Ziggy Palffy Versus Markus Naslund

[GlitchMarner]

Just vote or the better player, taking into account peak, prime, longevity, talent, accomplishments, awards etc.

Start of round two.



Bracket A:


Elias (4-1: defeated Hejduk, Naslund, Tkachuk and Recchi; lost to Alfredsson)
Fleury (4-0: defeated Kovalev, Marleau, Roberts and LeClair)

Palffy (4-1: defeated Bondra, Nolan, Demitra and Damphousse; lost to Robitaille)
Naslund (4-2: defeated Bondra, Bertuzzi, Kovalev and Demitra; lost to Alfredsson and Elias)

Hossa (3-2: defeated Recchi, Tkachuk and Mogilny, received a bye; lost to Robitaille and Shanahan)
Alfredsson (4-0: defeated Naslund, Hejduk, Elias and Marleau)

Robitaille (4-0: defeated Hossa, Palffy, Recchi and Brind'Amour)
Shanahan (4-0: defeated Tkachuk, Recchi, Hossa and Mogilny)



Eliminated players:

Nolan (0-4: lost to LeClair, Bondra, Palffy and Whitney)
Allison (0-4: lost to Zhamnov, Tanguay, Yashin and Smyth)
Recchi (1-4: defeated Mogilny; lost to Shanahan, Robitaille, Hossa and Elias)
Amonte (1-4: defeated Gagne; lost to LeClair, Hejduk, Roberts and Whitney)
Gagne (1-4: defeated Smyth; lost to Amonte, Zhamnov, Yashin and Tanguay)
Bertuzzi (1-4: defeated Whitney; lost to Roberts, Marleau, Naslund and Brind'Amour)
Smyth (1-4: defeated Allison; lost to Roberts, Gagne, Whitney and Weight)
Hejduk (2-4: defeated Amonte and Tanguay; lost to Elias, Alfredsson, Bondra and Kovalev)
Tanguay (2-4: defeated Allison and Gagne; lost to Marleau, Weight, Hejduk and Zhamnov)
Roberts (3-4: defeated Smyth, Bertuzzi and Amonte; lost to Fleury, Marleau, Koivu and LeClair)
Tkachuk (3-4: defeated Demitra, LeClair and Weight; lost to Shanahan, Hossa, Elias and Mogilny)
Yashin (3-4: defeated Allison, Gagne and Zhamnov; lost to Demitra, Koivu, Damphousse and Weight)
Whitney (3-4: defeated Smyth, Nolan and Amonte; lost to Bertuzzi, Mogilny, Bondra and Zhamnov)
Koivu (3-4: defeated Yashin, Zhamnov and Roberts; lost to Weight, Damphousse, Demitra and Brind'Amour)
Marleau (3-4: defeated Tanguay, Bertuzzi and Roberts; lost to Fleury, Alfredsson, Mogilny and Damphousse)
Demitra (3-4: defeated Yashin, Zhamnov and Koivu; lost to Tkachuk, Palffy, Naslund and Bondra)​

Click to read more...

 

[psycat]

Näslund but it's coinflip territory for me.

 

[Felidae]

Stat comparison

Zigmund Palffy

Hart finishes: 12

Selke finishes: 18

Points

1996-97 NHL 90 (8th)

1997-98 NHL 87 (5th)

2000-01 NHL 89 (9th)

2002-03 NHL 85 (10th)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

PPG
2000-01 NHL 1.22 (4th)
2002-03 NHL 1.12 (10th)

Goals

1996-97 NHL 48 (5th)

1997-98 NHL 45 (5th)

2002-03 NHL 37 (8th)

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GPG

1996-97 NHL 0.60 (8th)

1997-98 NHL 0.55 (6th)

2000-01 NHL 0.52 (9th)

2001-02 NHL 0.51 (5th)

2002-03 NHL 0.49 (9th)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Markus Naslund

Awards
Pearson

Hart finishes: 2, 5, 5, 11

Selke finishes: 55

Points

2001-02 NHL 90 (2nd)

2002-03 NHL 104 (2nd)

2003-04 NHL 84 (4th)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

PPG

2001-02 NHL 1.11 (5th)

2002-03 NHL 1.27 (4th)

2003-04 NHL 1.08 (6th)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Goals

2000-01 NHL 41 (7th)

2001-02 NHL 40 (5th)

2002-03 NHL 48 (2nd)

2003-04 NHL 35 (7th)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

GPG

2000-01 NHL 0.57 (6th)

2002-03 NHL 0.59 (2nd)

2003-04 NHL 0.45 (7th)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Assists

2001-02 NHL 50 (4th)

2002-03 NHL 56 (8th)

2003-04 NHL 49 (9th)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

APG
2002-03 NHL 0.68 (9th)



I actually think this is quite close. Despite Naslund's evidently superior peak and prime (Which in this case lets define peak as best season and prime as length of elite production, meaning top ten point producer) Palffy was generally the far more productive player outside of peak and prime, only below a PPG for 2 seasons in an 11 year career. In comparison, Naslund was above a PPG 4 times in a 14 year career.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I agree that it's close, but I'll explain my reasoning in voting for Naslund.

Peak - Naslund. He finished in the top five in Hart voting three years in a row (once finishing runner-up to Forsberg), and was runner-up for the Art Ross in consecutive years. Palffy never put together a season as strong as the ones Naslund had in 2002 or 2003 (or arguably even 2004, but that's debatable).

Prime - Palffy. He was more consistent, scoring a point-per-game nine times in ten seasons from ages 23 to 33. Surprisingly Naslund only scored at that rate four times (ages 27 to 30), with one "close call".

Career - Naslund played more than 400 additional games, which is significant. Naslund was far more reliable year after year. From age 22 to 35 (13 seasons), he never missed more than 10 games, and he missed more than six games just once. In contrast, Palffy only appeared in 70+ games five times in his entire career. Naslund was better late in his career (post-prime). Palffy never hit 20 goals or 45 points after turning 30 (retiring abruptly in 2006 on a team featuring Lemieux, Crosby, Recchi and Gonchar) - Naslund did that four years straight.

Defense - they were equally indifferent. I see this as a draw.

Playoffs - roughly even. Palffy scored at a better rate, but it was over a much smaller sample size (he only made the playoffs three times, and was out of the first round once). I'd rate Palffy's "incomplete" as roughly equal to Naslund's "disappointing". (That being said, people forget that Naslund actually scored 23 points in 21 games over two years - it was Bertuzzi, with vanishing offense and terrible penalties, who was the bigger problem).

Trophy case - Naslund. As mentioned before, Naslund was top five in Hart voting three years in a row; Palffy never placed in the top ten. Naslund has a Lindsay/Pearson as well. Naslund was a first-team all-star three times (with one other year finishing third). I recognize Palffy played at the tougher RW position, but he placed in the top three just one time.

Overall - I vote for Naslund. It seems weird to say that he had the higher peak, and the better career, despite Palffy having the better prime. But it accurately reflects their contributions.

 

[GlitchMarner]

I really like Hockey Outsider's summary and argument for Naslund. I'll go with Naslund as well.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Naslund wins.