Player of the decade poll #8: 1990s

[toothlessgoon]

Gretzky wins the 1980s poll with 96.8% of the vote, second most to Gordie Howe, who won unanimously.

Previous winners

1920s: Howie Morenz (68.5%)
1930s: Eddie Shore (68.8%)
1940s: Maurice Richard (94.6%)
1950s: Gordie Howe (100%)
1960s: Bobby Hull (59.3%)
1970s: Bobby Orr (81.8%)
1980s: Wayne Gretzky (96.8)

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[jigglysquishy]

I voted Lemieux, but a reasonable argument can be made for Jagr and Hasek too.

4 Art Rosses
2 Harts
2 Pearsons
2 160 point seasons
2 Stanley Cups with 2 Conn Smythes

All while missing 4.5 or 5.5 seasons depending on where your year cut off is.

 

[JackSlater]

Hasek has a strong argument but I voted for Lemieux. His best is a bit better and even with all of Lemieux's missed games Hasek didn't have a full NHL season until 1994.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I also voted for Lemieux, but I had to stop and think.

Hasek had a great decade, but his peak was really 1994 to 2002. (In other words, we're missing a few of his best years, and he only played 53 games from 1990 to 1993). Hasek only played in 37 more games than Lemieux during the 1990's, and that's not enough (in my opinion) to push him ahead. Lemieux having back-to-back Conn Smythe trophies is also a good argument in his favour.

Jagr has the same issue as Hasek, he was good but not great at the start of the decade, and a few of his best years spill over into the next decade. Despite playing in 285 fewer games, Lemieux still has more Hart and Art Ross trophies than Jagr in the 1990's (plus the back-to-back Conn Smythe's). Even in terms of counting stats, Jagr is only ahead 83 points in 285 games.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Tough one, between Gretzky and Jagr (Lemieux didn't play enough, imo).

 

[centipede2233]

Don’t overthink it, Lemieux

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Still WAYNE GRETZKY who still amassed over 1,000 points in the 90's. Mario, sorry, didn't play for 3 seasons and that hurts him, scoring under 800 points.

 

[TheGuiminator]

This is Lemieux without hesitation

Yea he only played 417 games (playoff included), but he made the most out of it and it was well enough to separate himself from the rest of the pack

 

[bobholly39]

Lemieux has the 2 best regular seasons, by far. He has at least 2 more seasons that rank very highly in the decade too.

Lemieux has 2 of the best individual playoff runs of the decade (only Roy 93 gives him a run for his money imo).

He is without a doubt the player of the decade. Quite a few standouts in the 90s - but Lemieux simply towers over all of them.

Technically - if you count the year 2000 as part of the 1990s decade - you can also count his 2 game 7 point comeback at age 35 after not playing for 4 years in December of 2000 as an extra reason why

 

[wetcoast]

Hasek has one of the best 6 years primes of any player in history in the 90s and Mario missed too much time.

Just how awesome was Hasek in that prime, he was a Hart finalist 5 times in 6 years, now Mario has great video game stats but he is also 25th overall in scoring for the decade 90-91 to 99-00.

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

 

[SkinsFan09]

Lemieux but Hasek is close.

 

[ijuka]

Lemieux has the 2 best regular seasons, by far.

I don't think "by far" is very fair to Gretzky's 163 points.

Anyways, I think that Hasek had 5 amazing seasons to Lemieux's 2 amazing seasons. Hasek's the best goalie all time while Lemieux's not the best forward all time. Lemieux didn't play at all for 4 seasons during this time, and basely played during 2 others. Shrug.

Hasek only played in 37 more games than Lemieux during the 1990's, and that's not enough (in my opinion) to push him ahead.

... We're seriously comparing a goalie's games played to a skater's games played?

 

[banks]

Super close. Went with Hasek, even though I always liked Roy more.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

... We're seriously comparing a goalie's games played to a skater's games played?

Fair comment, that's obviously not an apples-to-apples comparison. But my point was we're not comparing Lemieux (with 4.5 season's worth of games) to someone who was there the entire decade. Hasek wasn't in the NHL in 1990, only played 5 games in 1991, and was a backup (with good but not great numbers) in 1992 and 1993.

If the timeframe was something like 1994 to 2003 (which captures all of Hasek's prime), maybe you can argue him over Lemieux, because Hasek would have a significant edge in longevity. But in the 1990's calendar decade, Hasek had four years that were basically irrelevant. Lemieux also missed a lot of time obviously, but I'd take Lemieux for 4.5 seasons worth of games (with two all-time great playoff runs) over Hasek for 6 seasons - your mileage may vary.

 

[Xspyrit]

Lidstrom for the 2000's?

 

[Video Nasty]

Mario, followed closely by Hasek and then Gretzky. Wouldn’t be opposed to sliding Jagr in at #3 either.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Still WAYNE GRETZKY who still amassed over 1,000 points in the 90's. Mario, sorry, didn't play for 3 seasons and that hurts him, scoring under 800 points.

Didn't even phase me, voted Mario. I'd probably have Hasek and Jagr 2/3 (no particular order).

 

[bobholly39]

Mario, followed closely by Hasek and then Gretzky. Wouldn’t be opposed to sliding Jagr in at #3 either.

Yeah you need to slide Jagr in there. Clear top 3 for me, with Lemieux #1, and Hasek/Jagr battling it out for #2 and 3. I'd personally actually slot Jagr ahead of Hasek too - but that's just me.

As for #4 - Gretzky has a very strong case. Elite seasons early on, insane playoff run in 1993...but I'm not so sure he's set in stone at #4. Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic (though maybe not without 2001 counting?), Eric Lindros...lots of great contenders. Maybe even Brett Hull with ~150 more goals than anyone else.

 

[dire wolf]

This is a tie between Mario and Hasek for me. With a gun to my head, I'm voting Dominator.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Feats
160 in 60
161 in 70
44 point smythe (2nd all time)
34 point in 15 gp smythe
(78 points combined 2nd all time)
46 game point streak (2nd all time)

Awards
4 art ross
2 harts
2 smythes
1 richard

And both of those hart and smythes were won in prime Gretzky fashion

Whoever votes against mario is trying to hard

 

[Forceofnature]

As good as Mario was, 377 games played in a decade is not enough for the title player of the decade. Not in my opinion. Unless you are a goalie

 

[TBF1972]

I don't think "by far" is very fair to Gretzky's 163 points.

Anyways, I think that Hasek had 5 amazing seasons to Lemieux's 2 amazing seasons. Hasek's the best goalie all time while Lemieux's not the best forward all time. Lemieux didn't play at all for 4 seasons during this time, and basely played during 2 others. Shrug.


... We're seriously comparing a goalie's games played to a skater's games played?

we could use minutes instead.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I cannot believe Lemieux is so far ahead of Jagr in this poll

Jagr was the top scoring point getter in the 1990s with 958. Second was Joe Sakic with 896. That gap is big enough to be less than the one between Sakic and the 7th place finisher (Brett Hull with 842). Jagr was also 2nd in goals with 387 (behind Bret Hull who had a commanding lead with 464). Jagr's +188 was good for 6th in the decade (Scott Stevens, Sergi Federov, Nicklas Lidstrom, John Leclair and Al MacInnis ahead of him).

Lemieux's 2 PPG is crazy good.. but it was only 318 games. His 656 points are only 25th overall. He does have the lead in terms of Playoff Points with 136, but Jagr is still just 1 behind with 135. Lemieux's only two career Cups came with Jagr (and likewise to be far of course).

Lemieux was "better" but Jagr is the clear Player of the Decade awarded on a cumulative basis IMO. Those seasons where Lemieux was retired have to be factored in there because he wasn't helping any team those seasons.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

I don't think "by far" is very fair to Gretzky's 163 points.

Anyways, I think that Hasek had 5 amazing seasons to Lemieux's 2 amazing seasons. Hasek's the best goalie all time while Lemieux's not the best forward all time. Lemieux didn't play at all for 4 seasons during this time, and basely played during 2 others. Shrug.


... We're seriously comparing a goalie's games played to a skater's games played?

160 in 60 Is by far better than 163 in 78.

 

[treple13]

Lemieux was the best player when he played, but if you get to have one of these players on my team for the whole decade, I'm picking someone else. I went a bit off the board with Sakic. 2nd in points for the decade, captained a Cup winner, etc