|
ESTB Yes, good points. I'm glad that we agree on McCarthy. I honestly feel that he put up one of the best 3 year runs of any heavyweight ever between 1993-94 and 1995-96. Wins over Probert, McKenzie, Domi, Grimson, Simon, Baumgartner, Churla etc. A stunning accomplishment for an enforcer who began his domination just 1 year removed from Jr. hockey.
I would probably put Paul Holmgren in the same class as guys like Nystrom, Jonathan and Wensink. Excellent fighters who were perhaps a notch below the super elite of the late 70s - Wilson, Fotiu and Gillies. Holmgren probably had a few more losses than Nystrom, Jonathan and Wensink but balanced everything out with a slightly better card IMO.
I really enjoyed watching Glen Cochrane fight, but felt that his card was a tad weak during his prime years in Philly. Overall it was decent but not spectacular. I believe his most frequent opponent as a Flyer was Hector Marini. Once he left Philly he began to add some meat to his resume with bouts against Probert, Kordic, McSorley, Playfair, Baumgartner, Byers and a few more against Nilan. Unfortunately he was passed his prime and unable to win many of those fights. Currently I have Glen at #19, but a prime Cochrane with a few more super bouts under his belt would have rated much higher on my list. A very dangerous man in the orange and black.
For me, Chris Simon wasn't able to sustain his dominance long enough to measure up with the truly elite. An impressive rookie season followed by 2 top 5 campaigns were enough to put him on the map but not quite enough to warrent comparisons with men who had 5 or 6 good years behind them. He was probably overshadowed a bit by McCarthy who came into the league at the exact same time.
I'm currently re-working my top 10, and the one individual I'm taking a long look at including is Larry Playfair. I've always had him in my top 20, but will probably elevate him to #7 or #8 after watching some footage and observing his high status with many members of the hockey fight community.
|