Arguably the best offensive blueliner of the last fifteen years, but never really got close to the Norris for some reason. There's a case either way.
Nick Lindstrom is the best offensive defenseman of the last 15 years, easily. I'm not really too passionate about this topic so not here to argue it so much as just to state a view... if you compare Gonchar against the HOF defensemen of the past 20 years he just doesn't make the cut. He has very impressive offensive numbers but his defending was pretty poor for most of his career. In terms of trophies and awards, there's not much there that distinguishes him as an all time great either, as you rightly point out he never really came close for Norris, and his AS record is not so great either. Keeping in mind it's The Hockey Hall of Fame... I took a look at his contributions with Russian team and there's not much there. A really nice career, a decent guy, but not a HOF in my mind.
I didn't write that properly at all, obviously you are correct that Lidstrom holds that title. He won 7 of the last 11 Norris Trophies, so it's kind of a non argument. What I should have called him is one of the best puck moving defencemen of the last fifteen years. There are few players I can think of that I'd rather have at point on a PP than Gonchar. I can see the argument that he doesn't belong in the HOF, I just wouldn't object if he did go there. Speaking of the Norris, the list of this year's finalists looks a bit shot now. Letang, Subban or Suter? They're going to have to give it to Letang based on regular season performance, but it looks a bit of a joke now given how badly he shit the bed in the playoffs.
Interesting factoid that the Bruins and the Hawks haven't played each other since 2011 since there were no conference crossover games this year. It's like the World Series used to be, where the two teams had no common opponents to really measure them against.
Apparently he turned down 3 years / $14M from NYI to join Philly on a four year deal so, er, no thanks. He's a decent player but he's 35 years old.
A lot of my friends are rooting for Boston because they are "original 6". What kind of nonsensical reason to root for a team is that? Anybody who's a NY fan and roots for Boston automatically loses part of their soul. What a joke. Fuck Boston. Blackhawks all the way. I still can't take hockey seriously though because of the joke points system. Until they change it to wins vs losses their rankings hold no credibility in my eyes. Comparing the Blackhawks point streak to the Heat's win streak is nonsensical, because overtime losses are LOSSES, not partial wins.
I prefer ties to the overtime loss system. Shootouts are also ridiculous and shouldn't be used to decide games.
Given Chicago are also an Original 6 team, a highly nonsensical one. I'm quite happy for Boston to win though.
