Best season by an individual player since 2000

[whcanuck]

Hey guys, so what are you thoughts on the best season's by players since the dawn of the millennium?

Here are a few I've thought of

-Joe Sakic 2000-01, 54 goals, 64 assists for 118 points in a full 82 games, 12 game winning goals. Just narrowly missed the scoring title, second to Jagr. Won the Hart, Lindsay and Byng and was a runner-up for the Selke. Also had 13 goals in the playoffs and 26 points, led all scorers in both. Monster of a year for a player over 30, Sakic was THE player that year, even if slightly overshadowed by Mario's miraculous comeback. What do you guys remember about Sakic that year? I'm a big Sakic fan and I always want to learn more about him

-Alex Ovechkin 2007-08, the first 60 goal season since Y2K. Ovie cleaned up at the NHL awards that year.

-Erik Karlsson 2015-16, He had 82 points! Just an awesome year for Karlsson. First time in 20 years a defender had 80+ points.

-Miikka Kiprusoff 2003-04, All I remember is he had that tiny 1.69 GAA after coming to Calgary in a trade. Was a beast in the playoffs and just about took home the Stanley Cup in one of the greatest Cinderella runs of all time.

Click to read more...

 

[Nick Hansen]

Tim Thomas 10/11.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Malkin 08-09

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Season + playoffs? Season only?

 

[frisco]

I'll say Ovechkin in 2009-10 but had they played full seasons Lemieux 2000-01 and Crosby 2010-11 would've been the best. Regular season only.

My Best-Carey

 

[VanIslander]

Season + playoffs?

That would be Henrik Zetterberg for the 2007-08 year in which he scored 92 points in the regular season then an unsurpassed 27 points in 22 playoff games that postseason and the Conn Smythe (including huge goals against Nashville and Colorado), setting the NHL record for playoff shots on goal with 116.



Defensively, he owned the ice as well. Really he was other-worldly (and I hate the Wings):

 

[Nadal On Clay]

That would be Henrik Zetterberg for the 2007-08 year in which he scored 92 points in the regular season then an unsurpassed 27 points in 22 playoff games and the Conn Smythe (huge goals against Nashville and Colorado), setting the NHL record for playoff shots on goal with 116.



Defensively, he owned the ice as well. Really he was other-worldly (and I hate the Wings):

My vote goes to Malkin in 2009.

 

[MadLuke]

Tim Thomas 10/11.

Sakic season is impressive for sure, but Thomas .938 season + .940 playoff Smythe winning playoff is hard to beat.

Luongo had a couple of very impressive seasons as well in the 2000s.

 

[VanIslander]

My vote goes to Malkin in 2009.

Gee, Mean Gene, we didn't see that coming.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Gee, Mean Gene, we didn't see that coming.

113 + 36 > 92 + 27, no matter how you slice it.

 

[The Panther]

Some good choices already mentioned. Thinking of regular season only, I think Jagr is gonna get low-balled here, so I'm gonna mention him.

What about 2005-06? It's the 2nd most points by any player since 2000, along with Thornton the same year. But Jagr played the whole season with one team, scored 25 more goals than Thornton, and had a better plus/minus. He was the guy most responsible for reviving the Rangers' entire franchise after years of being inept. (Actually, Jagr's 2000-01 also deserves a mention, but I think he scored a lot more only when Lemieux was back playing.)

Another one not mentioned yet is Forsberg in 2002-03. He won the scoring title with 106 points, but I guess he would have had 116 or something if not for 7 missed games. The most eye-catching thing about his stats that year is his +52.

If we are talking only regular season + playoffs, I'd probably go with Evgeni Malkin's 2008-09.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Jonathan Quick was both my Hart and Conn Smythe pick in 2011-12.

 

[Admiral Awesome]

Might not be the best, but I gotta show some love for Jumbo Joe's '05-06 season here. Dude gets traded mid-season and has to adjust to a brand new team and teammates, and still wins the Art Ross. That's pretty damn impressive.

 

[GlitchMarner]

If we're talking RS only, it's Ovechkin's 2007-2008 season.

He won the Hart, Pearson, Rocket Richard and Art Ross. He led the NHL in shots and led WSH in points by 43 points and in goals by 39 goals.

 

[blood gin]

Pure homer pick but Martin Brodeur won 57 games (Playoffs+reg season) in 2002-2003. 16 total shutouts and a Cup and Vezina.

 

[Big Phil]

Regular season only? Hmmm. Ovechkin in 2008 does present itself as possibly the best. There are a couple partial seasons that I wish we could have seen in the full, but alas, you might have to go with Ovechkin in 2008.

Now..........combining both? Sakic in 2001, Thomas in 2011, Malkin in 2009, Zetterberg in 2008, Crosby in 2017. The winner? I don't know, I have a hard time picking anyone else but either Sakic or Malkin here.

A couple of underrated regular seasons not mentioned yet:

Crosby in 2007. I think people forget just how obsessed we were over this season. He was still a teenager and racked up 120 points. It was thought that he was at least equal with Mario's first two years and not much different with Gretzky's. I just remember the buzz around that year.

Theodore in 2002. Hands up if you had the Habs making the playoffs that year? Me neither.

 

[Terry Yake]

in no order

Ovie 07-08
Crosby 06-07
Thornton 05-06
Jagr 05-06
Sakic 00-01
Lemieux 00-01
Thomas 10-11
Karlsson 15-16

 

[Canucks1096]

Malkin 11/12 season

75 GP 50 G 59 A 109 points. Hart Lindsay Ross. 12 points ahead of 2nd place. Led league in ppg.

Some of you may think Ovechkin 2007/2008 Is the best but I think Malkin season was better. Malkin had more points compares to the top scorers. Also 2012 season the league average 1 less pp a game compared 2008 season. 1 less pp a game and Malkin had a better ppg and only 3 less points. It was a lot harder to put up 100 plus points in 2012 vs 2008 season.

 

[Thenameless]

113 + 36 > 92 + 27, no matter how you slice it.

I agree, but for what it's worth, the guy with the lesser point totals was also a Selke nominee which helps. Probably good reason why their teams won in both these years.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

OV 07/08

--League leader in goals, GPG, pts, PPG
--200+ hits
--45 more pts than 2nd on his team

 

[The Panther]

Okay, here's a question: Why do most of you consider Ovechkin's 2007-08 over Jagr's 2005-06?

I'm not necessarily saying Jagr's was better, but why is it a slam-dunk for Ovechkin?

Compare:
Raw points:
123 Jagr (H.F. adjusted 120)
112 Ovechkin (H.F. adjusted 122)
(Ovie played about 83 minutes more ice-time than Jagr over the full season)

Points as % of Team's Goals:
49.2% Jagr
47.0% Ovechkin

Scoring lead over #2 on team
44 Jagr
43 Ovechkin

Plus/Minus
+34 Jagr
+28 Ovechkin

Team's improvement
31 more points Jagr's team (Jagr played only 31 games the previous season)
24 more points Ovechkin's team (Ovechkin played the full previous season)

I realize Ovechkin scored 11 more goals, but he also had a (marginally) lower shooting-percentage than Jagr, and 22 fewer assists.


I have no particular issue with Thornton's winning the Hart in '06, but that was just a coin-flip. If the voting had been done one week earlier, Jagr would have won it. (Thornton scored 9 points in his final four games, Jagr scored 4 -- hence, they gave everything to Thornton who won the scoring race by only 2 points.)

Yes, Ovechkin won and deserved his (only) scoring title in 2008, but he did it with Crosby injured (they had identical PPG's).

Anyway, I'm just asking this because I feel Jagr always gets under-valued in these discussions. Somehow players' later great seasons always get overlooked...

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Tim Thomas 10/11.

came to say this

35-11-9
.938 sv% (all time record)
2.00 GAA
Vezina
AS-1
5th in Hart

and an all time playoff run of

.940 sv%
1.98 GAA
Cup
Smythe

 

[Voight]

2000-2001 Sakic was 5 or 6 goals from the Richard and a mere 3 points from the scoring title, and a couple votes from the Selke.

Had a couple bounces gone way or another, he'd have had arguably one of the top 5/10 seasons in NHL history.

2007-2008 Ovy gets my vote. 2010-2011 Thomas is close.

 

[El Cohiba]

Karlsson last year.
Pavel Bure 1999-2000 if that counts. He was a one man show.
HM to Big Phil on citing Theodore's '01-'02 campaign. He was lights out that year

 

[Wrath]

-Erik Karlsson 2015-16, He had 82 points! Just an awesome year for Karlsson. First time in 20 years a defender had 80+ points.

I am not sure if you meant for the "80+" to be inclusive or exclusive, and I am 100% nitpicking, but Lidstrom scored 80 points in 2005-2006.


_________

Anyways, RS only I take OV 07-08.

RS + PO it's hard to decide between the ones people above have mentioned, namely Sakic 00/01, Z 07/08, Malkin 08/09, and maybe Thomas 10/11 (the main gripe IIRC was he played too few games in the regular season to warrant a real shot at the Hart).