I don't think any of these players are "slouch" and all these guys had pretty dominant seasons, but the topic was about being the best player in the world, he's pitted against guys like Crosby, who have been the best players in the world for a decade each, Ovechkin who was the best in the world for 3-4 years, McDavid who has been the best in the world over a 32 YO Crosby, Forsberg was the best player for a 100ish game period over Lemieux, Lindros, Jagr, Hasek...
Being an underrated superstar does not cut it, not when compared to these guys.
Mario played 8 less games than Foppa the year he won the Hart. He had 15 less points.
He was about to retire. The Penguins were brutal. Kovalev had the 2nd most points on that team (64 pts in 54 games), so Mario ended up with 50% more points than him.
At no time would anyone look at those 2 and think "yeah, this Mario guy is great, but get a load of this Peter guy!"
Forsberg won the Art Ross and Hart. He was a fantastic player and fully deserved it.
Tough as nails, excellent offensively and defensively. Likely too physical for his own good.
It's almost like describing Lindros really. Except his peak was nowhere near as high offensively, and he wasn't as feared physically.