Iginla vs Thornton

IggyFan12

Registered User
Jul 26, 2010
317
6
This is in terms of all time players who would you rather have on your team for Career and Peak. Both players are at 995 points but Thornton has played 100 less games. Iginla is the leader for goals in the decade of the 2000's(99/00 season until 09/10 season) with 379 goals while Thornton has the most points in that decade with 883. Thornton has a Hart trophy, and Art Ross, Iggy has a Pearson and an Art Ross and 2 Richards. Iginla is known for goal scoring while Thornton is known for passing. To be fair I have broken down each season both players were in the league ignoring Iginlas first season at the age of 19 because Thornton was not in the league yet. The first season both players were in the league was 97/98 season.

97/98

Iginla

70GP 13G 19A 32P

Thornton

55GP 3G 4A 7P

Iginla at the age of 20 has a better season than a rookie Thornton who was 18. Both players are put in different roles however and Iginla has a full year already under his belt, which is why Iginla has alot more goals, assists and points.

98/99

Iginla

82GP 28G 23A 51P

Thornton

81GP 16G 25A 41P

A older Iginla almost reaches 30 goals for the first time in his career while Thornton has a much improved second season in the league. Edge still Iginla however.

99/00

Iginla

77GP 29G 34A 63P

Thornton

81GP 23G 37A 60P

Iginla again comes so close to 30 goals while producing 63 points. Thornton continues to improve to 60 points. Iginla still has the better season with more goals and points.

00/01

Iginla

77GP 31G 40A 71P

Thornton

72GP 37G 34A 71P

This is a surprise to many fans me as Thornton gets more goals than Iginla while Iginla gets more assists than Thornton. Iginla reaches 30 for the first of 10 straight years. This year Thornton wins for the first time.

01/02

Iginla

82GP 52G 44A 96P

Thornton

66GP 22G 46A 68P

Iginla wins the Art Ross, Richard, Olympic Gold Medal, and a Pearson award this year. Easy choice is Iginla.

02/03

Iginla

75GP 35G 32A 67P

Thornton

77GP 36G 65A 101P

Thornton errupts for his first 100 point season and easily has a better year than Iginla as he scores more, gets almost as many assists as Iginla has points as well.

03/04

Iginla

81GP 41G 32A 73P

Thornton

77GP 23G 50A 73P

Iginla leads the league in Goals and ties Thornton in points with 73. Very close season but I would go with 03/04 Iginla over Jumbo Joe.

05/06

Iginla

82GP 35G 32A 67P

Thornton

81GP 29G 96A 125P

After the lock-out Thornton gets traded to the west coast and explodes to win the Hart and Art Ross. Thornton almost doubles Iginlas points.

06/07

Iginla

70GP 39G 55A 94P

Thornton

82GP 22G 92A 114P

This year both players play up to their lofty standards. This year Thornton gets 92 assists a crazy total which is why I go with Thornton this year.

07/08

Iginla

82GP 50G 48A 98P

Thornton

82GP 29G 67A 96P

This is a very very close year as again both players play up to their greatness. 50 goals and 98 points is enough for me to go with Iginla this year.

08/09

Iginla

82GP 35G 54A 89P

Thornton

82GP 25G 61A 86P

Again both players at their primes are putting up similar numbers. I would go with Iginla on this one as they both put up alot of points Iginla just happens to put up more goals and points this year.

09/10

Iginla

82GP 32G 37A 69P

Thornton

79GP 20G 69A 89P

Iginla assists on the "Golden Goal" but thats not nearly enough for me to take Iginla as having the better year. Edge Thornton

10/11

Iginla

77GP 36G 39A 75P

Thornton

74GP 19G 45A 64P

This year was a huge bounce back year for Iginla as he closes in on 40 goals and 80 points. Thornton has had a rough offensive year to date. Edge Iginla.

Playoffs:
Iginla has had 1 deep run while Thornton has been in more years to the playoffs but has yet to reach the Stanley Cup finals.

Career Playoff points:

Iginla

54GP 28G 21A 49P

Thornton

91GP 15G 50A 65P

I take Iginla here based on his 03/04 run while we have yet to see a similar run by Jumbo Joe.

Thornont has an ability to make players better around him (Cheechoo) while Iginla plays best with a playmaker (Tanguay). Thornton has had a much better supporting cast however than Iginla, but it could just be that Thornton makes his cast better.
Iginla has 2 Olympic Gold's, 1 World Cup gold, 1 World Championship and a World Junior Gold while internationaly Thornton has 1 World Cup, 1 World Junior and 1 Olympic Gold medal.

Top 10 Finishes for Goals:

Iginla: 1,1,3,4
Thornton: 0

Top 10 Finishes for Assists:

Iginla: 10
Thornton: 1,1,1,2,2,7,8

Top 10 Finishes for Points:

Iginla: 1,3,8,8
Thornton: 1,2,3,5,8

All Star team selections:

Iginla:
1st team 3 times
2nd team 1 time

Thornton:

1st team: 1 Time
2nd team: 2 Times

Regular Season Wins: In my analysis above Iginla came out on top 8 times while Thornton 5.

Results: I will not make any results because I am cleary biased (There is a reason why my name is Iggyfan12 and not Thorntonfan19). That is not to say I am not a fan of Thornton because I am. I am just presenting the facts which I have found.
 

seventieslord

Student Of The Game
Mar 16, 2006
36,080
7,132
Regina, SK
the OP of your last poll wasn't exactly "fair and balanced" so with a name like Iggyfan I thought I'd come in here and see a complete Iggy lovefest.

But, this was pretty fair.
 

IggyFan12

Registered User
Jul 26, 2010
317
6
the OP of your last poll wasn't exactly "fair and balanced" so with a name like Iggyfan I thought I'd come in here and see a complete Iggy lovefest.

But, this was pretty fair.

Thanks! I tried to stay as objective as possible and just present the facts.
 

JackSlater

Registered User
Apr 27, 2010
18,042
12,663
I went with Thornton for peak, but Iginla takes career. In the OP the lockout year was not mentioned, but that was the deciding factor for me picking Thornton for peak. Thornton was basically the best player in the world that year. I know that not every elite player even played and that the effort out of all the elite players who did was by no means equal, but Thornton deserves some credit for this. Also in the world championship that year, when the teams were actually pretty decent, he was Canada's best player and was name tournament MVP.
 

IggyFan12

Registered User
Jul 26, 2010
317
6
Interesting stat:

Iginla has lead his team in points 10 times.
Thornton 9 times.

Also for all of Thornton's lack of playoff success his Sharks beat the Flames in game 7 of the first round of the Playoffs. Flames were a much lower seed however. Iginla finished with 9 points in the series while Thornton finished with 7.
 

Samsquanch

Raging Bull Squatch
Nov 28, 2008
8,224
4,965
Sudbury
Interesting stat:

Iginla has lead his team in points 10 times.
Thornton 9 times.


Also for all of Thornton's lack of playoff success his Sharks beat the Flames in game 7 of the first round of the Playoffs. Flames were a much lower seed however. Iginla finished with 9 points in the series while Thornton finished with 7.

Not really that telling at all. Iginla has been alone forever in calgary, if anything it tips it Joe's favor seeing as he's been on some pretty good offensive teams. Both are usually the best player on their respective teams, thats all I get out of this.

But yea, I take Iggy just barely for career, and Joe by quite a but in their primes.
 

Infinite Vision*

Guest
Iginla peak and career, mainly because of the playoff factor.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,584
15,948
for those who would take thornton at his peak, was his best (presumably the cheechoo year) really above iginla's art ross year (a staggering +27 on a non-playoff team), when he also dominated the gold medal game at the SLC olympics?
 

JackSlater

Registered User
Apr 27, 2010
18,042
12,663
for those who would take thornton at his peak, was his best (presumably the cheechoo year) really above iginla's art ross year (a staggering +27 on a non-playoff team), when he also dominated the gold medal game at the SLC olympics?

I would take Thornton in 2006 over Iginla in 2002. Iginla was given all the chances in the world that year to win the scoring title, in a season that was particularly terrible for forwards. Thornton just barely beat a resurgent Jagr, but he was way ahead of everyone else in the NHL that year. Defensively I don't see much separating them either way. As far as the gold medal game, I would hardly take the results of any one game all that seriously. I thought that Sakic was easily the dominant player that game though, not Iginla.
 

TheDevilMadeMe

Registered User
Aug 28, 2006
52,271
6,980
Brooklyn
2002 was a dreadful year for forwards - clearly the worst since I have watched hockey. And the flames were out of the playoffs with a month left, so they just focused on feeding iginla.
 

TheMoreYouKnow

Registered User
May 3, 2007
16,384
3,410
38° N 77° W
Without looking at any numbers, I'll take Iginla.

I figured that Iginla has the peak in gut feeling for most, that's not a shock given how bad the reputation of Thornton's intangibles is.

But then you take a look at Thornton's career and you see four top 5 finishes in scoring, six top 10 finishes, an Art Ross, a Hart, leading the league three times in assists, two times he finished 2nd in assists. A 10+ year career point per game player in an era where that is a sign of being real elite

Before Crosby and Co. came along, Thornton was the best center and him and Jagr were the dominant forwards of the decade and that's no mean feat. Iginla's had a great career too but in my mind it's a bit behind that.

I'm aware of the knocks on Thornton and believe me I've seen enough of him to know they aren't entirely slander. But to be fair, Iginla, in spite of the 04 run to the Finals going for him, isn't a Gilmour-like play-off warrior either and Calgary has been a fairly regular first round loser since 04 (if they make the playoffs at all). The playoff difference isn't enough for me to make up for Thornton's overall regular season pedigree.
 

Big Phil

Registered User
Nov 2, 2003
31,703
4,144
2002 was a dreadful year for forwards - clearly the worst since I have watched hockey. And the flames were out of the playoffs with a month left, so they just focused on feeding iginla.

The year 2000 says hello. Also another bad year for forwards. But they're close.

I would take Thornton in 2006 over Iginla in 2002. Iginla was given all the chances in the world that year to win the scoring title, in a season that was particularly terrible for forwards. Thornton just barely beat a resurgent Jagr, but he was way ahead of everyone else in the NHL that year. Defensively I don't see much separating them either way. As far as the gold medal game, I would hardly take the results of any one game all that seriously. I thought that Sakic was easily the dominant player that game though, not Iginla.

I too take Thornton in 2006. His peak was incredible and it isn't anything I've seen Iginla do. We've seen just how difficult it is to have Jonathan Cheechoo lead the NHL in goals but Joe did it and he was on fire that season. Keep in mind he had a lot of ground to make up on Jagr who was a ways ahead of him in the last third of the season. Thornton didn't have a good playoff, but he stepped it up big time late in the season and I personally think you can make an argument that he's had the best season by anyone in a decade.

Top 10 scoring finishes:
Thornton - 1, 2, 3, 5, 8
Iginla - 1, 3, 8, 8

It's closer than you would think, but Thornton still has the edge. Again, neither one of them have a big playoff portfolio. Despite that both will be in the HHOF someday. But Jumbo Joe wins this one peak and career for me so far.
 

Derick*

Guest
Not really that telling at all. Iginla has been alone forever in calgary, if anything it tips it Joe's favor seeing as he's been on some pretty good offensive teams. Both are usually the best player on their respective teams, thats all I get out of this.

But yea, I take Iggy just barely for career, and Joe by quite a but in their primes.

I don't think he means it shows Iginla is better because he leads by one, just that it's an impressive stat for both of them.

I think both these players are undervalued for various reasons and that they're both superb. Not going to bother voting.
 

tony d

Registered User
Jun 23, 2007
76,589
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Behind A Tree
Good poll but I'm going with Joe Thornton. Regardless these 2 are probably the best players who are active and over 30 who have not won a Cup.
 

BenchBrawl

Registered User
Jul 26, 2010
30,844
13,628
Thornton , Iginla was good but never was a big fan of his style of play , Thornton controlled the play x10000 more.
 

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