NHL players possess the greatest blend of aerobic fitness, strength, agility, and coordination of all sports?

They are certainly impressive athletes, but I would say individual athletes that are at the pinnacle, span all sports.

I would even add anaerobic fitness to the list.

Not even close. The NHL draws on a far smaller talent pool than other major sports, therefore it's unlikely they have the best all-around athletes. I think we can eliminate baseball since you can have a beer gut and still be a superstar, so that leaves football and basketball.

i wouldn't even put them in the top 10, you must be a delusional person.

skill position football players - no question number 1

then decathletes

then basketball player - esp guards, forwards

then i would pick kickboxers and boxers

then sprinters and jumpers

mma fighters

hockey? please, they don't even jump off the ice. they cna't be athletic. this is not a sport that require athleticism, it requires money and access to equipment and rinks like swimming and golf.

Pro tennis players, by far. Fed, Joker, Nadal are total packages.

runnerwhoprofesses wrote:

Pro tennis players, by far. Fed, Joker, Nadal are total packages.

Actually you will find that top Badminton players are way higher in these catogrees,than any other Sport.....and by a long way !

You must have never seen a lucha libre match

Ha decathletes at two???? i guess this is a running forum, but track and field requires very little agility and coordination compared to other sports... Everything is a pre planned, practiced and prepared action, you are never reacting to a moving object or person people going head to head. They're really not much different than your average crossfit guy.

Personally, I think toughness should be added to the overall athletic test, which does boost the case for hockey as the ultimate athletic test, but id still put boxers and football players in front of them.

Are you trying to tell me the NHL still exists?

OP

I've been saying this for twenty years

We mustn't forget about the skill of curling athletes...

puck slut wrote:

Not even close. The NHL draws on a far smaller talent pool than other major sports, therefore it's unlikely they have the best all-around athletes. I think we can eliminate baseball since you can have a beer gut and still be a superstar, so that leaves football and basketball.

American football ain't a global sport. Ice hockey is.

Hockey players at the NHL level are indeed at the top of the sport for agility, skill, finesse, speed, aerobic conditioning et al - but like any sport some of that is very sport-specific.

I played various forms of hockey. I kickboxed for 12 years with some boxing. I fought several times.

Kickboxing is a very finesse sport, sometimes a choppy brawler looks like shit in the ring, but a guy with talent and skill and a great deal of fitnesse move like there is some dance skill. However, there is a very small talent pool for kickboxers too.

For those who haven't skated full tilt boogey with skill cannot judge hockey, sorry, different plane.

Hockey players might be the toughest on the planet. Sure Thai boxers kick banana trees for practice...and rugby players are way tougher than gridiron football, but I have seen hockey players play with broken limbs, ribs and taking pucks in the face, smashed noses. Heck one player died on the bench, was revived and demanded to get back on the ice this year, that was his second time.

Basketball, soccer, football, baseball, you twist a sock and you need to be carried off.

Soccer or lacrosse players without a doubt, you have to have way more arobic fitness and just as much if not more coordination.