Hockey Outsider
Registered User
- Jan 16, 2005
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A lot of people correctly note that many star players during the 1980s and 1990s were essentially shut out of major awards due to the fact that they competed against Gretzky & Lemieux during their primes. This is my attempt to “re-cast” the scoring race & statistics assuming those two players didn’t exist. I’m making the obviously unrealistic assumption that nothing else would change if Gretzky & Lemieux didn’t exist; however I think this is a decent starting point.
Hart trophy
Year|Player
1980 | Marcel Dionne
1981 | Mike Liut
1982 | Bryan Trottier
1983 | Pete Peeters
1984 | Rod Langway
1985 | Dale Hawerchuk
1986 | Mark Howe
1987 | Ray Bourque
1988 | Grant Fuhr/Steve Yzerman
1989 | Steve Yzerman
1993 | Doug Gilmour
1996 | Mark Messier
Gretzky & Lemieux had a stranglehold on the Hart trophy, winning the award twelve times in a span of 17 years. The chart shows the next highest-ranked player, after #99 and #66. Here’s how it would have impacted the legacy of various players:
Art Ross
Year|Player
1981 | Marcel Dionne
1982 | Mike Bossy
1983 | Peter Stastny
1984 | Michel Goulet
1985 | Dale Hawerchuk
1986 | Mike Bossy
1987 | Mark Messier
1988 | Denis Savard
1989 | Steve Yzerman
1990 | Mark Messier
1991 | Brett Hull
1992 | Brett Hull
1993 | Pat Lafontaine
1994 | Sergei Fedorov
1996 | Jaromir Jagr
1997 | Teemu Selanne
2001 | Joe Sakic
Goal-Scoring
Year|Player
1982 | Mike Bossy
1983 | Lanny McDonald
1984 | Michel Goulet
1985 | Mike Bossy
1986 | Mike Bossy
1987 | Tim Kerr
1988 | Jimmy Carson
1989 | Steve Yzerman
1996 | Jaromir Jagr
Playmaking
Year|Player
1980 | Marcel Dionne
1981 | Ken Nilsson
1982 | Peter Stastny
1983 | Denis Savard
1984 | Barry Pederson
1985 | Marcel Dionne
1986 | Peter Stastny
1987 | Ray Bourque
1988 | Denis Savard
1989 | Steve Yzerman
1990 | Mark Messier
1991 | Adam Oates
1992 | Brian Leetch
1994 | Doug Gilmour
1996 | Francis/Jagr/Forsberg
1997 | Steve Yzerman
Hart trophy
1980 | Marcel Dionne
1981 | Mike Liut
1982 | Bryan Trottier
1983 | Pete Peeters
1984 | Rod Langway
1985 | Dale Hawerchuk
1986 | Mark Howe
1987 | Ray Bourque
1988 | Grant Fuhr/Steve Yzerman
1989 | Steve Yzerman
1993 | Doug Gilmour
1996 | Mark Messier
Gretzky & Lemieux had a stranglehold on the Hart trophy, winning the award twelve times in a span of 17 years. The chart shows the next highest-ranked player, after #99 and #66. Here’s how it would have impacted the legacy of various players:
- Two underrated goalies, Liut and Peeters, would have won their first Hart trophies. Hopefully this would make modern fans aware that there were some great goalies in the 1980s outside of Roy, Smith and Fuhr.
- Mark Howe would have won the Hart in 1986; I’ve argued before that he’s one of best players not in the Hall of Fame. I’m pretty sure it would be impossible to exclude him from the HOF with a Hart.
- Mark Messier would have moved into the very elite three Harts club.
- Steve Yzerman almost certainly would have won the Hart in 1989 and he may have won in 1988 (Fuhr was ranked higher in voting but it’s highly debatable if he would have been a Hart candidate without the offensive support from Gretzky).
Art Ross
1981 | Marcel Dionne
1982 | Mike Bossy
1983 | Peter Stastny
1984 | Michel Goulet
1985 | Dale Hawerchuk
1986 | Mike Bossy
1987 | Mark Messier
1988 | Denis Savard
1989 | Steve Yzerman
1990 | Mark Messier
1991 | Brett Hull
1992 | Brett Hull
1993 | Pat Lafontaine
1994 | Sergei Fedorov
1996 | Jaromir Jagr
1997 | Teemu Selanne
2001 | Joe Sakic
- I’m eliminating Gretzky, Lemieux, and some of their linemates (which I admit is a matter of judgment). For example, as great as Coffey & Kurri were, I don’t think they could have scored 138 & 131 points, respectively, in 1986, so I’m crediting Bossy with the Art Ross. As a counter-example, in 1996, Jagr had already won an Art Ross without Lemieux in the previous year and was so far ahead of everyone else that I think he would have won the AR without Lemieux (so Sakic doesn’t get credit for that trophy).
- Although I think that Messier’s offense is overrated by younger fans, the History forum sometimes underrates his peak. If not for Gretzky/Lemieux, the Moose would have won a pair of AR trophies.
- Jagr would have earned an Art Ross in 1996, but would have lost one in 2001, so he's still stuck with five trophies (one fewer than Lemieux & Howe).
Goal-Scoring
1982 | Mike Bossy
1983 | Lanny McDonald
1984 | Michel Goulet
1985 | Mike Bossy
1986 | Mike Bossy
1987 | Tim Kerr
1988 | Jimmy Carson
1989 | Steve Yzerman
1996 | Jaromir Jagr
- I’m assuming that Kurri couldn’t have won the goal-scoring title without Gretzky.
- Bossy is the biggest beneficiary here; assuming Gretzky never existed, Bossy likely would have earned five goal-scoring crowns, as many as Howe & Richard earned.
Playmaking
1980 | Marcel Dionne
1981 | Ken Nilsson
1982 | Peter Stastny
1983 | Denis Savard
1984 | Barry Pederson
1985 | Marcel Dionne
1986 | Peter Stastny
1987 | Ray Bourque
1988 | Denis Savard
1989 | Steve Yzerman
1990 | Mark Messier
1991 | Adam Oates
1992 | Brian Leetch
1994 | Doug Gilmour
1996 | Francis/Jagr/Forsberg
1997 | Steve Yzerman
- 1996 is a very interesting case. Lemieux and Francis co-led the league in assists; based on the rest of his career it’s highly unlikely Francis could have performed so well without getting significant PP ice time with Lemieux. Jagr was next with 87 assists; although he’s a former Art Ross winner, I feel more comfortable giving the lead to Forsberg (with 86 assists); it’s safe to say that losing a year worth of Lemieux would have cost Jagr at least 2 assists.
- Dionne, Savard, Stastny and Yzerman would have each earned two assist titles.
- Incredibly, Leetch and Bourque would pick up two assist titles as well.
- Oates would have led the league in assists for the 4th time in 1991; he was also runner-up in 2000 and would have been runner-up in 1990 and 1994.
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