Greatest Playmakers Of All-Time: #5

[DitchMarner]

Who is the fifth-greatest playmaker of all-time?


Apply your own criteria.


#1. Wayne Gretzky
#2. Mario Lemieux
#3. Bobby Orr
#4. Adam Oates

Click to read more...

 

[Boreal01]

Dionne

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Dionne

I’m with you here. I feel like Dionne is underrated, not so much on this list, but more so in general.

 

[jetsforever]

I'd say add Erik Karlsson

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Craig Smith

 

[Plural]

Thornton. Back to back 90+ assist seasons.

 

[Xspyrit]

Forsberg
McDavid
Crosby
Dionne

 

[SillyRabbit]

This list has already jumped the shark.

There are no metrics, including the eye test, that have Oates and Dionne as top 5 playmakers of all time.

Using era adjusted assists for both career and single season totals, Francis, Jagr, Thornton, Forsberg and Crosby all rank higher as playmakers.

McDavid could easily be top 5 by the time he retires as well but it may be too early to rank him there.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Dionne is currently leading Jagr. I'm not even sure that Jagr is 5th, but what possible argument is there for Dionne over Jagr?

• Jagr led the league in assists three times, Dionne never did that once (though he'd get 1 assist title if we exclude Gretzky).
• Any way you slice it - Jagr has more years placing in the top three (6-5), the top five (7-6), top ten (10-9). They're even (13-13) if we look as far as top twenty.
• Jagr's career high is higher than Dionne's, which is amazing given that Dionne's prime was in a much higher-scoring era. (Jagr's 2nd best total is also higher than Dionne's - and we're comparing stats from 1999 to 1985, which gives Dionne a huge advantage).
• If we cut off Jagr's career after the 2011-12 season, he and Dionne played virtually the same number of games (1,348 vs 1,346). Dionne is about 5% ahead in career totals - which again is pretty amazing for Jagr given how much lower-scoring the league was during his prime. Any reasonable era adjustment would put Jagr 10-15% ahead.

 

[filinski77]

This list has already jumped the shark.

There are no metrics, including the eye test, that have Oates and Dionne as top 5 playmakers of all time.

Using era adjusted assists for both career and single season totals, Francis, Jagr, Thornton, Forsberg and Crosby all rank higher as playmakers.

McDavid could easily be top 5 by the time he retires as well but it may be too early to rank him there.

There is definitely a metric for Oates. I think looking at finishes relative to your peers is one of the best (but obviously not the only) metrics to use when determine if the greatest of something. And based on that metric, none of those players have the edge over Oates.

You can disagree on whether you think he’s top 5 based on other things, but you can’t at all say “there are no metrics”.

Oates: 3x leading in assists, 12x top-10 (finished second to Gretzky once too)

Thornton: 3x leading in assists, 12x top-10

Crosby: 1x leading in assists, 10x top-10

Francis: 2x leading in assists, 12x top-10

Forsberg: 1x leading in assists, 7x top-10

Jagr: 3x leading in assists, 10x top-10

 

[Hockey Outsider]

There is definitely a metric for Oates. I think looking at finishes relative to your peers is one of the best (but obviously not the only) metrics to use when determine if the greatest of something. And based on that metric, none of those players have the edge over Oates.

You can disagree on whether you think he’s top 5 based on other things, but you can’t at all say “there are no metrics”.

Oates: 3x leading in assists, 12x top-10 (finished second to Gretzky once too)

Thornton: 3x leading in assists, 12x top-10

Crosby: 1x leading in assists, 10x top-10

Francis: 2x leading in assists, 12x top-10

Forsberg: 1x leading in assists, 7x top-10

Jagr: 3x leading in assists, 10x top-10

I admit this is cherry-picking, but only two players in the entirety of NHL history have finished 7th or higher in assists more than Adam Oates (who did so 12 times) - Gretzky and Howe. Pretty good company.

 

[amnesiac]

Forsberg

5th alltime in A/GP playing all his career in the DPE (around 5.0-5.4 GPG), and many of his latter seasons playing on one foot

The guy averaged 74A per 82GP over 708 career GP (107A in 151GP in the playoffs).... imagine what he'd do in the 7.5-8.0 GPG era of the 80s and early 90s.

7.7/5.2 x 74 = approx 109 A/ 82GP

 

[wetcoast]

I’m with you here. I feel like Dionne is underrated, not so much on this list, but more so in general.

i agree, as a player he is under rated but as a pure playmakers for me it's

Thornton
Foppa
Crosby

Then it get really wide open for me.