Besides the year he won, Forsberg did not finish top 3, or even top 5 in Hart voting any other season. Malkin already has 3 top 3s and is a safe betfor at least another top 5 this year.
Forsberg was not unanimously considered a top 3 forward for any extended period of time relative to Malkin's current tenure...especially the mid to late 90s with Bure, Lindros, Selanne/Kariya, Yzerman still in their primes in addition to Jagr and Sackic.
This is basically what I'm talking about. Dismissing Forsberg's place within the game simply by looking at scoring placements and Hart voting rather than what people actually thought, but not legitimately doing the same for Malkin. Malkin has not finished top 10 in scoring or received a single Hart vote for 5 seasons now, which is obviously likely to change this year. And yet, you claimed he's been a top 3 player for a decade which would have to include this time. I agree. But the reasons for it are what he's done when healthy and in the playoffs as well as what he's shown in his healthy seasons. He's earned the benefit of the doubt as a top player in the league. This was the same as Forsberg in the time frame I gave you and his Hart record is only lower because Malkin has more legitimately healthy seasons. Once Lemieux retired, Jagr, Lindros, Forsberg and Sakic were widely considered the best forwards in the game until Lindros fell off. No one really considered Selanne, Kariya, Bure, Naslund, etc were ever actually better players than Forsberg in the same way no one has actually believed Tavares, Stamkos, and Giroux were better than Malkin despite performing better at various times. You also have guys like Kucherov, McDavid, Thornton early in his career, St. Louis, Kane, Benn, etc. If you look at scoring finishes and Hart voting, Malkin's case as a top 3 player for a decade simply doesn't hold up. And yet in general that's been the consensus. Because most people would take a healthy Malkin over those guys because we know what he's capable of. And over this period his combined numbers stand out because he's stayed consistently near the top per game. Same with Forsberg in his period.
From Forsberg's rookie year to 03-04, these are the PPG leaders:
1. Lemieux: 1.69
2. Jagr: 1.38
3. Forsberg: 1.28
4. Sakic: 1.21
5. Lindros: 1.17
6. Gretzky: 1.10
7. Kariya: 1.07
8. Palffy: 1.05
9. Bure: 1.05
10. Selanne: 1.03
And from Malkin's rookie year until this season:
1. Crosby: 1.30
2. Malkin: 1.19
3. Ovechkin: 1.10
4. St. Louis: 1.03
5. Kane: 1.01
6. Datsyuk: 1.01
7. Stamkos: 1.01
8. Kovalchuk: 1.00
9. Savard: 1.00
10. Thornton: 0.98
Outside of Lemieux who's an obvious outlier, Jagr, Forsberg and Sakic look and awful lot like Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin to me.
