John LeClair Versus Alex Mogilny

[GlitchMarner]

Just vote for the better player, taking into account peak, prime, longevity, talent, accomplishments, awards etc.









Bracket A:


John LeClair (2-1: defeated Nolan and Amonte, lost to Mogilny)
Alexander Mogilny (2-1: lost to Recchi, defeated Whitney and LeClair)
Theo Fleury (3-0: defeated Kovalev, Marleau and Roberts)
Gary Roberts (2-1: defeated Smyth and Bertuzzi, lost to Fleury)
Luc Robitaille (2-0: defeated Hossa and Palffy)
Mark Recchi (1-1: defeated Mogilny, lost to Shanahan)
Marian Hossa (1-1: lost to Robitaille, defeated Tkachuk)
Brendan Shanahan (2-0: defeated Tkachuk and Recchi)



*When a player loses four match-ups, he is eliminated. When a player wins four times, he advances to round 2.

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[Habs 4 Life]

LeClair but it's a close one

 

[thadd]

I really wasn't a Leclair fan while I was a huge Molginy fan.
Leclair was a great power foward before his back gave out.
Molginy was a genius of a player in all 3 zones with or without the puck until he became a head case on the ice.
I almost went for Leclair because of how crazy awesome LOD was but I had to go with Almo because I loved his style of play so much.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

I honestly think LeClair was easily better.

 

[seventieslord]

Leclair, not close

 

[Albatros]

Mogilny, intuitively I didn't feel like LeClair would be too much behind but actually I can't invent any arguments for him.

 

[bigbabybuda]

Alex Mogilny. He outproduced him by a fairly large margin and if you take away Leclairs time playing beside Lindros that number goes way up. This is a pretty easy one,

 

[Fugazy]

LeClair.

 

[trentmccleary]

Tough poll, going with Mogilny.
Both had a tougher time in the playoffs.
LeClair had 5.5 elite seasons consecutive, only missing 8 games in those seasons. Mogilny had about as many elite seasons, missing 57 games in his 5.5 best seasons. LeClair struggled outside of those seasons due to ineffectiveness, Mogilny due to injury.
LeClair was bigger and more physical, Mogilny had more defensive responsibility.

Also, I'll never forget watching Mogilny in his last season. He could barely skate, but his hand skills on the PP were still top notch.

 

[ESH]

Alex Mogilny. He outproduced him by a fairly large margin and if you take away Leclairs time playing beside Lindros that number goes way up. This is a pretty easy one,

Why would you do that though

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Alex Mogilny. He outproduced him by a fairly large margin and if you take away Leclairs time playing beside Lindros that number goes way up. This is a pretty easy one,

Mogliny had one huge season in 1992-93, centered by Pat Lafontaine (who outscored Mogilny by quite a bit that year making it look like Lafontaine was more important than Mogilny to their mutual efforts), but that's the only time he really outproduced LeClair.

It's also been statistically proven that LeClair scored at the same rate when Lindros was injured... though his plus/minus went down quite a bit without Lindros.

Add in LeClair's power game, and he easily had the better prime.

Not to mention that adult LeClair has a better record in international tournaments than adult Mogilny. LeClair was one of team USA's best forwards in more than one tournament.

 

[GongShowWilly]

Mogilny forever !!!

 

[GlitchMarner]

I'm surprised Mogilny has such a wide lead (especially considering how easily LeClair beat Nolan and Amonte), but I don't think it's crazy that he's leading.


Peak goes to LeClair for sure despite Mogilny's 76 goal season being the best individual season between the two (although a number of players put up ridiculous goal/point totals in '93).

Mogilny finished in the top ten for points twice and the top ten for goals three times (tied for first, third and sixth) while LeClair finished in the top ten for points four times and in the top ten for goals six times (including four top five finishes).

However, there's a significant drop-off after LeClair's sixth best season. He didn't score more than 55 points in any other season while Mogilny had nine seasons of 55+ points.


Here's how their ten best adjusted point totals match up:

Mogilny: 103, 103, 90, 88, 81, 76, 75, 72, 65, 57

LeClair: 102, 101, 100, 93, 93, 84, 64, 58, 50, 39


So it's about a wash for two seasons and then LeClair dominates for four before Mogilny takes over and dominates for four.


LeClair's extended peak was able to get him three more finishes in the top of the goal scoring race, so he wins in terms of "achievements."


Mogilny provides considerably more value after ten seasons, scoring 34 to 52 adjusted points five times between his 11th and 15th best seasons while LeClair scored between 7 and 35 points in his 11th to 15th seasons.


Mogilny was more talented at stickhandling and a more dazzling player whereas LeClair brought more of a physical presence. Neither player was particularly good in the playoffs relative to his skill level.

Mogilny's points-per game average in the playoffs was higher (0.69 to 0.58)despite the fact that LeClair played many more playoff games prior to the dead puck era (pre 1997). LeClair played 64 playoffs games before '97 while Mogilny played in 37 playoffs games before 1997.

LeClair had the best single playoff run of the two players (21 points in 19 games in the '97 playoffs). Mogilny's highest point total in a single playoff run was 16 points (in 25 games in 2001).


In summary, Mogilny had the best season between the two, but LeClair had the better extended peak. Mogilny had the longer and better prime and more meaningful longevity. Mogilny scored at a higher clip in the playoffs, but LeClair had the best individual playoff run out of the two. Mogilny was probably more talented in general while LeClair was superior at the physical aspects of hockey.



I'll vote for Johnny to make the voting closer and because I think he sustained a very high level of play longer (and that makes more of an impression than superior longevity when neither player was near elite after ten seasons).

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Hoglund, that's a good summary. LeClair had a better prime than Mogilny (with six consecutive years of elite play) - but Mogilny's "down" seasons were better than LeClair's, so Mogilny ends up with more points (in total and on a per-game basis).

My biggest issue with Mogilny is he was so unpredictable from year to year. He was never a top 20 scorer in consecutive season (LeClair did that six times in a row). Despite Mogilny being a far more artistic player, LeClair actually has more years as a top five scorer (or top ten, fifteen, twenty or twenty-five). It's only once you start looking beyond that when Mogilny passes him.

I see the arguments for both players, but I voted for LeClair. The length and consistency of his prime is too much for me to overlook, even if Mogilny had better "down" seasons. I'm surprised the voting is so one-sided.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Winner: