Your favorite player of all time?

[mug25 2]

Mark Messier

[Vulcan7905 88]

Claude Lemeuix, hands down.

[pzilla3 0]

Brendan Shanahan.

[icewalker_bg 126]

Павел Валерьевич Дацюк

(Pavel Datsyuk)

[RussianDangler15 0]

Although I mostly saw him at the end of his career Mark Messier. He's probably the reason I stuck with the sport and fell in love with it.

[BarDownGinos 3]

Gretzky got me into the game (literally, found one of his cards in a stack of football cards and asked my parents if I could try hockey), so he's got to be on the list.

But Pavel Bure was my hands down favorite. Got to see him play once when I was a kid, it was unreal to watch him fly up and down the ice. It would have been interesting to see what he could have accomplished with a 15-20 healthy seasons as opposed to the 12 injury plagued ones he got.

[skyscrape 5]

Pavel Bure, Scott Stevens, Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey

[Cams 7]

Favourite all time - growing up as a small kid - Darryl Sittler. (Licence plates have my initials JKC27 and Sittler's number)

Currenlty - hard to say. I like Kessel as he is on my favourite team, and guys like Mike Brown who work hard and play tough, Like the way Clowe plays too. Also like Ott, Janssen, and new crop of Windsor Spitfires entering the NHL (Henrique, Hall, Ellis) - can't believe I got to see these guys for 4 years of junior!!!!

Also - during my years of watching - loved Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark and Cam Neely!

[Fire Walker 22]

Theo Fleury. I grew up watching him in Calgary and had the chance to play against him last year. Nice guy, signed lots of autographs for us.

[Powerfibers 8]

Gilbert Perreault is my all time gave, but as a kid it was hard not to love Guy Lafleur and Steve Schutt from the Habs. Currently, I think Jarome Iginla and Ryan Kessler are my favorites. It is definitely hard to like my hometown Sabres, every one of them has some flaw that bothers me.

[CaptainFantastik 0]

Mario Lemieux. My son's middle name is Lemieux in tribute to him.

I'm not the biggest Gretzky fan. But hands down has to be one of the most important players of all time. Besides his incredible talent he sacrificed his own success to try and help the league grow. When did Mario do anything on or off the ice that didn't benefit him first. I never heard Gretzky, Messier, Yzerman, Neely, or any other top players whine like Mario did when he felt their wasn't enough penalties called when he got hacked. Mario is hands down one of the most talented players ever to play the game but I never respected him for all the BS that went along with his personality.

Huh? There's a reason Wayne was known around the league as "Whine Gretzky". Care to cite some examples of Mario's supposed "selfishness"?

[Doctor Hook 0]

Ray Bourque. End of story.

[LeMagnifique66 0]

Hmm... Who could it be?

Probably The Magnificent #66.

[5 Minute Major 1]

Super Mario!

[-venom- 0]

Iggy.

[TeamBlue96 3]

Pavel Bure.

[hampshirepuck 2]

Jaromir Jagr

[Law Goalie 147]

Vladislav Tretiak, without a moment's hesitation: huge influence on me as a kid, and on the position and the generally. I still think his decision when he had the chance to defect after the 1975 New Years' Eve Red Army v. Canadiens game is one of the most interesting moments in sporting history.

[MarsB 33]

Lots of good ones in this thread. My personal favorite was Jeremy Roenick, all that skill and speed plus he grew up playing in Fairfax VA, where I was born, so I felt a kinship. Gretzky and Mario for obvious reasons, but also guys like Mess, Yzerman, Modano, Lindros, LeClair, Brian Leetch, Pat Lafontaine, Doug Gilmour, Dale Hawerchuck, Cam Neely, Pavel Bure, Scott Stevens, Ray Borque, Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis, Rod Langway, Adam Oates, Igor Larionov, etc. I loved Eddie Belfour, and watching Ron Hextall's antics in net. Being a bit of a runt when I was younger, I always appreciated Theo Fleury for playing way bigger than his size. Nowadays I love watching the superstars like Crosby and Ovie, admire the work ethic of guys like Malkin and Giroux, but NOW really appreciate guys who are even older than me(!)and are still playing at the highest level, like Jagr and Niklas Lidstrom.

[wrangler 157]

Vladislav Tretiak, without a moment's hesitation: huge influence on me as a kid, and on the position and the generally. I still think his decision when he had the chance to defect after the 1975 New Years' Eve Red Army v. Canadiens game is one of the most interesting moments in sporting history.

I still remember him as the best goalie I've ever seen.

[goblue9280 33]

I thought about this a few years ago, and oddly, my favorite player(s) growing up followed a trade path. I was a huge red wings fan, so first, it was Petr Klima, I was one destroyed 9 year old when he was traded. When Klima left, I didn't really have a favorite until Detroit traded Jimmy Carson (who they got in the klima trade) for Paul Coffey. So Coffey was my favorite (had his jersey and all) until he was traded for Shanahan... who then became my favorite. So Klima ---> Coffey ---> Shanny

Looking back now, I'd say my favorite player ever was Stevie Y. I just went with others at the time as a way to show that I didn't follow "the crowd".

[theGhost 0]

Currently like watching Ovy. If he has the puck theres always a legit chance he's scoring- no matter what the other team is doing. Would have to say my fav all time player is a guy that is now playing in Europe, and another thats in the AHL, because of what I saw them do for the community and for kids when I was around them...

[fogelberg 9]

This season, it's Claude Giroux and Pavel Datsyuk. Love the way they play the game. Growing up, my fave was always the Great One, until I saw Stevie Y's performance during the 2002 cup run. He was a beast on one leg! Since then, he's been my odds on favorite player!

[tonguesOUT4life 17]

Iggy baby

[17D1998 1]

Always been Paul Kariya, even though he isn't around anymore. Erik Cole is slowly replacing him