Day 9 goes to Gabby – the fastest Wild player of all time!
On the opposite end of the speed spectrum, which player gets your vote as the slowest player in franchise history?
Also, Mikko was wondering if you’d be willing to vote for him for worst goalie.
To recap:
Most Underrated: Joel Eriksson Ek,
Most Overrated: Zach Parise,
Best: Kirill Kaprizov,
Worst (Top 3 Lines): Victor Rask,
Most Potential: Brock Faber,
Most Wasted Potential: Benoit Pouliot,
Best Defender: Jonas Brodin,
Best Goalie: Niklas Bäckström,
Fastest: Marian Gaborik
by Ok-Curve5569
23 Comments
Slowest has to be big John Scott
Dany Heatley
I don’t recall Jordie Benn being particularly fleet of foot
Ryan Suter was basically a light pole.
Another vote for John Scott
I never saw ryan suter take more than three strides.
I remember hearing on a podcast talking to the equipment guys he skated on a 1 1/2″ sharpening which means his skates barely dig into the ice and he can coast forever and not lose as much speed
Eric Chouinard
Boogaard and Brunette were slow back in the day.
Jordie Benn had to be the slowest motherfucker to ever step on a sheet of ice
I think someone in goalie gear would have been faster
Derek Boogaard. The Boogieman made skating look painful
Mikko will be most clutch
Boogie
Boogaard
Jordie Benn
Matt Johnson
Pat Maroon
Derek Boogaard
I thought there would be more V1ktor Rask. Loved him but his game is painfully slow
Boogie
A lot of you forgot about Thomas Vanek and it shows
He probably isn’t the slowest, but watching Hanzel ruin the chemistry Nino and Pominville had because he couldn’t keep up with them still stings.
Ryan Reaves
vanek. that dude could barely move and would be beet-red sucking wind on the bench
I have trouble justifying anymore else besides Victor Rask here.
Yeah, maybe of we lined all our guys up when they were in their prime, someone like Benn or Maroon would have lost a foot race.
But those guys are meant to bang bodies and their speed always felt reasonable for my expectations of them and their team role.
Victor was a guy whose actual NHL skill (good positioning, puck distribution, and handling) meant he needed to be playing with skill players. But he was so fucking slow that he killed entire rushes because he couldn’t get in the play in time, and his cycles were brutal because he had the frame and strength to board battle, but no speed to separate, and his lateral movements once holding the puck were similarly pitiful. He reminded me of the stereotypical guy at pick up hockey who is like 80 years old, and everyone sees them play and goes ‘ hey maybe there used to be a ton of skill in there’ and you later find put they used to play for the Gophers, but instead of this Rask just never figured out how to skate beyond bantam level even when his mind and hands advanced with the game.
Dude could have been a 60-80 point top 6 center had he even had AVERAGE NHL game speed.