Who owned the "Best player in the World" title since the Wayne/Mario era

[daver]

Love this discussion. I am basing my opinions on not just one season of play and that when more than one player has separated themselves from the pack, the title can be shared.

97/98 to 01/02
After Mario retired in 96/97, I think Lindros was the heir apparent to the title as he was going toe to toe offensively with Jagr while being a physical force but had yet another injury-shortened season in 97/98 while Jagr won the 1st of his four Art Rosses. So it's Jagr until 2001/02 despite a mediocre season (by his standards) with the Caps; he had earned the benefit of the doubt. HM - Sakic

02/03 to 03/04
I would give Forsberg the title even though he only played 41 games in 03/04.

05/06
Thornton reached his peak and Jagr returned to form. HM to Crosby and Ovechkin who gave notice that they have lived up to their hype.

06/07
Crosby followed up his historic 18 year old season with a decisive Art Ross win and Thornton kept up his amazing play.

07/08
Ovechkin had a generational goalscoring season while Crosby kept up his level of play in the regular season and in the playoffs. HM - Malkin

08/09
Ovechkin, Crosby, and Malkin all are clearly on a tier of their own from the league. HM - Datsyuk

09/10
Ovechkin had the chance to take the title on his own but couldn't better Crosby in the Olympics or the playoffs.

10/11
Crosby keeps the title despite only playing 41 games while Ovechkin has earned the benefit of the doubt after a mediocre season (by his standards).

11/12
Malkin has arguably the best season since the lockout, Crosby deserves to still be there despite only playing 22 games HM - Stamkos

12/13
Crosby keeps up his dominant pace. HM - Ovechkin has returned to from

13/14
Crosby establishes himself as the clear best from the league not seen since Jagr.

14/15 - 16/17
Crosby keeps the title with elite play in the regular season and in the playoffs. HM - Kane, Benn, Ovechkin, McDavid

17/18
Crosby has earned a year's grace at the top. McDavid and Kucherov have the best chance to join him.

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[Future GOAT]

 

[Fatty McLardy]

Lol
OK fine it's crosby. Now stop pointing the gun at me..

 

[Frosty415]

Disagreed with your biased list

 

[daver]

Disagreed with your biased list

Let's see your list then.

 

[Coffey]

You're literally giving it to Crosby this year, "just cause".
You gonna give it to him for 4 years after he retires "because we have to remember his memory of being the best in the last 2 decades"?

 

[Empoleon8771]

To keep it simple, just going to lump it into periods, with "early" being for example 2000 to 2005 and "late" being 2005-2010:

Late 90s: Jagr, honorable mention for Hasek
Early 2000s: I'm honestly not sure, no one stood out this period as being the best. You had Jagr and Hasek take a slight step backwards into a massive group with players like Iginla, Sakic, Forsberg, St. Louis and such. Forsberg missed an entire season, that's the big thing that's preventing me from saying he's the best. I'm not sure on this one.
Late 2000s: Ovechkin, not close
Early 2010s: Crosby, not close
Late 2010s: To be determined, we're only halfway through them right now.

 

[daver]

You're literally giving it to Crosby this year, "just cause".
You gonna give it to him for 4 years after he retires "because we have to remember his memory of being the best in the last 2 decades"?

I assume then you would not have McDavid as currently the best right?

 

[Coffey]

I assume then you would not have McDavid as currently the best right?

Currently? Nope.

 

[daver]

To keep it simple, just going to lump it into periods, with "early" being for example 2000 to 2005 and "late" being 2005-2010:

Late 90s: Jagr, honorable mention for Hasek
Early 2000s: I'm honestly not sure, no one stood out this period as being the best. You had Jagr and Hasek take a slight step backwards into a massive group with players like Iginla, Sakic, Forsberg, St. Louis and such. Forsberg missed an entire season, that's the big thing that's preventing me from saying he's the best. I'm not sure on this one.
Late 2000s: Ovechkin, not close
Early 2010s: Crosby, not close
Late 2010s: To be determined, we're only halfway through them right now.

Disagree with not close. It is close at best. Both OV and Crosby had Top Ten starts to their careers thru five years all-time.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Disagree with not close. It is close at best. Both OV and Crosby had Top Ten starts to their careers thru five years all-time.

No, it was clearly Ovechkin. Ovechkin was definitely the best player from 2005-2010. Him and Crosby had essentially the same points/game, while Ovechkin scored a ton more goals and won more individual awards. It's definitely Ovechkin for that time.

 

[daver]

No, it was clearly Ovechkin. Ovechkin was definitely the best player from 2005-2010. Him and Crosby had essentially the same points/game, while Ovechkin scored a ton more goals and won more individual awards. It's definitely Ovechkin for that time.

Their respective playoff performances make it closer.

 

[hockeyguy1967]

Love this discussion. I am basing my opinions on not just one season of play and that when more than one player has separated themselves from the pack, the title can be shared.

97/98 to 01/02
After Mario retired in 96/97, I think Lindros was the heir apparent to the title as he was going toe to toe offensively with Jagr while being a physical force but had yet another injury-shortened season in 97/98 while Jagr won the 1st of his four Art Rosses. So it's Jagr until 2001/02 despite a mediocre season (by his standards) with the Caps; he had earned the benefit of the doubt. HM - Sakic

02/03 to 03/04
I would give Forsberg the title even though he only played 41 games in 03/04.

05/06
Thornton reached his peak and Jagr returned to form. HM to Crosby and Ovechkin who gave notice that they have lived up to their hype.

06/07
Crosby followed up his historic 18 year old season with a decisive Art Ross win and Thornton kept up his amazing play.

07/08
Ovechkin had a generational goalscoring season while Crosby kept up his level of play in the regular season and in the playoffs. HM - Malkin

08/09
Ovechkin, Crosby, and Malkin all are clearly on a tier of their own from the league. HM - Datsyuk

09/10
Ovechkin had the chance to take the title on his own but couldn't better Crosby in the Olympics or the playoffs.

10/11
Crosby keeps the title despite only playing 41 games while Ovechkin has earned the benefit of the doubt after a mediocre season (by his standards).

11/12
Malkin has arguably the best season since the lockout, Crosby deserves to still be there despite only playing 22 games HM - Stamkos

12/13
Crosby keeps up his dominant pace. HM - Ovechkin has returned to from

13/14
Crosby establishes himself as the clear best from the league not seen since Jagr.

14/15 - 16/17
Crosby keeps the title with elite play in the regular season and in the playoffs. HM - Kane, Benn, Ovechkin, McDavid

17/18
Crosby has earned a year's grace at the top. McDavid and Kucherov have the best chance to join him.

? McDavid was definitely better then him last year and Crosby is no where to be found this year.

 

[Wayne Primeau]

From 2001-2004, it's Iginla. 2 Rocket Richards in 3 seasons, an Art Ross, a Lindsay, Runner-up for the Hart... in one of the lowest-scoring eras in history, he scored at over a half-a-goal-per-game pace. Nobody scored more goals than he did over those three years.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Their respective playoff performances make it closer.

Ovechkin was dominant in the playoffs from 2005-2010, he had 20 goals and 40 points in 28 playoff games over that period. You're basically saying "it's close because Crosby won a cup".

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Their respective playoff performances make it closer.

Both players were well over PPG in the playoffs. Crosby's team doing better doesn't make up for OV's 9-4 individual trophy case and him being clearly better in 4/5 RS.

 

[daver]

To keep it simple, just going to lump it into periods, with "early" being for example 2000 to 2005 and "late" being 2005-2010:

Late 90s: Jagr, honorable mention for Hasek

It's so hard to compare goalies to forwards but if any non-forward was going to be on the list, it's Hasek.

 

[daver]

Both players were well over PPG in the playoffs. Crosby's team doing better doesn't make up for OV's 9-4 individual trophy case and him being clearly better in 4/5 RS.

Well, season #1 doesn't matter because neither were the best. Season #2 saw Crosby rise to the top. Season #3 saw OV join him.

And fair or not, Crosby put up two major playoff runs leading in goals one year and assists and points in another. It would be unfair to simply say their playoff performances were the same.

That being said, if you want to put OV on his own in 09/10 that's fine, but we then remove him from 10/11.

 

[ThirdManIn]

So we're halfway through this season, a season in which Crosby has been far from the best player in the league, but he gets a grace period? He didn't use that grace period up in one of the seasons in which he only played 50% or less of the games? Not even an honorable mention to Price for his 14/15 season? Is that why you combined it with the 15/16 season? Interesting.

Sorry, but your argument is less-than compelling.

This year it has to be Kucherov so far. f*** Crosby's "year's grace."

 

[lomiller1]

Mario put up 91 points in 67 games in the 02/03 season. That’s 111 point pace at the height of the dead puck era. I’d argue that when healthy he was the best in the world right up until Crosby took the title.

 

[daver]

Ovechkin was dominant in the playoffs from 2005-2010, he had 20 goals and 40 points in 28 playoff games over that period. You're basically saying "it's close because Crosby won a cup".

I am saying it's close because Crosby put up twice the amount of points in the playoffs against tougher competition. It's unfair to assume that OV would have kept up that pace for two more rounds.

I really don't think this should be an unreasonable position. Many all-time greats are rated high based on playoff performances.

 

[daver]

So we're halfway through this season, a season in which Crosby has been far from the best player in the league, but he gets a grace period? He didn't use that grace period up in one of the seasons in which he only played 50% or less of the games? Not even an honorable mention to Price for his 14/15 season? Is that why you combined it with the 15/16 season? Interesting.

Sorry, but your argument is less-than compelling.

This year it has to be Kucherov so far. **** Crosby's "year's grace."

OP states it should be based not just on one year of play. If that were the case, we can just list the Hart/Lindsay winners.

Price didn't even win multiple Vezinas.

 

[daver]

From 2001-2004, it's Iginla. 2 Rocket Richards in 3 seasons, an Art Ross, a Lindsay, Runner-up for the Hart... in one of the lowest-scoring eras in history, he scored at over a half-a-goal-per-game pace. Nobody scored more goals than he did over those three years.

Iggy was the best in one season but was no where near there before or after.

 

[ChiefWiggum]

The 2013 season should also be split between Malkin and Crosby.

 

[Syckle78]

OP states it should be based not just on one year of play. If that were the case, we can just list the Hart/Lindsay winners.

Price didn't even win multiple Vezinas.

Why should it not be based year to year? No need to answer. Lol