He’s my all time favourite player. He was amazing, acrobatic....just exciting to watch. I met him once, and found out from Hotel staff that he was just awesome. He was so humble and nice. It’s awesome when one of your idols is truly a nice person as well. #31 Grant Fuhr, the best!
Wilf came to the league in 78' Gretzky 79'. Why would it matter as 99 wasn't recognized as a significant number at that time. It didn't even become a number people stopped wearing regularly until the late 80's...
There's a lot to be said about that Oilers side in the 1980's. Not only were they proponents in embracing European talent, they were brave enough to pick up a coloured player in their ranks who just happened to be supremely talented in the goaltender position. That's why they remain one of the most beloved teams in NHL history. Oh, and having some bloke called Gretzky sort of helped as well.
Thank you for celebrating the career of a great black NHLer. Fuhr overcame a lot of racism throughout his career, so I'm not sure if it's possible to give him too much recognition for getting to the NHL and HOF.
Iginla has clearly surpassed Fuhr in terms of greatness... Iginla has: An Art Ross A Pearson 2 Richards 3 1st Team All-Stars A 2nd Team All-Star Fuhr has: 1 Vezina A 1st Team All-Star A 2nd Team All-Star
Iginla has: An Art Ross A Pearson 2 Richards 3 1st Team All-Stars A 2nd Team All-Star Fuhr has: 1 Vezina A 1st Team All-Star A 2nd Team All-Star 1 William M. Jennings 5 Stanley Cup Championships Fixed that for you.
@@Davidjon1946 he had the record that year for the starting goalie who was pulled out of games the most, i think 16 or 19 but that maybe more due to Mike Keenan coaching antics
@@jonathancote9372 Considering that Keenan was notoriously fickle with goaltenders, starting that many games is pretty impressive. He obviously had confidence in the guy.
When I grew up the only black player I knew about was Donald Brashear who was a notorious enforcer and also on the receiving end of the McSorley incident.
That incident was disgusting. McSorley lost a lot of popularity with that stunt. I didn't respect him much after that incident and it was a very ugly way to end a career as extensive as his.
So Brashear was "notorious" and McSorley just had an "incident". Got it pal. It's funny how the US Government and Canadian Government had a "difference of opinion".
Tony mckegney Pokey Reddick Fred brathwaite Anson Carter Kevin weeks Peter Worrell Jean-Luc Grand Pierre. Georges laraque Mike Grier bunch of black players during this era I know I'm forgetting many more
Not sure if you guys gives a shit but if you are bored like me atm you can stream all of the new series on InstaFlixxer. Been watching with my girlfriend for the last few weeks =)
Interesting debate, but many people will consider a person who has a white parent and a black parent, as being "black." The whole conversation is kind of stupid, since we are all various shades of brown anyway, depending on our melanin levels and there aren't really "races" per se. Many racists of the white persuasion will not allow a "bi-racial" person to identify as such, meaning if anyone in your family is black, you are black, period. And nothing else.
@Mike Keller it was a strippers poster. In Alberta you toss loonies and get prizes such as lighters, posters or fridge magnets. It’s funny out here at times. Life goes on!
Fuhr in the regular season and Fuhr in the playoffs were two very different stories. In the regular season, he was consistently excellent and sometimes great. In the playoffs, Fuhr (like many of those '80s Oiler players) tended to find another gear. The Oilers could shut things down in the postseason, and Grant Fuhr was a big reason why.
he actually was a better goalie after he came back from his suspension, when he played for the leafs and blues. He changed to a butterfly style and his numbers improved.
I agree with Wayne Gretzky, Grant Fuhr is a very underrated goalie tender in NHL history in my opinion. Can you the Career of Henrik and Daniel Sedin please?
Gretzky said than if he had to put his life in the hand of a goalie in a hockey game than would deciede of his survive, he would choose Fuhr, even if he could have Dryden or Plante, he would choose Fuhr.
totally an objective source. because gretzky would choose someone other than his longtime teammate. the oilers always were and still are a boys club. fuhr was overrated and iginla was a better player. it's not hard to win when your team scores 5 goals a game. iginla had no supporting cast at all until he left calgary.
Same with me. Maybe it's just because you're not a racist who always differs people as black or non-black like those "politically correct" ;) for me, he was a great goalie, for all those years I wasn't even thinking about him basing on his skin color.
Thats why moog won the cup earlier lol. He got swept by islanders when fuhr took over they won the cup. He won the most important game in oilers history he outdated Billy Smith 1 to 0 first game in 1984. Oilers lose that game they lose the series and maybe no dynasty
I watched the Oilers right through the cup years and I couldn’t disagree more. Don’t you think a goalie on a defensive minded team would benefit? So why is Ken Dryden, Billy Smith, and Martin Brodeur so respected? They are all winners and scoring alone can’t win anything. Oiler players admitted that after losing in 1983
@@will-zp4kc Dryden's respected cause his heroics won their team the cup in 71 then in the late 70's he kept his focus when he would get sporadic action . Also he won the 72 Series . How many Conn Smyth trophies did Fuhr win ?
@@daveyboy_ not saying he was better than Dryden but he belongs up there in the conversation with the best of his era at least. He did win the Canada Cup in 87.
In fairness, the guy on this video is good with hockey knowledge and very entertaining even if things aren't always pronounced properly. It was the pronunciation of 'dynasty' as die·nasty (American English) rather than di· nuh·stee (British English) which ground my gears :'D
It didn't hurt having Gretzky, Kurri, Coffey, Messier, Anderson. They could win those 7-5 games and easily win cups. Best black hockey player? No. That goes to Iginla.
Iginla > Fuhr - those 80’s Oilers teams could’ve had a watermelon for a goalie and still won cups. Pretty sure Fuhr has the worst save percentage and GAA of any HoF goalie.
Who cares what color you are. Iginla is one the best. So is Fuhr. So is Orr. So is Howe. So is Dryden. So is Roy. Dear NHL, stop trying to indoctrinate.
Iginla is the best by far??! 🤦♂️Lmfao He can’t even hold a candle to Fuhrs resume! The great Grant Fuhr ..is by FAR the greatest black player of all time!
If players who are part black count as black, the best black player ever was Iginla. Yes I know, when they made that top 100 of all time list in 2017, Fuhr made the list and Iginla didn't but that list was clearly biased (and in my opinion, ridiculously so) in favor of players who've won the Stanley Cup and against those who haven't. Fuhr was great yes, but his former team won another Stanley Cup without him, in fact, they even won it without Gretzky and Coffey. That Oilers team was stacked and as long as they had a decent goalie, they almost certainly would have won the Cup. Iginla on the other hand, remember in 2004, when he lead the Flames to the final? I guarantee you, if he hadn't been there, that team wasn't going to the finals, not his fault if he didn't have enough help to make them win! His 600+ goals in a mostly low scoring era says it all!
He's also played a little bit of golf in some pro tournaments from time to time, mainly in ones on the Mackenzie Tour, aka PGA Tour Canada. When the Staal Foundation Open in Thunder Bay, Ontario was a tour event, Fuhr played in both the pro-am at the start and during the regular tournament. He may not have been the best golfer out there, but it was still nice to see him there.
I remember when he played here in Buffalo he was rejected membership from a golf course here in Lancaster New York I believe? I remember him suing and everything
Just a dumb statement. Grant Furh wasnt a great hockey player because he was black. He was a great hockey player, because he was a great hockey player. It had nothing to do with his skin color
I had a coach that played in the NHL in that era and said the entire Oilers roster and a better part of the league was a “traveling cocaine circus.” Sucks that he got punished that badly for coming clean.
the oilers were a one dimensional offensive team who couldnt play defense and couldnt handle a physical type game. if it wasnt for fuhr they would not have won as many cups as they did
He didn't really play that many games with the blues. If he gave up a goal early, Mike Keenan would pull him. He got yanked about 15 times that year. Keenan was an absolute psycho.
Good video but left out important aspects of his international experience and junior career. His international play is well documented but the story of how he walked on at the Victoria Cougars camp after playing house league in Edmonton with basically tattered equipment and ending up backstopping them to a Memorial Cup championship two years later should not be ignored. Also, his coach in Victoria was the recently retired AHL president David Andrews.
@@Electricalphil Would not take anything away from them at all! They overcame struggles of their own, but I just wanted to point out how rare it is to go from house league to Mem Cup in 2 years!
No goalie will ever beat that rookie win streak. Not a knock on him at all he was a great goalie. It's just that stacked team definite helped him get that record.
They are not a common occurence at all. There are more than 30 years ago. Even in minor hockey in my 30 team league there is 1 mixed race kid and 2 black kids
Fuhr was quite successful in Buffalo. They made and won a round in the playoffs when he was starting. His leaving had more to do with Hasek becoming one of the greatest goalies of all time than his play. You missed the mark there.
Iginla or even subban are better than fuhr ever was. He played behind the most dominant attacking team and he didn't need to play that well to win games. Fuhr was a good goalie but he very much wasnt as good as people remember him as.
“Grant Fuhr is the greatest goalie who ever lived. If I had to play one game for everything I owned, I’d pick Grant to be my goalie.” -Wayne Gretzky. Jus sayin
