backstrom consistently on his side).

So, even overall and at the NHL level, it's Bure for me.
And that's not even taking into account the frequent and costly mistakes Ovy does, his poor record in key games, and his pathetic showing at the last Olympics at home.

[Tony]

Murray fucking Craven. That's a helluva point.

[Matthew]

Murray fucking Craven. That's a helluva point.

Greg Adams was his other usual winger in the early 90s, and greg adams was still around a pt/gm guy at that point. Both Adams and Craven were close to point per game players at that point in their careers.

Also remember that Ovechkin didnt have Backstrom until his 3rd season. Ovechkin had already put up a 52 goal rookie season(only 4 goals behind the leader) and 46 goal 2nd season(only 6 goals behind the leader) on a shitty Washington team that finished 3rd and 4th last before he was centered by backstrom.

Dont get me wrong, Zubrus was no slouch, but in the 2 seasons before he got to play with Ovechkin Zubrus had 35 and 27 point seasons. Ovechkin had no great C in his first couple years either.

Also, to go with Bure's Florida margin,

Ovechkins Rookie season: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leag ... 92006.html

[kyuss]

Yeah Ovechkin had 2 outstanding seasons in his first 2 yrs in the league. Zubrus was good those 2 seasons though, I'd say comparable to Craven. And that's the best Bure ever got (even if later on he did play a season with an aging Mark Messier -not sure they were always on the same line though- and the ghost of Lindros).

Btw, I don't think Adams with played with Bure in regular season, at least not in '94 going by my memories.

Anyway, the point is the NHL implemented the new rules that would have freed Bure right after he had to retire, which is a damn shame. I think Ovy benefitted from those new rules much less than Bure would have done (which is obv not a knock on Ovy; you could say his game would have been less affected than Bure's having to face the redline and the hooking)