Hockey Outsider
Registered User
- Jan 16, 2005
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It's nice for a player to get a lot of points over the course of his career, or to have a high point-per-game ratio. However, the sign of a truly dominant player is how well he performs in his prime.
I've made a list of the most dominant scorers in history. This is based on the average of their 5 best seasons in the terms of adjusted points. ie Yzerman's five best seasons in adjusted points are 132, 114, 110, 99 and 94. So, in his prime, Yzerman averaged 109.8 points per season (15th best in history).
Player, Peak Points
Wayne Gretzky -- 165.8
Mario Lemieux -- 147.1
Jaromir Jagr -- 134.6
Phil Esposito -- 132.1
Bobby Orr -- 121.3
Howie Morenz -- 117.8
Frank Boucher -- 115.4
Joe Sakic -- 114.8
Guy Lafleur -- 113.8
Gordie Howe -- 112.5
Teemu Selanne -- 112.1
Cy Denneny -- 111.4
Marcel Dionne -- 110.0
Peter Forsberg -- 110.0
Steve Yzerman -- 109.6
Bill Cook -- 108.6
Bobby Hull -- 106.4
Aurel Joliat -- 105.2
Eric Lindros -- 104.5
Paul Kariya -- 103.7
Mike Bossy -- 102.1
Pavel Bure -- 101.9
Jean Beliveau -- 101.7
Adam Oates -- 101.5
Paul Coffey -- 101.2
Ron Francis -- 101.2
John LeClair -- 100.9
Brett Hull -- 100.4
Bryan Trottier -- 100.3
Duke Keats -- 99.5
Stan Mikita -- 99.4
Andre Lacroix -- 98.8
Mark Recchi -- 98.8
Peter Stastny -- 98.8
Theo Fleury -- 98.7
Mark Messier -- 98.6
Jari Kurri -- 97.6
Markus Naslund -- 97.4
Nels Stewart -- 97.1
Real Cloutier -- 97.0
Luc Robitaille -- 96.3
Zigmund Palffy -- 96.3
Sergei Fedorov -- 96.1
Alexander Mogilny -- 95.7
Marc Tardif -- 95.5
Denis Savard -- 95.4
Pierre Turgeon -- 95.0
Mats Sundin -- 94.9
Bernie Nicholls -- 94.6
Dale Hawerchuk -- 93.7
Ted Lindsay -- 93.5
Pat LaFontaine -- 93.3
Lots of interesting things on this list:
- Comparing their top 5 seasons, Gretzky was definitely better than Lemieux. Though it would have been closer (obviously) if it weren't for injuries.
- Orr and Coffey are the only defensemen to make the list.
- Lindros is 19th. People seem to have forgotten how dominant he was when healthy.
- With exactly 100 adjusted points last year, Naslund climbed into the top 40.
I can also divide this up into Peak Goal-scorers and Peak playmakers if anyone is interested.
I've made a list of the most dominant scorers in history. This is based on the average of their 5 best seasons in the terms of adjusted points. ie Yzerman's five best seasons in adjusted points are 132, 114, 110, 99 and 94. So, in his prime, Yzerman averaged 109.8 points per season (15th best in history).
Player, Peak Points
Wayne Gretzky -- 165.8
Mario Lemieux -- 147.1
Jaromir Jagr -- 134.6
Phil Esposito -- 132.1
Bobby Orr -- 121.3
Howie Morenz -- 117.8
Frank Boucher -- 115.4
Joe Sakic -- 114.8
Guy Lafleur -- 113.8
Gordie Howe -- 112.5
Teemu Selanne -- 112.1
Cy Denneny -- 111.4
Marcel Dionne -- 110.0
Peter Forsberg -- 110.0
Steve Yzerman -- 109.6
Bill Cook -- 108.6
Bobby Hull -- 106.4
Aurel Joliat -- 105.2
Eric Lindros -- 104.5
Paul Kariya -- 103.7
Mike Bossy -- 102.1
Pavel Bure -- 101.9
Jean Beliveau -- 101.7
Adam Oates -- 101.5
Paul Coffey -- 101.2
Ron Francis -- 101.2
John LeClair -- 100.9
Brett Hull -- 100.4
Bryan Trottier -- 100.3
Duke Keats -- 99.5
Stan Mikita -- 99.4
Andre Lacroix -- 98.8
Mark Recchi -- 98.8
Peter Stastny -- 98.8
Theo Fleury -- 98.7
Mark Messier -- 98.6
Jari Kurri -- 97.6
Markus Naslund -- 97.4
Nels Stewart -- 97.1
Real Cloutier -- 97.0
Luc Robitaille -- 96.3
Zigmund Palffy -- 96.3
Sergei Fedorov -- 96.1
Alexander Mogilny -- 95.7
Marc Tardif -- 95.5
Denis Savard -- 95.4
Pierre Turgeon -- 95.0
Mats Sundin -- 94.9
Bernie Nicholls -- 94.6
Dale Hawerchuk -- 93.7
Ted Lindsay -- 93.5
Pat LaFontaine -- 93.3
Lots of interesting things on this list:
- Comparing their top 5 seasons, Gretzky was definitely better than Lemieux. Though it would have been closer (obviously) if it weren't for injuries.
- Orr and Coffey are the only defensemen to make the list.
- Lindros is 19th. People seem to have forgotten how dominant he was when healthy.
- With exactly 100 adjusted points last year, Naslund climbed into the top 40.
I can also divide this up into Peak Goal-scorers and Peak playmakers if anyone is interested.