Are there players whose legacy changes with just a few points?

[The Panther]

Jagr had many years like this.

Agree. I think Jagr is the one guy this topic might really apply to. Consider:
-- He needed one more lousy point in 1996 to be in the club with only 5 guys who've ever scored 150+ points... And he'd be the only guy between 1991 and today.
-- pace for 125 points in 2000 (won the scoring title anyway with 96), so almost surely would have won the Hart (not Pronger)
-- lost the scoring title and the Hart trophy in the final week of the 2005-06 season

If not for a brief injury in 2000 and a three-game collapse in 2006, Jagr would today have six Art Rosses (same as Mario and Gordie) and three Harts (same as Hull and Lafleur).

 

[JackSlater]

Jagr is also close to losing some Art Ross trophies. If he loses 6 points (1 in 1995, 2 points in 2000, 3 points in 2001) he would be down to two Art Ross trophies. I'd say that he is a few points away from gaining two Hart trophies and one Art Ross or losing three Art Ross trophies.

 

[Troubadour]

He needed one more lousy point in 1996 to be in the club with only 5 guys who've ever scored 150+ points... And he'd be the only guy between 1991 and today.

Not named Lemieux that is.

Again, it's Mario sitting out those games. Back-to-backs always suck and everyone slows down, but the fact is the Pens literally stopped scoring (except for a couple of blowouts), which is no surprise given it was back to back games without their best player the entire PP unit had been assembled around.

Jagr kept scoring goals (in those 12 games Mario sat out, he netted 10) but couldn't get an assist (4 in 12 games looks really bad on the guy who ended up with 87 total).

During the Mario-less journey, Pens had a stretch of three consecutive low-scoring games and managed to clock only 1 goal in each of those (always Jagr).

Without Mario, they scored 30 goals in total (2,5 goals per game), which does not look that bad, but 13 of those were scored in 2 blowout games. In the other 10, they averaged 1,7 goal a game. And Jagr scored that .7 of those.

Had Mario played in just a couple more games, Jagr would have been almost guaranteed to get that one assist.

 

[Troubadour]

Jagr is also close to losing some Art Ross trophies. If he loses 6 points (1 in 1995, 2 points in 2000, 3 points in 2000) he would be down to two Art Ross trophies. I'd say that he is a few points away from gaining two Hart trophies and one Art Ross or losing three Art Ross trophies.

That's a good point. He got especially lucky in 95. But I think playing the entire 99/00 season would have bolstered his legacy more than losing the shortened season Art would have lessened it. It would have cost him one Art, but it would have gained him a Hart (second in a row) and it would have given him a vintage season, possibly the best of his life.

And let's not forget, if 99/00 ends up his best season ever, it's quite possible the 2000/2001 unfolds in a completely different fashion altogether.