Toews - Buy, sell or hold?

[japhi]

Obviously winning a cup and playing a minor role and having a minor career is least impressive. Winning cups, dominating in the playoffs and having a great career is most impressive.

In between would be players that had great careers but couldn't get it done in the playoffs.

A guy like OV, he story definitely isn't written yet. His playoff stats are really good and I bet he gets a Cup at some point, he's only 29. Bure was a great playoff player- he had that amazing run in 94 and has great playoff stats, he just didn't have the teams to get it done.

[KingKuba]

Winning is overrated...it is just a by product of circumstance.

Let me know when Toews scores 50 goals, 60 goals...40 goals...100 points...

Robert Horry is better than Jordan if you want to go by rings...

[rustyisin]

if Stamkos wins a championship that might make the hobby a little happier. A guy that scores in buckets that also has a Stanley Cup to his resume.
Doesn't help the hobby when teams like LA and Boston win...the hobby can't go anywhere with the players on those teams.

[Craig2]

if Stamkos wins a championship that might make the hobby a little happier. A guy that scores in buckets that also has a Stanley Cup to his resume.
Doesn't help the hobby when teams like LA and Boston win...the hobby can't go anywhere with the players on those teams.

This is a good point. Toews is a HOFer for his two way game and leadership, but having a guy score goals while winning Cups would be huge.

[RGM81]

This isn't WWE -- winning and losing matters.

Are Sidney Crosby's cards strong now? Of course. How much stronger would they be if he had more than one Cup?

As others have alluded to, Carey Price's cards in May were at an all-time high. They'll spike again in a couple weeks when he gets the Vezina, Hart, and Lindsay. That's nice regular season winning. But when he leads the Habs to a Cup, different stratosphere.

All of the Oilers rookies from the first half of this decade would see a much more enjoyable hobby positioning if the team wasn't mired at the bottom of the standings and a front-office disaster.

How many die-hard Toronto Maple Leafs fans would choose Dion Phaneuf or Phil Kessel over Dougie Gilmour or Wendel Clark? Even though the latter two never tasted a Cup, they brought the team further than anybody since the great drought began and gave the fans hope.

The comparison that some have brought up here, that mid-carders, pluggers, and supporting cast guys are sarcastically better than superstars because they've got more rings, is silly. And I think you guys who are saying that know it's silly. Winning a title doesn't make you a superstar; consistently being among the best in your peer group does. Patrick Kane isn't a superstar because of any one criteria, whether it's the OT GWG to win the Cup in 2010, his ridiculous PPG average in the playoffs, his Calder Trophy, or his regular season stats...it's the whole of those things (and then some) being embodied in a single extremely dynamic and exciting player. Jason Arnott also has a Cup-winning OT GWG and was a career 0.75PPG player with over 400 goals. Does anybody consider him a superstar?

What Stanley Cups do among superstars, though, is establish their place in that upper tier and elevate them to legends.

[rustyisin]

Are Sidney Crosby's cards strong now? Of course. How much stronger would they be if he had more than one Cup?

Sid's cards are quite a bit weaker than last year when he won the Art Ross and hart trophies and was coming off another Gold Medal. That had nothing to do with a Stanley Cup Championship. Just sayin'

[RGM81]

But it also emphasizes what I'm saying: Winning matters. Price's card values were also fuelled tremendously by the gold medal. It's not *just* Cups but obviously also main-stage international tournaments. That's why those guys (and others) went up spectacularly then...and most guys didn't after the World Championships win this year.

Sid in 14-15 had, by his lofty standard, an off-year. Not up for many individual awards and his NHL team was a disaster that limped into the playoffs before being promptly dispatched in the first round. So of course he's going to trail off a bit.

[rockband]

Remember the concussion Crosby has a couple of years ago, and the doctors weren't sure if he could return to play. And it turned out to be his neck injury... Sid has not been the same player before the injury. Points production, and his performances (this year playoffs, and regular season, and last year's playoffs) have not been crosby like. He's playing in cautious mode.

Toews, Tavares, up-and-coming teams like Dallas with Tyler Seguin would be better to invest. Seguin would have won the Art Ross this year if that Florida defenseman didn't take a cheap shot at him.

[Yzerfan]

And all this time I thought that it was a forgone conclusion that Toews is awesome...go figure.

[RGM81]

And all this time I thought that it was a forgone conclusion that Toews is awesome...go figure.

Right? LOL