ot92s
Registered User
- Nov 5, 2011
- 741
- 3
Even then, how can you do it? I mean seriously how do you balance out the linemates?
What do you mean by "balance out the teamates"? I don't follow...
Even then, how can you do it? I mean seriously how do you balance out the linemates?
Messier's on a team with Gretz, Kurri, Coffey, Anderson etc...What do you mean by "balance out the teamates"? I don't follow...
Messier's on a team with Gretz, Kurri, Coffey, Anderson etc...
Yzerman's got Gallant, Klima, Probert...
The numbers only tell half the story when you look at players.
Really?
I personally would rather have both of them over Mess to be honest. His tenure in Vancouver has always left a sour taste in my mouth with respect to his leadership abilities, which have always been somewhat overstated to me.
I think that's a bunch of bull. In '96 he was a choker then in '97 he became one of the best leaders of all time... lol.There really is no argument for having Sakic or Yzerman over Messier.
Yzerman was probably the worst captain in the league before Bowman got a hold of him..and he was not liked at all at the start by Bowman.
There is a classic tale where Bowman suggested to Red Wings owner Mike Illitch that the Red Wings trade Yzerman and use the money saved to get the Detroit Tigers a good starting pitcher.
Sakic a great player of course I have him slightly ahead of Yzerman but there is no question they are both a tier below Messier.
I think you could flip a coin and however it landed you would be correct.
I think you're overstating the impact that Forsberg had on Sakic.
Out of Sakic's ten seasons as a top ten scorer, four of them occured without Forsberg (Forsberg wasn't in the NHL in 1990 or 1991, he was injured the entire regular season in 2002, and was on another team in 2007). Forsberg also missed more than half of the 2004 season (he was easily better than Sakic on a per-game basis that year, but only played 39 games).
In three of the other seasons, Sakic was clearly superior to Forsberg. He outscored Forsberg by 24% in 1995 (playing the same number of games), 59% in in 2000 (30% on a per-game basis) and 33% in 2001 (18% on a per game basis). I'm not saying that having Forsberg didn't help, but when Sakic was better offensively by such a wide margin, it's difficult to attribute his success to another player.
Forsberg was close to Sakic in only two of #19's seasons as a top ten scorer (1996, when Sakic finished slightly ahead playing the same number of games, and 1999 when Forsberg outscored Sakic by 1 point).
I thought this would be a landslide for Stevie Y.
If you remove Gretzky and Lemieux (and make reasonable assumptions about their linemates), here's how Sakic and Yzerman would have finished in the scoring race:
Their "adjusted" finishes are:
Sakic - 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8
Yzerman - 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 10
It's closer than the unadjusted numbers show, but Sakic is still ahead.
To make it clear - the purpose of this post is to compare their ranking in the scoring race, "adjusted" for the presence of Gretzky, Lemieux and their linemates. It is not intended to take other factors (defense, playoffs, awards, etc) into account.
If you disagree with my assumptions let me know - trying to be as transparent as possible.
Sakic by an absolute hair. The fact that he had tremendous longevity and durability is the deciding factor for me, including arguably the most impressive season by a near forty year-old in league history (100 points in 2006-07).
They were both accomplished defensive players and Yzerman has the Selke from 2000, in addition to the best individual season between the two (1989) so I can see why some people would choose him. You'd be hard-pressed to find two more comparable players however.
I remember in the late 80's in some games yzerman would be centering two different lines. Stat analysis can tell you who to look at but you really need to eyeball test these comparisons, until we get ice time numbers with any kind of reliability.
Damnit Sakic, why couldn't you just wear number 27 or something then this question wouldn't be asked every other week.
and my answer... I take Mark Messier over either of them any day of the week without thinking twice
There really is no argument for having Sakic or Yzerman over Messier.
Yzerman was probably the worst captain in the league before Bowman got a hold of him..and he was not liked at all at the start by Bowman.
There is a classic tale where Bowman suggested to Red Wings owner Mike Illitch that the Red Wings trade Yzerman and use the money saved to get the Detroit Tigers a good starting pitcher.
Sakic a great player of course I have him slightly ahead of Yzerman but there is no question they are both a tier below Messier.
close poll. took Sakic based on having been, at his peak, elite both offensively and defensively. Tired old words here, but - Yzerman had two separate peaks.
But looking back at some of the wingers that Sakic played with, its pretty remarkable the impact hes had on them. Tanguay, Hejduk, Brunette, Fleury, Kariya.
Where Yzerman had a prime Shanny on his wing every year (except for the last couple).
Now let's add in another factor:
Removing Gretzky and Lemieux:
Fedorov - 1, 8
Coffey - 6
Shanahan - 8
Forsberg - 1, 2, 4, 4, 9
Hejduk - 4
Tanguay - 9
Sundin - 10
I'd say Sakic had a tad more offensive help.
During their overlapping seasons (1989-2006), the Wings were clearly superior offensively to the Nordiques/Avalanche. The Wings outscored Colorado 13 out of those 17 seasons and 9% overall (an average of 281 goals per season vs 257 goals). Your analysis tells me that Colorado had more top-end talent, but the Wings had vastly superior depth and were a higher-scoring team overall.
There really is no argument for having Sakic or Yzerman over Messier.
Yzerman was probably the worst captain in the league before Bowman got a hold of him..and he was not liked at all at the start by Bowman.
There is a classic tale where Bowman suggested to Red Wings owner Mike Illitch that the Red Wings trade Yzerman and use the money saved to get the Detroit Tigers a good starting pitcher.
Sakic a great player of course I have him slightly ahead of Yzerman but there is no question they are both a tier below Messier.
If you disagree with my assumptions let me know - trying to be as transparent as possible.
Also Sakic and Forsberg rarely played on the same line unless they were down late in a game then Hartley would load up the top line.
But looking back at some of the wingers that Sakic played with, its pretty remarkable the impact hes had on them. Tanguay, Hejduk, Brunette, Fleury, Kariya.
Where Yzerman had a prime Shanny on his wing every year (except for the last couple).