92-00 The only better winger in the league was Jagr. Hard to be considered the best winger while you are competing against one of the best all time. Selanne still managed 2x1st all star and 2x2nd allstar on RW Which was clearly the better wing 92-00.
Only Vancouver fans would put Bure and Mogilny ahead of Selanne 92-00. Brett Hull wasn't better than Selanne during that time period either and I don't think you would find many people who would consider him better(92-00)
THis is what I mean when I talk about Selanne not being the best at anytime in his career. Also why I mentioned guys like Hull and Bure, mogilny etc...
Just as far as points go
1993 Selanne has a great rookie year the best rookie year ever. However at the time in 1993 even though Selanne had the best year for a winger the best wingers in the game were Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, a toss up between Selanne and Mogilny and then maybe Recchi
1994 Selanne has a bad year not in the top 5 wingers in the league Bure at this point is a better winger then Selanne
1995 Selanne bounces back for the season and is a top 10 winger for the season but not top 5 winger in the league
1996 3rd best winger in the regular season Top 5 best wingers in the league at this point are probably Jagr, Mogilny, Selanne, Leclaire, Tkachuk
1997 Best year as a winger in the regular season. Top 5 wingers in the game at this point are probably Jagr, Leclaire( Playoffs and a pure powerforward), Selanne, Kariya, Tkachuk
1998 5th in the regular season. Top 5 wingers in the game at this point are probably Jagr, Leclaire, Selanne, Kariya, Bure
1999 2nd best in the rgualr season Top 5 winger in the game at this point are probably Jagr, Selanne, Leclaire, Kariya, number 5 tough to call
2000 5th best in the regular season. Top 5 wingers in the game at this point are probably Jagr, Selanne, Kariya, Bure, Recchi
2001 25th in the regular season. Top 5 wingers in the game at this point are probably Jagr, Bure, Recchi, Selanne, Kovalev
2002 40th in scoring for wingers definately not in the top 5 maybe not in the top 10
2003-2010 respetively scoring for wingers, 26th, aprox. 100th, 8th, 6th, not in the top 100th, 42nd and 52nd
So what am I trying to say. It is that Selanne was never the best winger in the game, at any time during his career. He was at best number 2 and spent alot of it outside the top 5
Now from 2003-2010 he is getting up in age so that is a major part of it. He did have injuries and some years where he didn't do well because of it or just trying to recover.
Now I am not saying that my top 5 are perfect but sometimes a player can have a great season but not be considered the best in the league. That is what I mean by going on by quietly. Not in the terms that he sucked and just got alot of points because he played a long time. If you look at players from 1993-2002 Selanne is the 2nd best as terms of points in that time. However was only the best winger statistically twice in that period.From 2003-2010 he was only in the top 10 twice. When compared to winger he played against in his career he is 1st twice and a total of top ten in scoring for wingers 9 times in his career. Which is impressive but compared to Kurri
1981 decent first year but I think 45th in terms of scoring for wingers
1982 15th in scoring for wingers
1983 4th best for wingers He is probably at this point the 5th best winger in the NHL
1984 3rd best for the season. 3rd best behind Bossy and Goulet
1985 Best season as a winger. Either a tie with Bossy or 2nd depending on who you talk to
1986 Best season for a winger Best winger in the game
1987 Best season for a winger Best winger in the game
1988 4th best season for a winger still the best winger in the game
1989 3rd best season for a winger still the best winger in the game however Robitaille and Joe Mullen are right with him
1990 6th best season for a winger still the best in the game with Robitaille and Hull poised to pass him
1991 Did not play would still be considered top 5 winger in the game despite not playin gin the NHL
1992 30th best year for a winger. Outside the top 5 maybe even outside top 10wingers in the game. Hull is the best
After this not necessary to write down his career was pretty much over.
For 3 seasons he was the best winger as far as regular season goes and top 10 a total of 8 times. which is pretty comaprible to Selanne however the difference is that from 1985-1990 Jari Kurri was the best winger in the game. Another 3 years he was a top 5 winger in the game.
6 years Kurri was the best winger in the game and a total of 9 years he was probably a top 5 winger
Selanne was a top 5 winger for probably 7 years never the best though
So yes if you take totals as far as career goes Selanne's numbers are just as impressive maybe even more so then Kurri. However Kurri's prime was that much better and was the best at his position for quite a few years.
Against players in his own era Selanne at times during his prime was not a top 5 winger. Now that might be because of injuries and we are not talking about skill we are talking about stats. Then that means that when you compare the two Kurri comes out ahead.
Once again for anyone that reads where I said Selanne's quietly produced I am referring to fact that at times he didn't get the recognition he deserved and also the years he was not that superstar. He had some years where he didn't do much but when you look at his totals he still put up decent numbers and it added to his totals