A small portion of Doug Harvey's greatness from the Stanley Cup finals 1951-1960.
"Doug was a one-man Welcome Wagon. If a rookie needed anything, he could go to Doug. He was a team man on the ice, in the dressing room, and on the road. Oh, and Doug Harvey was also the best NHL defenseman who ever lived. No exceptions. Offensively, of course, Bobby Orr was his better. Orr was so fast that he could take chances in an opponent's zone, then rush back to his blue line if his sortie didn't work out. That said, Bobby Orr could not do everything Doug Harvey could - a judgment shared by Doug's teammates, his opponents, and anyone who had the good fortune to marvel at his on-ice abilities.
Defensively, Harvey was far superior to Orr and thus to anybody he faced. As described earlier, he was probably the finest natural athlete to ever play our game. Scouts, managers and sportwriters argued endlessly about his equal abilities in baseball, football and hockey. His stamina was a marvel to behold. If the Canadiens had lost two or more players to injury, especially in the middle of a road trip, Doug would play all night. If he needed a rest, or thought the game was getting too frisky for his liking, he'd simply slow it down.
How could a single player dictate the tempo of the game? Simply by controlling the puck and defying any and all comers to take it from him. Forecheckers were reluctant to challenge him because he could easily handle them physically or embarrass them with a sudden move. When an opponent got careless, Doug would let go with a long pass that would spring a teammate into the open for a breakaway. Even at the end of his career, when he came up with St. Louis for the 1968 play-offs thirty pounds overweight and barely able to skate, he was still directing the game in subtle ways.
When Doug was on the ice, you played his way or you didn't play. Many sports fans like to indulge in "what if" speculations, wondering how players of my era would fare if they time-traveled to today's NHL. Doug Harvey would fare very well, especially when up against a number of today's wingers who have the habit of hanging around the boards at their own blue lines, waiting for a breakout pass from a defenseman.
Doug used to tell our forwards, 'I won't give you the puck if you're not skating. If you're standing still, if you park yourself near the boards and wait for a pass from me, it won't come. You'll die of old age standing there. If you want the puck, you'll get it on the fly.'
We skated, and he got us the puck. For his efforts, Doug won every Norris Trophy as top defenseman between 1955 and 1962, save 1959 when it went to his teammate, Tom Johnson. Only Orr, with eight trophies, has surpassed Doug's magnificent record."
-Jean Béliveau in My Life in Hockey
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