Revolutionizing the game of hockey: who will be next?
In a sport that is always changing, the only constant you can rely on is just that: change. Whether it be goaltenders first starting to wear protective masks and bigger pads, or skaters transitioning from stiff wooden sticks to flexible composites – hockey has always been a sport that isn’t afraid to evolve. A sport that isn’t afraid to push its boundaries and challenge previously conceived notions on how the game “should” be played.
On occasion, this change comes down to decisions made by the governing bodies of the sport. Alterations to regulation, equipment and rules are usually decided on in the board rooms of the NHL, IIHF or national hockey associations. However, some of these changes also come down to the players who take it upon themselves to shake things up and in the process, revolutionize the sport.
You could list dozens of names here – trailblazers like Bernie Geoffrion and Eddie Martin who first invented the slapshot technique or Jaques Plante who was the first goalie to ever wear a mask – but you’d be hard-pressed to find any one player who changed hockey quite like Boston Bruins legend Bobby Orr did.
The only player to win more Norris trophies than Nicklas Lidström, Orr was just as likely to block a shot or deliver a hit as he was to carry the puck end-to-end on his own and score a highlight reel goal. In a time where defenders were told to never cross the red line with the puck and forwards were told to keep the defenders as little involved as possible on the offensive side of the puck, he dared to be different.
Without Orr’s combination of fluid skating, puck handling, vision, physicality and courage – it is very likely we wouldn’t have gotten to experience the full potential of high-skill defenders like Paul Coffey, Scott Niedermayer, Duncan Keith or Erik Karlsson. Defensemen that would not have been allowed to play the way they did – and do – if not for Orr first opening the door to the concept of an attacking defenseman.
Finding a young player that could accomplish something similar in today’s game would seem difficult, if not impossible. Although considering the closest thing to modern “game-changers” we’ve had in the last two decades have been Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Connor McDavid – that is setting the bar pretty high. You look at those names and you see a gifted playmaker, a lethal sniper and an outstanding skater but let us not forget that:
* Outside of being an amazing playmaker, Crosby is also a world-class hockey player at working the boards, taking faceoffs, scoring goals from in close and sniffing out scoring chances in front of the net.
* Outside of being an amazing goal scorer, Ovechkin has shown that you can score the most goals in the league while being a behemoth of man – intimidating opponents with several huge hits every game.
* Outside of being an amazing skater, McDavid is the first player since Pavel Bure to be able to handle the puck with the finesse of a pure dangler while at lightning-fast speeds. Combine that with world-class vision and you’ve got #97 for the Oilers.
Will anyone ever revolutionize the sport the way Orr did?
The odds are slim, honestly. Orr took on the job of evolving the game on his own in a way that no player before – or since – have. Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux are considered the greatest forwards of all time for a reason, but they didn’t evolve the game – they just perfected it. Crosby, Ovechkin and McDavid carried that torch into the 21st century by being the very best at what they do, while at the same time offering an unprecedented versatility as hockey players.
While we might not ever see a prospect change the game quite like Orr, I can’t wait to spend the next 50 years – knock on wood – looking for the next revolutionary.
Meanwhile, enjoy these five minutes of Bobby Orr in his prime:
