Who is/who was better? I personally can't decided both are great players and two of the best LW to play in the last 15 years not that there is or ever was any type of rivarly between them they were good team-mates ever since gagne first came to philly and up-until leclair left and went to the pens (what a shame that was)

I'll say now Gagne is better, when LeClair was in his prime, LeClair>>Gagne.

Well of course gagne is more that 10 years younger than leclair

LeClair... groing up watching the flyers from the time i was 1 years old 1990- to 2007 i have got to say that LeClair is my hero... there was something about his heart that came through in the game... how he could hold of a defender with one arm and shoot and score with the other... her was amazing... Gagne is in a different air of flyers hockey then LeClair... but im gonna go old-school.

I was flip - flopping on this, but then I thought who is more of a pure goal scorer? I would have to go with Gagne. He is more of a pure goal scorer then Leclair. But LeClair was the guy who would stand in front of the net and get beat upon by the d-men.

I think when Gagne score's 50 in a season, I'll MAYBE consider him more of a pure goal scorer, until then he's just a better skater.

i feel that gagne is better only on the basis that leclair always had a good team when he posted those #s ( nothing against leclair, one of my faviorites)....
gange last year was on the worst team in the nhl, i think we were last in goals for catagory but not sure, He still put up good numbers and was one of the very very few players who had a + +/- rating.

Well... I would say Leclair here is why...

Gagne needs to play with someone who will feed him the puck, a skilled playmaker. Gagne only scores because of the effort of someone else.

Leclair was a power forward, he wont he battles in the corners and drove to the net with authority.. He muscled his way to goals instead of waiting for another player to feed him a good pass... He was like an ox around the net and gobbled every puck to get it on goal, thats why I think Leclair... Also his physical characteristics could change a game, he could throw some great checks. Gagne, doesn't.

Gagne is a 1-dimensional player, Leclair wasn't.

its funny that this topic came up because these are my two favorite flyers ever, i had a leclair jersey and now a gagne, but ill have to say LeClair, if you remember johnny had consectutive 50 goal seasons in the late 90's something Gagne hasnt done.....yet, but until then its LeClair....o and stryker, i have to disagree, i think you underestimate the amount of work gagne has put in during the last couple of seasons so that he is a more physical player on the boards and not easily pushed around, no to mention he is probably the teams best 2 way defender and scorer, but hes no LeClair in the physical catagory

I thought gags proved that he can score w/o a great playmaker during the last couple months of a dismal season last year. When you have a playmaking center you can afford to play the game differently and look more to get yourself in opportune scoring positions rather than making things happen yourself. as far as being 1 dimensional you couldn't be more off. 1 dimensional players DO NOT play on the penalty kill. As a young player he also played on a 3rd line with Primeau that stopped the opponents best lines. He didnt blossom into the pure goal scorer he is until we got rid of Roenic, Amonthe, Zhamnov, Recchi, Lelcair and the rest of the vets that ate up our top line time.

I loved Leclair when he was here but i think he did not have as good of an all around game as Gags. Leclair scored quite a few goals by being positioned in front of the net and grinding it out.

Maybe LeClair should be compared to another #12 - Tim Kerr, not Gagne.

Unfortunately, I'm to young to have witnessed the glory days of The Legion of Doom, and John LeClair. (I'm 14, but I really didn't become a fan until 03-04, and that was a great year) I miss how LeClair would just stand in front of the net. We need someone to do that now.

You asked who is/was better?

I would say Leclair was a better goal-scorer hands down. No matter who was out there with him, he'd make it happen.

Gagne is definitely a better skater. He also may have better "hockey-sense" as far as positioning. Whereas Leclair would just create his own position through strength.

If I was taking one in his prime without consideration for who else was on my team, it would definitely be Leclair.

Oldschool,I'm not really old enough to give a good opinion on Kerr,I'll leave that to you veteran fans to grind out.


Career statistics Tim Kerr

Regular Season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1976-77 Windsor Spitfires OMJHL 9 2 4 6 7 3 0 0 0 0
1977-78 Kingston Canadians OMJHL 67 14 25 39 33 5 0 0 0 0
1978-79 Kingston Canadians OMJHL 57 17 25 42 27 6 1 1 2 2
1979-80 Kingston Canadians OMJHL 63 40 33 73 39 3 0 1 1 16
1979-80 Maine Mariners AHL 7 2 4 6 2 -- -- -- -- --
1980-81 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 68 22 23 45 84 10 1 3 4 2
1981-82 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 61 21 30 51 138 4 0 2 2 2
1982-83 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 24 11 8 19 6 2 2 0 2 0
1983-84 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 79 54 39 93 29 3 0 0 0 0
1984-85 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 74 54 44 98 57 12 10 4 14 13
1985-86 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 76 58 26 84 79 5 3 3 6 8
1986-87 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 75 58 37 95 57 12 8 5 13 2
1987-88 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 8 3 2 5 12 6 1 3 4 4
1988-89 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 69 48 40 88 73 19 14 11 25 27
1989-90 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 40 24 24 48 34 -- -- -- -- --
1990-91 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 27 10 14 24 8 -- -- -- -- --
1991-92 New York Rangers NHL 32 7 11 18 12 8 1 0 1 0
1992-93 Hartford Whalers NHL 22 0 6 6 7 -- -- -- -- --
NHL Totals 655 370 304 674 596 81 40 31 71 58

Easily John Leclair

The man was an absolute force in front of the net. True definition of a power forward. No one pushed John LeClair around. Until Gagne scores 50 goals in a season I'm not going to put him in the same class as Leclair.

Plus John Leclair is the coolest name ever.

Ya you know I would have to say LeClair was a better goal scorer than Gagne. Didn't LeClair have three 50 goal seasons. Thats pretty dam good for a American Born Player. 1995-96 he had 51 goals, 1996-97 he had 50 goals, 1997-98 he had 51 goals, 1998-99 he had 43 goals, and in 1999-2000 he had 40 goals. In my opinion that is a pretty remarkable 5 year span for any Hockey Player. So ya I think LeClair is a better goal scorer than Gagne.

Leclair hands down for this one.

Gagne and LeClair are both equal and seperate. Gagne plays on both the pp and pk. Leclair only played on the pp. LeClair could out mussle you for the puck but was not a fast skater. Gagne may not mussle you of the puck, but can beat alot of guys because he is a fast skater. Both have thier strong points as well as thier not so strong points. These are two diffrent types of players that have had different impacts on the Flyers. To compare either of them against each other is comparing a Porshe against a Jeep. One is great on the road and will get you where you want to go real fast, but the other one you can take off road to places you wouldn't even try with the other one.

I don't agree with that statement because from what I took of the question is who is the better scorer, not the better player. When asking who is the better player I can agree with your statement but asking who the better scorer is, which I took from the discussion, I don't agree with what you said. Its not comparing a Porsche or a Jeep, its comparing which is a better off-road vehicle. Thats just my opinion and I can be wrong.

it is difficult to cmopare them because they played so differently. LeClair was one of the best power forwards in the histiroy of the game, Gagne is a better finesse/goal scorer. I'd personally rather have Leclair in his prime.

They are too different to compare... a more style based comparison would be knuble vs leclair imo.

And leclair would win that vote.

comparing Knuble to Leclair is fuuny,No wait it is sick.Leclair is a great,knuble is a nobody.

I wouldn't say Mike is a nobody but Johnny was on a whole other level...He was amazing

Well Gagne is a younger player but if both were the same age then I'd have to say Leclair. Gagne (although a great skater) is nowhere near as effective in goal socring as Leclair was. However, both perform amazingly. It's really a hard choice to actually pick one over the other. Gage is a better skater but Leclair leads more in goals. So it's a hard choice.

Your opinon is reconized and dully noted. I was just comparing thier styles, which attributes to thier scoring.

I would have to disagree on the part where you say Knuble is a nobody. Knuble is a hard worker, and good infront of the net. I agree with not able to compare Knuble to Leclair, Leclair was amazing, but i would have to disagree with you on saying Knuble is a nobody.

For the record, I would love to have Knuble on the Pens. He's a good player and would probably be our second best winger, after Sykora.

way i see it is if i could take anyone of those three being leclair ,gagne. or kerr ,i take time kerr in a hearbeat the man could score at will in front of the net remember the sign guy kerr plunk if i remember correctly he had 35 power play goals one year, and leclair had lindros fedding him pucks dont forget that

I wont!

That's not too cool that you changed the word's in readytorise's post, you make it look like he said that. If you you want to call Lindros an idiot, that's up to you, but say it yourself.

Alright, I'm sorry readytorise for changing Lindros to idiot. Sorry for upsetting you too pat.

Your a jerk for changing peoples posts to make them sound like idiots,no wonder you have no friends

No need for that comment either. Calm down.

I appoligized. Man, this does feel like life all over again....

he was but no worries, all flyer fans here , we all want the same thing the cup , tough games ahead with a few injuries so i hope we can continue playing well

It's cool , I'm not upset, I would have been if it was my post, that's the only reason I pointed it out. gagne5638 shouldn,t have said what he said, I think he owes you an apology.

LeClair (10 years younger)!
Legion of doom rules!

You can't compare them really, so different rules and styles

Gagne would beat Leclair in todays game, due to the new rules, as Gagne is much more speedier than LeClair ever was..

And those saying Gagne needs a playmaker to work, where were you bandwagon fans last season? He had no playmaker at all for half the season..
And Leclair had one of the most dominating players ever in his line, ever heard of the main character in the legion of doom? Do I need to mention his name really? (88 is a little hint..)

But speaking for Leclair, I wonder if there has been many better players that could crash the net like him, what a strenght he had

I want the legion back...