Funtime said:
Your name is equally accurate because you must be high when you post. you seem to think that offensive output is what makes a player well-rounded. How can I claim that Toewes "MIGHT" be the most complete player in the NHL? Well let's see. He only excels in every facet of the game. Does he score as many points per game as Crosby? Nope, but he's a lot better defensively, and a lot better in the faceoff circle. Results don't lie either. Toewes won gold as a junior where he took every single shot in the shootout for team Canada and scored 3 times to win the game. He won the MVP of the Olympic tournament where Canada won gold and he had the best +/- on the team, and he won the Conn Smythe trophy when the hawks won the cup. Ya, I'd say he is in the conversation for most complete player in the NHL. Scores, takes important faceoffs, kills penealties, plays hard at both ends of the ice, more durable than Crosby, nuff said. Is kane a better center than Malkin? You seem to think no, but Kanes's 21 points and +11 rating compared to Malkin's -1 rating over his 12 games played this year suggest that at this exact point in time my claim is correct. Bolland vs Staal? Of course Staal has the edge offensively. What I said was that Bolland was a top notch shut-down center. Better at that particular role than Staal. How high were you when you posted? Did you get into the bottle of Flinstone Vitamins again? As for Montador, you're correct, he's no world beater, but he is a solid D man. He'd be top 2 on a lot of low-end NHL clubs. Let's also take into account here that Crosby and malkin are both health risks and Kane and Toewes don't miss games. If you were starting a franchise tomorrow and had a choice of taking either Toewes or Crosby you would not be wrong for taking Toewes. Oh, and LOLOLOLOLOLOL @ you for thinking at least 4 other teams are better down the middle than Chicago. LULZ. Seriously, you must be so fucking stoned. The only team that would even be debatable is the Penguins, but as I've just proven, that is merely "debatable". Thanks for coming out. Snort less crushed Pez before you post in my general direction again.
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I'll give you one credit for the fact that Crosby and Malkin are more injury prone than Kane and Toewes. Other than that I don't see a lot of common ground here.
If you were to start a new franchise today and picked Toewes as your franchise player you would indeed be an idiot. In fact, if you picked both Toewes and Kane over Sidney Crosby you'd still be making a huge mistake. Crosby is not only easily the best player in the game right now, he might be one of the best players in the history of the game. Yes, we're almost talking Lemieux like talent level here. I can't stand Pittsburgh and don't care much for Sid the Kid myself, but to deny that he is by far the best player in the game is ludicrous. I'll say that I think you underestimate Crosby's defensive skills and insane commitment to win and improve, and just leave it at that.
You then go on to compare Malkin to Kane, and pretent that a +/- rating can show that Kane is clearly the better player. A more reasonable comparison would be to compare Malkin to Toewes. I'll agree that Toewes is better rounded than Malkin, but Malkin is a better offensive center than Toewes. I'll flip your statement around and say that if you were starting a franchise today and could choose between Toewes and Malkin, you would not be wrong to pick Malkin.
Finally, sure, Bolland is a solid defensive forward, but so is Paul Gaustad and about a million other guys out there. Bolland is no Ryan Kessler to put it mildly, not to mention the gold standard of two way forwards; Pavel Datsyuk.
In conclusion, The Chicago Blackhawks have a great young first line center, solid second line talent in Kane and Sharp whoever ends up centering that line and a good defensive forward in Bollard. This is definietly a strong core, especially considering the age of these players, but in my opinion it's very debatable if it is the strongest outfit in the NHL.
For the record, I said that there are 4 teams in the Western Conference you can make a case for being stronger down the middle than the Hawks, that doesn't even include the Penguins. I can understand why Hawks fans are excited about their team though, I would be drooling if my team had that kind of young talent down the middle.
As for Montador, I'd say he would (should) be a 6th or 7th defenseman on virtually every team in the NHL.
