How many years has Sidney Crosby been the best player?

[Voight]

3 years when he was the absolute best, no debate. 2007, 2013, 2014

 

[Air Budd Dwyer]

There was definitely a stretch between 07 and about 14 or 15 when he was the best. He didn't clean up all the awards but there isn't a forward I'd have rather built a team around during that span.

 

[Turin]

Crosby shouldn't be awarded best player status in years he missed alot of games

Best player means he is the best at hockey. Being the best at hockey doesn’t change if you get a puck to the mouth or blindsided by a plug. In the games he played he displayed a considerably higher quality than everyone else.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Best player means he is the best at hockey. Being the best at hockey doesn’t change if you get a puck to the mouth or blindsided by a plug. In the games he played he displayed a considerably higher quality than everyone else.

Hockey is the only sport where fans pretend sitting in the press box is just as good as being on the ice.

In stark contrast, in baseball and football guys like Ripken and Favre who show up every night are respected.

 

[Air Budd Dwyer]

Hockey is the only sport where fans pretend sitting in the press box is just as good as being on the ice.

In stark contrast, in baseball and football guys like Ripken and Favre who show up every night are respected.

To me, this sounds more like an argument of "best player during a specific season" vs "most talented player in the league". Yes, while Crosby was not playing due to injuries he was unable to be the best player for that particular season. However, he was still the most talented player in the league and when he got back to being healthy, became the best player again.

 

[Turin]

Hockey is the only sport where fans pretend sitting in the press box is just as good as being on the ice.

In stark contrast, in baseball and football guys like Ripken and Favre who show up every night are respected.

That has nothing to do with the actual principle of my post, but I expected nothing more any way.

 

[666]

There were those couple years when Schrödinger and Planck were clearly smarter. Bohr is also criminally underrated on this site.

Obviously it's because he played for team Denmark.

 

[kladorf2005]

Hockey is the only sport where fans pretend sitting in the press box is just as good as being on the ice.

In stark contrast, in baseball and football guys like Ripken and Favre who show up every night are respected.

Literally no one thinks that Ripken or Favre were the best player in their sports. Keith Yandle has played over 700 consecutive games now - anyone think he's the best?

Try reading the title of the thread before you continue to spew this nonsense for hours now.

 

[TheTang58]

Of course not.

But those are down years. Those are crappy seasons, especially for ~$9M cap hit. Being injured, as a professional athlete, is not a neutral event. It is a negative event.

Being durable is a virtue in all professional sports.

Over 82 games those totals translate to 138, 132 and 111 points. Those are crappy seasons?

Crosby really doesn't get injured that much. If anyone is injury-prone on the Pens it's Malkin, Letang and Murray.

Crosby got back to back headshots in consecutive games then had a neck injury which was misdiagnosed. That's on the Pens' fantastic medical staff not Crosby. Then he missed that last month of the 2012-13 season after getting a puck to the face and breaking his jaw. That's just bad luck and could have happened to anyone. Again that's not a knock on Crosby. Anyone who took that puck to the face would have suffered the same fate.

 

[TheTang58]

Yes, of course Crosby's injuries are super duper special, so he once again deserves super duper special treatment that applies to no other player.

How many players were having the best season by any player in 15 years until they got injured?

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Best player means he is the best at hockey. Being the best at hockey doesn’t change if you get a puck to the mouth or blindsided by a plug. In the games he played he displayed a considerably higher quality than everyone else.

Durability is part of being the best

 

[Midnight Judges]

That has nothing to do with the actual principle of my post, but I expected nothing more any way.

The whole point of being the best is to provide the most value to help your team win.

 

[Midnight Judges]

How many players were having the best season by any player in 15 years until they got injured?

Ovechkin in 2010 was.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Over 82 games those totals translate to 138, 132 and 111 points. Those are crappy seasons?

Crosby really doesn't get injured that much. If anyone is injury-prone on the Pens it's Malkin, Letang and Murray.

Crosby got back to back headshots in consecutive games then had a neck injury which was misdiagnosed. That's on the Pens' fantastic medical staff not Crosby. Then he missed that last month of the 2012-13 season after getting a puck to the face and breaking his jaw. That's just bad luck and could have happened to anyone. Again that's not a knock on Crosby. Anyone who took that puck to the face would have suffered the same fate.

That's not true. There are players who have stronger jaws than Crosby. There are players who hit the boards hard and don't sprain ankles. There are players who take elbows and keep playing. There are players who play a far more physical game than Crosby and still keep going.

Ovechkin is such a player.

To ignore these facts and the actual history and the actual results is not equitable to the players who have shown up every night - or nearly every night.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Literally no one thinks that Ripken or Favre were the best player in their sports. Keith Yandle has played over 700 consecutive games now - anyone think he's the best?

Try reading the title of the thread before you continue to spew this nonsense for hours now.

Logic fail. Straw man.

Durability obviously doesn't guarantee a player is the best in the world. Nobody said anything that remotely resembles that remark.

But to be the best, you have to play the best, and to sit in the press box for half a season and then three quarters of a season isn't that.

Otherwise your logic would indicate that Kucherov would have been regarded as a BETTER player had he gotten injured and missed the last 40% of last season after his hot start. Seems to me that would be problematic.

 

[Dingo]

If we go season by season since he entered the league:

05/06: Jagr
06/07: Crosby
07/08: OV
08/09: OV
09/10: OV
10/11: Perry? Crosby was playing the best, but 40 games isn't enough. Weird season
11/12: Malkin
12/13: Crosby
13/14: Crosby
14/15: Price (OV for skaters)
15/16: Kane
16/17: McDavid
17/18: McDavid

So 3.

Good, but I had Lidstrom for those first two years. I’d also have to go to the playoffs to break the tie for your aptly named ‘weird year’ and take Tim Thomas.

Crosby has been the best, in my eyes, for one strike season, and one full season.

Much like Forsberg (who was my favourite player, and my all time fave), it was clear that he was probably the best player, and in Forsberg’s 2003 and Sid’s 2014, I finally got say, “There! Finally, a full season as clearly the best etched into the books.”

 

[Dingo]

That's not true. There are players who have stronger jaws than Crosby. There are players who hit the boards hard and don't sprain ankles. There are players who take elbows and keep playing. There are players who play a far more physical game than Crosby and still keep going.

Ovechkin is such a player.

To ignore these facts and the actual history and the actual results is not equitable to the players who have shown up every night - or nearly every night.

This is very true. It’s something I think about when Suter’s hit on Gretzky gets brought up. Aren’t we all lucky that that took 13 seasons to happen? Being breakable is a weakness. Nobody gives Lindros’ brain a free pass on the matter.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Ovechkin has like 5 more points in 100+ more games. What’s the discussion again? Oh yeah. The last time you could seriously say Ovechkin was the best player in the world was 10 years ago

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Ovechkin has like 5 more points in 100+ more games. What’s the discussion again? Oh yeah. The last time you could seriously say Ovechkin was the best player in the world was 10 years ago

Yup. Crosby only needs ~5 points in the next 1.5 seasons (!!!) to have Ovechkin's PPG. That is insane.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Yup. Crosby only needs ~5 points in the next 1.5 seasons (!!!) to have Ovechkin's PPG. That is insane.

That’s crazy lol. Guy can literally go pointless for the next 100 games and still have a higher ppg

 

[Dingo]

Logic fail. Straw man.

Durability obviously doesn't guarantee a player is the best in the world. Nobody said anything that remotely resembles that remark.

But to be the best, you have to play the best, and to sit in the press box for half a season and then three quarters of a season isn't that.

Otherwise your logic would indicate that Kucherov would have been regarded as a BETTER player had he gotten injured and missed the last 40% of last season after his hot start. Seems to me that would be problematic.

I like when people have brought up red hot half seasons by various players. It really does put into perspective how hard it is to slug it out at a high production rate for 70+ games.

As much as I can’t stand the Crosby proraters, I also must admit that he did it three times in a row, and is, over his career, the most consistent producer of points. Now, it’s not nearly by the gap that those fractured seasons indicate, but he was probably the best player for about 5 years..
Unfortunately, three of those years also come with question marks.

For his overraters - Sidney Crosby has NEVER been a 130pt player (not even a 120 by standards uninflated by excess Powerplays)

For his underraters - He is likely still the best all around offensive player since he entered the league (but it’s really not like he has been in some echelon beyond Malkin and Ovechkin.... and depending on how you value goals.....)

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Sorry it’s 8 more points in 143 more games to be exact. Crosby is also well over a ppg in over 150 playoff games while Ovechkin is under a ppg with 100 playoff games

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

I like when people have brought up red hot half seasons by various players. It really does put into perspective how hard it is to slug it out at a high production rate for 70+ games.

As much as I can’t stand the Crosby proraters, I also must admit that he did it three times in a row, and is, over his career, the most consistent producer of points. Now, it’s not nearly by the gap that those fractured seasons indicate, but he was probably the best player for about 5 years..
Unfortunately, three of those years also come with question marks.

For his overraters - Sidney Crosby has NEVER been a 130pt player (not even a 120 by standards uninflated by excess Powerplays)

For his underraters - He is likely still the best all around offensive player since he entered the league (but it’s really not like he has been in some echelon beyond Malkin and Ovechkin.... and depending on how you value goals.....)

8 less points in 143 less games is a whole other planet offensively

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

People going by scoring to determine the best player

YIKES

I guess Mark Messier is the 2nd best player ever

Crosby is still the best considering I take him in a 7-game Final over McDavid. Next year or two McDavid will take over

 

[Turin]

From 2007-2017 he was the most valuable player in the league.