Your Call: NHL All-Time GLASS TEAM

[ravens_creed]

Simple question: Who is in the starting lineup (including goalie, so 6 names total) of your all-time NHL Glass Team? That is, the players who seem to be the most fragile/frequently hurt.


The idea came to me after seeing a comment on the TSN.ca comments that garnered HUGE support. Here is the all-time glass team as suggested by that post:


C Tim Connolly
LW Ryan Malone
RW Marian Gaborik
D Sami Salo
D Carlo Colaiacovo
G Rick DiPietro


Not that the Leafs aren't already somewhat represented here, but I would suggest that Joffrey Lupul could give Ryan Malone a run for his money in that winger slot.

[hudley19]

Marc Savard
Ales Hemsky
David Legwand
Andrei Markov
Rostislav Klesla
Rick DiPietro

[hossa18sens]

Rick DiPietro could play Goal as well as at least one other position lol

[centrehice]

RNH
Crosby
Di Pietro
Ace Bailey - clubbed to insanity by Eddie Shore the punk, and forced to quit
Mikeal Samuelsson
Frank Mahovlich
Chris Pronger

[Camarotuner]

RNH
Crosby
Di Pietro
Ace Bailey - clubbed to insanity by Eddie Shore the punk, and forced to quit
Mikeal Samuelsson
Frank Mahovlich
Chris Pronger

RNH? How do you make an "all-time" list with what, 3 seasons?, 1 of which was a shortened season, under your belt? That's the same as declaring someone onto the "all-time greatest scorers" list after the same amount of time.

[Wickabee]

Anyone who doesn't have Sami Salo on this list is insane.

[whbonney014]

A good list and thread, I'd put Martin Havlat in good consideration.

[centrehice]

Salo definitely on the back end with Pronger. Completely forgot about the 4-5 seasons he's missed.

[Goose97]

Eric Lindros
Steve Sullivan
Martin Havlat
Sami Salo (there ya go wicka)
Mike Green
Rick DiPietro

[ravens_creed]

There have been some excellent submissions so far. I'd like to add the names Sheldon Souray, Paul Kariya, and Simon Gagne to the mix as well.


For my own team, I think there are some locks, and some closer calls. It's hard not to see DiPietro getting the unanimous vote in net. His string of injuries basically cost him an entire NHL career. Sami Salo is also a lock in one of the defense spots. It's certainly ridiculous and borderline laughable how many times he's been hurt. That he still plays is nothing short of a miracle. I mean, his luck has been so bad, he even got bit by the only poisonous snake in Finland while golfing. You just can't make that up. I'm pretty sold on Tim Connolly being my starting centreman as well. Guys like Marc Savard and Eric Lindros were more victims of one brutal injury than they were a series of them. Connolly's record of injuries almost puts him in the DiPietro stratosphere, and another guy who could have been better than he was. The other defenseman, for me, would come down to one of Colaiacovo, Pronger, or Souray. Colaiacovo's successive injuries to start his career cost him several crucial early years of proper development, but I think Pronger and Souray have him beat in overall games lost to injury (I can't seem to find anywhere online that tallies it formally). Pronger gets the nod then, in that he's been hurt for extended periods of time about a half-dozen times during his career, which was ended prematurely at the end due to another very serious one. Don't forget about the time with the Blues when he stopped a slapshot in the chest that actually stopped his heart for a bit. Still a HOFer, but man did that guy get hurt a lot. That leaves my wingers, and that is much more up in the air, as there are several good candidates. I'd have to give consideration to Gaborik, Gagne, Havlat, Kariya, Hemsky, Steve Sullivan is a decent pick, and even Marian Hossa comes to mind. It's hard to ignore Gaborik, who, even before this season, had a bad track record of injuries, but breaking your collarbone in your first game back after the previous serious injury? Really, dude? Glass! You're in. The last spot is really tough. Kariya might not have been hurt as often as some of the others, but the most serious one cost him a career that would have seen him hit the 1000 point mark. Gagne's been hurt a lot. Havlat's been hurt a lot. Hemsky's been hurt a lot. I'm going to give it to Hemsky by a nose, on account of his only having one full season under his belt, and not only missing time due to several significant injuries, but for basically finding a way to be hurt for at least a few games for 7 years in a row.


My official team:

C Tim Connolly
LW Ales Hemsky
RW Marian Gaborik
D Sami Salo
D Chris Pronger
G Rick DiPietro