If, at the time of the race, a 10 second 100 meter is the best in the world, then it is not a weak race.
Benn went up against the best players in the world trying their best. Crosby had the influence of potentially not making the playoffs. You really thought that with that added that he just decided to not play his best? Hockey players give their all every night, and Benn came out on top. That's not weak.
Sure it is a weak race, if done today. Bolt made a comeback in the 200 m just 2 days ago clocking in at 20,20. Even he himself said that was a weak race. He still won and it was 3 seconds shy of the best time of the year and 4th best of 2015... But 1.03 seconds worse than his own world record. And considered weak by just about everyone. Himself included in interviews.
And playing to win and playing to get points ain´t close to the same thing. Crosby played his best, but he wasn´t playing for the sole reason to win the Art Ross. That is gonna leave you of the scoreboard in some situations. Tavares probably more had his mind on the Art Ross. I would think the only thing on Crosbys mind was to win the game, as it could be win or pick up the golf bag.
There´s for starters no chance in h*ll Dallas goes for that 4-1 goal with 10-30 seconds left in a 3-1 game in that way if not out to only get a point for there captain. You would kill seconds and bury it in the corner. There´s quite the difference of being up 2 goals when the playoffs are on the line or your team captain can win an "upset" Art Ross.
This three games it worked for Dallas, but having that game plan for the whole season ain´t gonna work. And hockey players don´t "give it all" every night. That´s a dream. You really think the Dallas team would have approached this game the same if not Benn had the chance of winning the Art Ross? There toughts would have been on the summer and next season. Many would thinking about not getting hurt, as they are up for new contracts. The last 5 games the competive level of the leauge is very different for many reasons.
It could be just semantics. You and I may not have the same tought of what "weak" means to us. That may be it. For me it means that Benns perfomances this season, even if the top point getter, probably wouldn´t have fetched him any Art Ross outside maybe St. Louis first and Iginlas since the Art Ross was invented.
But as said. In the end he did it. But just as Bolts run two days ago won´t be remebered as one of his greats, even if he won - Benns win won´t be remembered as one of the great Art Rosses.
No one's comparing this year's Art Ross finish to any of the seasons put up by Lemieux, or Jagr, or even Crosby.
Can't find one person who's made that claim. It was a down year for scoring, absolutely.
But your insistence that this race was somehow weaker, or somehow sub-par, just doesn't jive. Will scoring go up next year? Probably. We may even see the return of a 100-point season. But no one did it this year. Is that Jamie's fault? Hell no. He made the most of his opportunity and won the award for the league's leading scorer, in a way that may not have ever been done before.
That's pretty freakin' awesome, if you ask me.
I have in every post said that I don´t think Benn or Dallas made anything wrong or that it was Jamies fault. I said I think it was great done by him. But this is for many different reasons still a very weak year. In my eyes it´s more impressive by Benn that he the last two seasons are the second best point getter (even if I haven´t looked that up my self, but read it in this thread... so I can´t back that up right now.). That shows something.
And scoring ain´t down in the leauge this season compared to the last three seasons, so that ain´t to blame. Even PP-goals stayed about the same, even if PP-oppurtunities were down. The top stars just didn´t perfom as one expected. Injuries or sup-bar play.
Benn took advantage of that the players in the tier above him had down years or where injuried. Kudos. Still the maybe weakest Art Ross out there. If you want to argue, bring me a case for a Art Ross that should be ranked lower. And it ain´t just about how many points. Some of Jagrs could be argued as impressive as some of Lemieuxs/Gretzkys (not there best...), even if only 2/3 of the points.
This ain´t Steven Bradbury Olympics kind of level, as Benn is truly world elite. But it´s still coincidence based. And in the end that´s what team sports is about. Taking advantage of someone elses mistake or weakness. Grabbing the oppurtunity. But heck - if everyone was healthy this season he wouldn´t even be the no.1 scorer on his team. That doesn´t take anything away from him. But that he scored 10 points in his last 3 games when his team was elminated doesn´t make his season jump up to a top 5 or even top 10 season in the leauge this year. Ovechkin, Tavares, Price, Karlsson, Weber, Crosby and others still had a better year when all things are considered. Even if some of them disappointed. As said, this is a good example of why trophy-counting should be taken with a grain of salt.
