10 best players of the 00's thus far?

[ObeySteve]

Who do you think the 10 best players are that have defined this decade of hockey?

Also, put starts next to the ones you believe will still be on the list by the end of the decade and not replaced by rising stars.

1. Martin Brodeur**
2. Peter Forsberg*
3. Jarome Iginla*
4. Nicklas Lidstrom*
5. Joe Sakic
6. Ilya Kovalchuk*
7. Jaromir Jagr
8. Scott Niedermayer*
9. Markus Naslund
10. Joe Thornton*

*Likely to still be there

The only reason I starred Lidstrom is because he's pretty much been the hands-down best defenseman of the decade. Even though his career is only going to decline from here on, its hard to remove him regardless of the circumstances that come in upcoming seasons.

----------------------------------------------

Just to compare, here were the results for the 90s from a series of polls on HF last year:
1. Mario Lemieux
2. Wayne Gretzky
3. Jaromir Jagr
4. Dominik Hasek
5. Patrick Roy
6. Joe Sakic
7. Steve Yzerman
8. Ray Bourque
9. Sergei Fedorov
10. Mark Messier

Click to read more...

 

[Qui Gon Dave]

Personally, i fail to see why Iginla would be ranked higher than Sakic based on the first 5 years of this decade.

By the end of the decade, i would agree that he could acomplish more than Sakic in this decade, but so far? Sakic has lead his team to the cup, had other good playoff runs and been near the top of league scoring pretty much year in year out.
What was your reasoning for Iginla over Sakic?

aside from that, the rest of your list looks good to me, nothing else comes to mind as being out of place.

 

[ObeySteve]

Well, Iginla's arguably been the best (and most consistent) goal scorer of the past five years. He also hasn't had the luxury of having amazing teams around him to the extent that Sakic has with the Avs.

Anyway, it's just my opinion. I made the thread for people to create their own lists.

 

[DownFromNJ]

Ranking Kovalchuk has top-10? I don't think so. Kovalchuk, by the time that the decade is over, will be top-5, but he's had one really good season and thats it so far.


1. Brodeur*
2. Forsberg
3. Sakic
4. Iginla*
5. Jagr
6. Lidstrom
7. Naslund
8. Stevens
9. Pronger*
10. Niedermayer

 

[King'sPawn]

Wow... I thought I was in the prospects board when I first saw this thread. I was going to say how you guys are seriously setting youself up for disappointment until 2018

 

[Qui Gon Dave]

Well, Iginla's arguably been the best (and most consistent) goal scorer of the past five years. He also hasn't had the luxury of having amazing teams around him to the extent that Sakic has with the Avs.

Anyway, it's just my opinion. I made the thread for people to create their own lists.

Thats fair enough, i can undertand that Iginla hasn't had the same quality or depth of team as Sakic. I think this affects an accurate comparison between the 2 of them a lot as well. With Sakic, you have to consider his excellent performance in the playoffs, which is partly why I questioned your ranking, but then again, Iginla hasn't had that opportunity other than 'last' season.

I'll have a good think about the list tonight once i'm finished at work, don't think my boss considers this list a priority

 

[God Bless Canada]

I'd say Sakic has to be No. 1. He's had three first-team all-star selections (2001, 2002, 2005), has had arguably the best season by any player this decade (when he won the Hart Trophy in 2001), and won a Cup in 2001. He was also the MVP at the Olympics and won a World Cup.

Sakic is the leading scorer of this millenium, and has done that while providing strong leadership and a defensive presence to the Avalanche.

 

[norrisnick]

Lidstrom - 3 Norris trophies, Conn Smythe, 3 1st Team All Star
Brodeur - 2 Vezinas, 2 Jennings, 2 1st Team All Star
Sakic - Hart - Pearson, Byng, 3 1st Team All star
Iginla - Pearson, Art Ross, 2 Hart nominations, 1 1st 1 2nd Team All Star

After that Forsberg, St. Louis, Naslund, Niedermayer, Kovalchuk, Pronger, possibly a few more in some sort of order.

Those four are my definitive top 4 for the first half of the decade and I don't see them falling out of the top 10.

 

[kmad]

I'd say Sakic has to be No. 1. He's had three first-team all-star selections (2001, 2002, 2005), has had arguably the best season by any player this decade (when he won the Hart Trophy in 2001), and won a Cup in 2001. He was also the MVP at the Olympics and won a World Cup.

Sakic is the leading scorer of this millenium, and has done that while providing strong leadership and a defensive presence to the Avalanche.

Naslund won three consecutive first-team all-star selections, a Pearson in 2003 and looks to stay in his prime for most of the rest of the decade. He deserves to be high. Not #1, but higher than 7, 9, and wherever people are putting him.

1. Martin Brodeur
2. Nicklas Lidstrom
3. Joe Sakic
4. Peter Forsberg
5. Markus Naslund
6. Jarome Iginla
7. Joe Thornton
8. Jaromir Jagr
9. Scott Niedermayer
10. Jose Theodore



HMs:
Jay Bouwmeester
Ryan Smyth
Martin St Louis
Todd Bertuzzi
Ilya Kovalchuk




it'll look different after the decade is over.

 

[Douggy]

Steve: Pavel Bure was absent from both of your lists. I dont really think that is possible.

 

[norrisnick]

Naslund won three consecutive first-team all-star selections, a Pearson in 2003 and looks to stay in his prime for most of the rest of the decade. He deserves to be high. Not #1, but higher than 7, 9, and wherever people are putting him.

Did he? I didn't realize he's been that consistent up top. He rounds out my definitive top 5 then. I don't know why but I'd imagined only one or possibly two 1st Teams. Guess he's gone about it rather quietly.

 

[someguy44]

someguy44

Did he? I didn't realize he's been that consistent up top. He rounds out my definitive top 5 then. I don't know why but I'd imagined only one or possibly two 1st Teams. Guess he's gone about it rather quietly.

Yeah. He was also runner up for the hart trophy the year Foppa won. Naslund leads all scorers in goals and points in the 00's so I have no idea why some people in here would put Jgar (has been), Kovolchuk (only a few years of great stats), or St Louis (one year's high stats does not mean best player in the 00's) ahead of him.

Anyway,

I would put any of these 3 players as number 1)

1)Brodeur
2) Sakic/Naslund (both consistent and both have high numbers in the 00's)
3)Iginla (has put up pretty good points and goal totals that only Naslund can match
4)Forsberg (should be a lot higher, but injuries have greatly depreciated his points)
5)Scott N.
6)Kovolchuk (might be able to overtake many of the above players in pts soon)
7)Sundin (consistent point producer)
8)Lidstrom (declined a bit IMO in the last few years, but still very good)
9)Thorton
10)don't know

 

[boredmale]

1. Mario Lemieux
2. Wayne Gretzky
3. Jaromir Jagr
4. Dominik Hasek
5. Patrick Roy
6. Joe Sakic
7. Steve Yzerman
8. Ray Bourque
9. Sergei Fedorov
10. Mark Messier

Gretzky? sure he had a first good half and deserves top 10, but #2 is to high. Poor Adam Oates, he probably was one of the top scorers of the 90's and is no where to be found.

 

[Snap Wilson]

1. Brodeur
2. Lidstrom
3. Sakic
4. Forsberg
5. Iginla
6. Naslund
7. Niedermayer
8. Elias
9. Sundin
10. Jagr

 

[Qui Gon Dave]

Ok, here goes. I'm not totally set on the order of the last few guys but this will have to do for now.

1. Brodeur
2. Sakic
3. Lidstrom
4. Naslund
5. Forsberg
6. Iginla
7. S. Niedermayer
8. Hejduk
9. Jagr
10. Kovalchuk

HM. Sundin, Elias, Thornton, Hull, Alfredsson, Hossa, Theodore.

 

[arrbez]

Just to compare, here were the results for the 90s from a series of polls on HF last year:
1. Mario Lemieux
2. Wayne Gretzky
3. Jaromir Jagr
4. Dominik Hasek
5. Patrick Roy
6. Joe Sakic
7. Steve Yzerman
8. Ray Bourque
9. Sergei Fedorov
10. Mark Messier

I'm astounded that Lindros was left off this list. Anyways, here's my $0.2

1. Hasek (nobody dominated like he did in the 90's)
2. Lemieux (would have, could have, but alas, only played half the decade)
3. Gretzky (never reached the highs Lemieux did in the 90's, but was the most consistantly elite player during the decade)
4. Jagr (Became the most dominating offensive force of his era)
5. Lindros (Laugh if you want, but who was better from 94-00? not many.)
6. Bourque (Best defenseman of the decade. Big points, always consistant)
7. Yzerman (great stats, great team player)
8. Roy (an excellent goalie for a long, long time)
9. Sakic (consistantly elite, great payer at both ends of the ice)
10. Hull (most prolific scorer of the decade)

 

[norrisnick]

8)Lidstrom (declined a bit IMO in the last few years, but still very good)

That "decline" consisted of finishing 6th in Norris voting in '03-'04 as opposed to 1st or 2nd the previous 6 seasons.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

I'm astounded that Lindros was left off this list. Anyways, here's my $0.2

1. Hasek (nobody dominated like he did in the 90's)
2. Lemieux (would have, could have, but alas, only played half the decade)
3. Gretzky (never reached the highs Lemieux did in the 90's, but was the most consistantly elite player during the decade)
4. Jagr (Became the most dominating offensive force of his era)
5. Lindros (Laugh if you want, but who was better from 94-00? not many.)
6. Bourque (Best defenseman of the decade. Big points, always consistant)
7. Yzerman (great stats, great team player)
8. Roy (an excellent goalie for a long, long time)
9. Sakic (consistantly elite, great payer at both ends of the ice)
10. Hull (most prolific scorer of the decade)

only played half the decade and still won more hardware than anyone else in the league. 2 cups, 2 conn smythes, 4 art rosses, 2 harts. he's easily the player of the 90s.

 

[Roughneck]

Iginla - Pearson, Art Ross, 2 Hart nominations, 1 1st 1 2nd Team All Star

2 Richard Trophies as well.

 

[Slink]

1. Naslund
2. Sakic
3. Lidstrom
4. Brodeur

These are the only 4 who have been the best consistenly over the last 5 years.

 

[God Bless Canada]

As stated before, Sakic is No. 1. After that, it would likely be Brodeur, Lidstrom, Iginla, Naslund and Forsberg. (Forsberg loses points because of his lost season to injury). Guys like Bertuzzi, Thornton, Niedermayer, Lemieux and Pronger merit consideration, too. (Pronger and Lemieux would be givens, except for, again, the injury bug). To me, they have to have been a factor every year of the decade, and if they haven't played every year, they have to have done something else special. Players like Kovalchuk and St. Louis are still lacking one or two quality seasons.

 

[jb**]

Who do you think the 10 best players are that have defined this decade of hockey?

Also, put starts next to the ones you believe will still be on the list by the end of the decade and not replaced by rising stars.

1. Martin Brodeur**
2. Peter Forsberg*
3. Jarome Iginla*
4. Nicklas Lidstrom*
5. Joe Sakic
6. Ilya Kovalchuk*
7. Jaromir Jagr
8. Scott Niedermayer*
9. Markus Naslund
10. Joe Thornton*

*Likely to still be there

The only reason I starred Lidstrom is because he's pretty much been the hands-down best defenseman of the decade. Even though his career is only going to decline from here on, its hard to remove him regardless of the circumstances that come in upcoming seasons.

----------------------------------------------

Just to compare, here were the results for the 90s from a series of polls on HF last year:
1. Mario Lemieux
2. Wayne Gretzky
3. Jaromir Jagr
4. Dominik Hasek
5. Patrick Roy
6. Joe Sakic
7. Steve Yzerman
8. Ray Bourque
9. Sergei Fedorov
10. Mark Messier

I may be in the minority but Scott Stevens is in in my book.

 

[Habsfan 32]

1.Sakic
2.Naslund
3.Forsberg
4.Brodeur
5.Lidstrom
6.Jagr
7.Iginla
8.Niedermayer
9.Pronger
10.Sundin

 

[KariyaIsGod*]

Best Players of the 80s...

Gretzky




























Everyone else...

 

[chooch*]

Best Players of the 80s...

Gretzky
Everyone else...

wrong, Mario was the superior player from 86 onwards. And before that Trottier and Bossy were the best players following the Lafleur era.

sorry you were fooled by stats

But i did like the way Gretzky would jump into his defenceman/bodyguards arms when he scored in the last minute of a blowout against a weak West team.