Fedorov 1993-1994 vs. Malkin 2011-2012

[Luigi Lemieux]

Yes and that’s a bad thing. A player doesn’t contribute to his team when he’s injured.

True, but it does give you an idea of the level he played at. Someone who scores 109 points in 75 games is better than someone who scores 109 in 82 games.

 

[JackSlater]

Oh so it's a fact now because JackSlater said so. You severely underrate peak Datsyuk, Bergeron was/is better defensively but in no way is it by far.

I'm very comfortable comparing Datsyuk and Fedorov defensively having watched each of them play hundreds of times. Bergeron I'm less confident about but I respect his play. Datsyuk was a great possession player and smart defensively but not the best defensive forward in hockey. Most of the time Zetterberg was the better defensive player, and Fedorov defensively was basically the same as Zetterberg except bigger and much faster.

 

[authentic]

I'm very comfortable comparing Datsyuk and Fedorov defensively having watched each of them play hundreds of times. Bergeron I'm less confident about but I respect his play. Datsyuk was a great possession player and smart defensively but not the best defensive forward in hockey. Most of the time Zetterberg was the better defensive player, and Fedorov defensively was basically the same as Zetterberg except bigger and much faster.

Zetterberg may have been better purely defensively for a few seasons, overall Datsyuk tilted the ice more and had the better all around defensive impact, mainly due to his takeaway ability combined with his puck possession. He was much more than just a smart defensive player though, he has the best possession stats of this era and more Selke's than everyone except Bergeron.

 

[Killer Orcas]

Picked Fedorov as he put up those numbers while winning Selke. Imagine if he just worried about scoring he would have easily exceeded those numbers. I watched him play he was surreal was even used on defense sometimes he was that good.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

True, but it does give you an idea of the level he played at. Someone who scores 109 points in 75 games is better than someone who scores 109 in 82 games.

I agree, but the question was “who had the better season”. As an example, Peter Forsberg may have been the best player in the NHL in 2004, but he would be fairly low down on the list of who has the best season.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Picked Fedorov as he put up those numbers while winning Selke. Imagine if he just worried about scoring he would have easily exceeded those numbers. I watched him play he was surreal was even used on defense sometimes he was that good.

He played very many career games on defense. In 1996 Fedorov put up 107 points in 78 games on the second line. He played a handful of games as a defenceman there too. If not for the games played as a defenceman (and the 4 he missed), he might have caught Sakic (who had 120 points in 82 games, good for 3rd behind Mario/Jagr).

 

[TheGoldenJet]

According to hockey-reference.com’s adjusting scoring (which is imperfect, but usually a decent ballpark estimate), Malkin is ahead 122-109 in adjusted points. Both led their team in scoring by essentially the same margin (27-28 points). But Fedorov won the Selke trophy, while Malkin was nothing special defensively. I’d easily trade those 13 extra points for Selke caliber defensive play.

I think hockey reference is the site that punishes for missed games in an 84 game season (which 1993-94 was). For instance, Fedorov played the first 81 games of the 94 season, then was injured partway through the 82nd. The site punishes him (lowers his adjusted points) for missing games 83 and 84. Which doesn’t make sense. I get punishing someone like Lemieux in the mid 90s for taking off the second leg of a back to back on several occasions in a season, but playing in every game from 1-82 is a little different than that.

 

[Thenameless]

Close offensively. One-sided defensively. That makes it an easy choice for me.

 

[Voight]

Quite easily Fedorov.... was literally the best overall player that year and lost the scoring race to the GOAT.