Datsyuk & Bergeron: Who had the better career?

[Stamkos4life]

It's funny how much I miss Datsyuk nowadays, while he was playing, sort of took it for granted. Don't really feel that way about other favorite players who retired in the recent past, only about the nineties stars...



You gonna get chirped for this from the hockey reference bots for saying this, but honestly, this entire new NHL era is so overrated in general, but thankfully, we had Datsyuk to make it worth watching, and you can clearly see Datsyuk's impact in the uptick in skill and creativity we've seen in the last five years.

Seeing how much respect other players have for dats really shows just how dominate he was.

The only player I was genuinely sad about retiring was Pavel.

 

[wetcoast]

Datsyuk still had 14 seasons and nearly 1000 games. While his career was a little on the short side, it wasn’t a Lindros or Bure type career, and Bergeron missed nearly a full year with his concussion and wasn’t back to 100% for a year or two after that. I don’t think the longevity edge is enough to make up for the difference in play.

Came here to say this.

Bergeron has played longer but Datsyuk peaked higher and has a better prime as well.

 

[wintersej]

Top 10 finishes in points:
Datsyuk 4th-4th-10th
Bergeron none

Top10 finishes in assists
Datsyuk 2nd-5th-8th-8th-9th
Bergeron none

Add to that a Hart nomination for Datsyuk and a higher ppg of Datsyuk despite him playing in a lower-scoring environment, and the difference between primes is too large to cover with extra longevity.

The Julien effect and play styles is real tho. Bergeron became a PPG player when Julien left after he was 30. If he has been on the Wings would there have been more points to go around? Probably. But I’m not going to argue Bergeron was in the same class offensively. No one has used “magic” when describing Bergeron’s offensive game lol.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Bergeron easily for me. Datsyuk may have peaked higher offensively but Bergeron has been so good for so long its crazy. And he's way better defensively than Datsyuk who I have always found overrated in that dept.

 

[The Red Line]

Bergeron easily for me. Datsyuk may have peaked higher offensively but Bergeron has been so good for so long its crazy. And he's way better defensively than Datsyuk who I have always found overrated in that dept.

Why? A handful of posters try to say this but I've never seen a single one of them actually give any examples, stats, or reasons as to why they think that.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Why? A handful of posters try to say this but I've never seen a single one of them actually give any examples, stats, or reasons as to why they think that.

IMO he wasn't as good positionally as a guy like Bergeron, and didn't have the size to go up against anyone physically or for retrieving loose pucks.

Datsyuk was great at picking pockets but other than that I think Zetterberg was the better defensive forward at their respective bests tbh.

 

[The Red Line]

IMO he wasn't as good positionally as a guy like Bergeron, and didn't have the size to go up against anyone physically or for retrieving loose pucks.

Datsyuk was great at picking pockets but other than that I think Zetterberg was the better defensive forward at their respective bests tbh.

Datsyuk was very physical. And how do you necessarily equate physical with being better? Plenty of guys have been more physical than him while being far worse defensively. Also he was the best takeaway man of all time - you mention that in your second sentence but say he wasn't good at retrieving pucks? What?



Zetterberg being great defensively is in no way an argument against Datsyuk also being great defensively.

 

[Jack Spider]

Bergeron. He had a bigger impact on the bruins fans than Dats did in Detroit.

 

[wingerdinger]

The Julien effect and play styles is real tho. Bergeron became a PPG player when Julien left after he was 30. If he has been on the Wings would there have been more points to go around? Probably. But I’m not going to argue Bergeron was in the same class offensively. No one has used “magic” when describing Bergeron’s offensive game lol.

Datsyuk was equally if not more severely held back offensively under Babs.

 

[LarKing]

Actually a pretty good poll. I’ll take Datsyuk and admit I’m biased. Love Bergeron too. Near perfect players.

 

[hamzarocks]

2 of the most overrated players ever. Bergeron being called the "best 2 way player ever" is such a joke, he's never finished top 10 in goals, assists or pts. Great defensively but 2C offensively. Datsyuk at least won his Selkes while finishing top 10 in pts. That's someone who can be argued as the best 2 way player ever.

Thank you. Finally someone who said t
this

Just to clarify

If your comparing Bergeron career to guys like Toews/Kopitar/Getzlaf/Tavares that's fine and fair

He's no way shape or form a Crosby/OV/Malkin/Kane leve player

Datsyuk is higher at his best he was a Stamkos/MSL/Iginla level player

87, 8, 71, and 88 are the clear cut 4 best players from the pre-mcdavid era.

Bergeron isn't top 10 on that listing

 

[Xspyrit]

2 of the most overrated players ever. Bergeron being called the "best 2 way player ever" is such a joke, he's never finished top 10 in goals, assists or pts. Great defensively but 2C offensively. Datsyuk at least won his Selkes while finishing top 10 in pts. That's someone who can be argued as the best 2 way player ever.

Come on, Bergeron missed a lot of games, almost every season. He finished with 0.89 PPG or over 7 times

He has a career 0.81 PPG, not bad for a 2C

Datsyuk was more prolific in general but he just had 2 more seasons over 0.89 PPG than Bergeron

I voted Datsyuk because he was great defensively while having an impressive career 0.96 PPG but Bergeron absolutely deserves ALL the respect he gets.

 

[dirtydanglez]

bergy

 

[CokenoPepsi]

Are we factoring in international play? If so, bergeron’s multiple gold medals (world jr., 2 olympics and a World Cup) should narrow whatever gap there is

No, international play should never be a factor it is a joke.

A fun joke but not serious

 

[nbwingsfan]

2 of the most overrated players ever. Bergeron being called the "best 2 way player ever" is such a joke, he's never finished top 10 in goals, assists or pts. Great defensively but 2C offensively. Datsyuk at least won his Selkes while finishing top 10 in pts. That's someone who can be argued as the best 2 way player ever.

This is an opinion. Not a good one, but an opinion at least.

 

[nbwingsfan]

He had one regular season where he bested one of the Big 3 (Crosby in 08/09), but not by much. Any thoughts that he deserved mention with the Big 3 were extinguished once the playoffs started that year. He was arguably the best 2nd tier player of his generation/late 00s to early '10s vs. Joe T. and Kane.

That being said, this is better than Bergeron's peak but career is close.

07/08 he scored 97pts, 9 less than Malkin, despite being on another stratosphere defensively.

Add in him besting Crosby/Malkin in the finals and he was quite clearly better than Malkin that season.

 

[93gilmour93]

Love these two players and both are awesome two way players but I’m going with Datsyuk. His skill with the puck was so elite it separates him from Bergeron.

 

[Colt.45Orr]

Are we factoring in international play? If so, bergeron’s multiple gold medals (world jr., 2 olympics and a World Cup) should narrow whatever gap there is

My question too. Bergeron is best Team Canada player (overall) last 20 years.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

My question too. Bergeron is best Team Canada player (overall) last 20 years.

This is indefensible

 

[Gonzothe7thDman]

As a Bruins fan I'd take peak Datsyuk over peak Bergeron any day.

Bergeron was eaten alive by O'Reilly in 19 and then most recently by Staal last postseason.

Bergeron only showed up as a positive in games at home since he could get matched away from Jordan.

 

[tabness]

Datsyuk was very physical. And how do you necessarily equate physical with being better? Plenty of guys have been more physical than him while being far worse defensively. Also he was the best takeaway man of all time - you mention that in your second sentence but say he wasn't good at retrieving pucks? What?



Zetterberg being great defensively is in no way an argument against Datsyuk also being great defensively.

I'm one of those who actually thinks Zetterberg had a better single season (2007-2008) than Datsyuk ever did and you can say was a better player at his very best. I also get in a shadowing situation, you'd probably want (prime) Zetterberg. But all that said, Datsyuk kept going for years, Zetterberg didn't because of injuries or whatever. Datsyuk also initiated contact more and was almost certainly stronger than Zetterberg.

It isn't surprising that generally, it would be Zetterberg seeing bigger improvements in both regular and fancy stats playing with Datsyuk than vice versa.

And as if this same sort of thing couldn't be said if Bergeron played with Zetterberg anyway lol...

 

[DFC]

Datsyuk had a minute where he challenged Crosby as the best player in the world (two-way game considered), but Bergeron's prime LITERALLY NEVER ENDS. So Bergeron.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Datsyuk had a minute where he challenged Crosby as the best player in the world (two-way game considered), but Bergeron's prime LITERALLY NEVER ENDS. So Bergeron.

No, he didn't. He was at best the 4th best player.

 

[The Red Line]

My question too. Bergeron is best Team Canada player (overall) last 20 years.

Ok.... what?

 

[daver]

07/08 he scored 97pts, 9 less than Malkin, despite being on another stratosphere defensively.

Add in him besting Crosby/Malkin in the finals and he was quite clearly better than Malkin that season.

I can't stand these arguments that being great defensively automatically decreases your offensive production. If you want to move Datsyuk up to Malkin's level given his defensive acumen, that's fine.

Clearly better? The Hart voters certainly didn't think so. The Wings had two players that were arguably better than Datsyuk for the whole 07/08 season.

How did Datsyuk "best" Crosby in the '08 finals? If anything, Zetterberg deserved to be placed among the league's best after the 07/08 season.

Datsyuk was a great player and peaked higher than Bergeron but never had the air of being able to take a team on his shoulders like a Crosby, peak OV, and a healthy, motivated Malkin could.