Around which current NHL star would you build a franchise?

If we're getting these guys all at age 22, I would take Roberto Luongo. That level of goaltending is hard to find, and an absolute must if you're going to win a cup.

Instead, I took the easy way out and took Ovechkin. He's got some nice pieces around him in Washington with Mike Green, Alex Semin and Nick Backstrom, but the things he does night in and night out just astound me.

 

Flippin' Mike Green! I forgot him, too!

 

Always build from the net out. Give me Brodeur in his prime.

Wouldn't argue with those that lean towards Crosby, Ovechkin or Lidstrom.

 

The Ovechkin/Crosby debate is a scorer-finisher vs. setup issue. Ovechkin is such a scoring force of nature - he had a couple of goals late last year in matchups against the Whalercanes that had me shaking my head. But Crosby makes those around him so much better.

Truly six of one and a half-dozen of the other. So much would depend on who was around both. Ovechkin can almost carry a team on his back offensively, but Crosby can raise the game of even average or marginal players around him.

Lidstrom is obviously a tremendous pick as well. I'm hoping the Whalercanes have a 10-year guy in Cam Ward ... we'll see. He keeps showing flashes of why he won the Conn Smythe in '06. But he needs just a little more help from his defense to get there.

 

See that's why I was leaning towards Luongo initially. Even though he's turning 30 in April, I can see him being dominant for at least another seven or eight seasons.

 

I like the goalie idea, but I don't see another Dominik Hasek. And look at those Buffalo teams of years ago ... he was lifting that team more than Martin Brodeur does now.

Plus Brodeur had Scott Stevens for years. Who did Hasek have?

 

Unfair: Zetterberg and Datsyuk will split votes.

 

Ovechkin, though I'd rather have a beer with Kane.

 

Marc Andre Fluery.

Like others -- I believe you build from the back to the front

 

I'm curious, Zags...since you raise his name...who does he remind you of? A younger Grant Fuhr? Ken Dryden, etc?

 

Having cut my hockey teeth on Ken Hitchcock's style (I know, it's my cursed lot in life), I'd have to go with a stud defenseman. A Derian Hatcher-in-his-prime type.

 

your kidding right. I think you could name ten goalies before I'd go there. Unbelievably athletic, whose improving on his positional play.