Who was considered the best player in the 90's?

[Avengers*]

was peter forsberg in every top 10 list?

Click to read more...

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Mario Lemieux was considered the best, and I don't think it was close.

I'm not sure if Forsberg would be top 10; definitely from 1996-1999, but over the course of the decade? I'm going to say probably not.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

retrospectively there's a good case for bourque.

 

[jetsfan91]

Jagr has to be top three.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Here's a really rough sketch of a top 10 of the 90s. I'm sure I forgot some guys.

1. Lemieux
2. Hasek
3. Roy
4. Bourque
5. Chelios
6. Messier
7. Jagr
8. Hull
9. Yzerman
10. Gretzky

HM: Oates, Leetch

 

[ResilientBeast]

Here's a really rough sketch of a top 10 of the 90s. I'm sure I forgot some guys.

1. Lemieux
2. Hasek
3. Roy
4. Bourque
5. Chelios
6. Messier
7. Jagr
8. Hull
9. Yzerman
10. Gretzky

HM: Oates

I might slide Jagr up a little higher but these are the 10 I'd have on my list.

 

[Avengers*]

Here's a really rough sketch of a top 10 of the 90s. I'm sure I forgot some guys.

1. Lemieux
2. Hasek
3. Roy
4. Bourque
5. Chelios
6. Messier
7. Jagr
8. Hull
9. Yzerman
10. Gretzky

HM: Oates, Leetch

Joe Sakic and Pavel Bure have to be close to the top 10 too!

 

[MXD]

Here's a really rough sketch of a top 10 of the 90s. I'm sure I forgot some guys.

1. Lemieux
2. Hasek
3. Roy
4. Bourque
5. Chelios
6. Messier
7. Jagr
8. Hull
9. Yzerman
10. Gretzky

HM: Oates, Leetch

I'd make this list mine, except for putting Jagr in 5th thus dropping Messier and Chelios is the process.

And Eric Lindros would be an HM as well.

 

[wgknestrick]

Here's a really rough sketch of a top 10 of the 90s. I'm sure I forgot some guys.

1. Lemieux
2. Hasek
3. Roy
4. Bourque
5. Chelios
6. Messier
7. Jagr
8. Hull
9. Yzerman
10. Gretzky

HM: Oates, Leetch

Replace Chelios with Sakic and you have the proper list sans order. Jagr was way better than you give him credit for. #4 IMO.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

I should have had Lindros as an HM, and I guess I could have Sakic, though I really think Sakic's best stretch was 1999 - 2004. Basically in the regular seaosn in the 1990s, I think Sakic was a clear step down from Oates. Maybe I should have included him based on his 1996 playoffs alone.

Jagr was awesome in the 2nd half of the decade, but really wasn't anything special before 1995. He'd have a good case for #1 from the 1995-2007 timeframe though.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Here's a really rough sketch of a top 10 of the 90s. I'm sure I forgot some guys.

1. Lemieux
2. Hasek
3. Roy
4. Bourque
5. Chelios
6. Messier
7. Jagr
8. Hull
9. Yzerman
10. Gretzky

HM: Oates, Leetch

These are my top 10 in no order.

Mario Lemieux, C
Wayne Gretzky, C
Raymond Bourque, D
Jaromir Jagr, RW
Dominik Hasek, G
Mark Messier, C/LW
Patrick Roy, G
Chris Chelios, D
Joe Sakic, C
Steve Yzerman, C

 

[Plural]

I think Lemieux is the unanimous #1
Forsberg was more in the 95-05 decade.

 

[Big Phil]

Lemieux is #1. Can you believe it, a guy who missed three full seasons in this decade due to retirement or taking a year off and only played 70 games in a season twice? But that's our Mario.

 

[VanIslander]

Lemieux,... Gretzky, Messier, Bourque, Jagr, Hasek and to some degree Roy, Forsberg and Yzerman were respected as such.

I have a hard time believing anyone else has a case above them for any point in time that decade, Sakic and Lindros notwithstanding.

I never heard anyone say Chelios was the best player in the world (even his fans at the time, who thought him the best dman).

 

[Big Phil]

Lemieux,... Gretzky, Messier, Bourque, Jagr, Hasek and to some degree Roy, Forsberg and Yzerman were respected as such.

I have a hard time believing anyone else has a case above them for any point in time that decade, Sakic and Lindros notwithstanding.

I never heard anyone say Chelios was the best player in the world (even his fans at the time, who thought him the best dman).

Lindros has no business on a top 10 list of the 1990s. It all comes down to who in the world do you take OFF the list if you want to put him on there?

 

[thom]

Hard to believe about Mark Messier and his great leadership is that he missed the playoffs the last 6 seasons.Im a fan of Mark but its hard to believe considering there is an nhl award on his behalf

 

[VanIslander]

Lindros has no business on a top 10 list of the 1990s. It all comes down to who in the world do you take OFF the list if you want to put him on there?

I agree. But there were a lot of Lindros fanatics (like Crosbyites) who projected their guy as the best of the era before the case was fully made.

 

[Dissonance]

You could also split the decade in half, just for fun:

1990-91 through 1994-1995:
1. Gretzky
2. Lemieux (only 2 full seasons)
3. Bourque
4. Hull
5. Oates
6. Yzerman
7. Messier
8. Belfour/Roy
9. Lafontaine
10. Chelios

1994-95 through 1999-2000
1. Jagr
2. Hasek
3. Selanne
4. Lemieux (best player, but only 2 seasons!)
5. Brodeur
6. Forsberg
7. Lidstrom
8. Lindros
9. Kariya
10. Leclair

Not 100% sure about some of these. Would be fine with Hasek #1 for the second half. Lemieux is obviously hard to rank. Also Mark Recchi was the third-highest scorer in the first half of the decade, he probably deserves more respect.

-----

Edit: Oops, screwed up the numbering originally.

 

[VanIslander]

You could also split the decade in half, just for fun:

1990-91 through 1994-1995:
1. Gretzky
2. Lemieux (only 2 full seasons)
3. Messier
4. Bourque

1994-95 through 1999-2000
1. Jagr
2. Hasek

A reasonable assessment.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Assuming we're giving proper consideration to players who only were significant for half the decade, how is Hasek not atop every list?

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Assuming we're giving proper consideration to players who only were significant for half the decade, how is Hasek not atop every list?

Because Mario Lemieux was a significantly better hockey player.

 

[mrhockey193195]

You could also split the decade in half, just for fun:

1990-91 through 1994-1995:
1. Gretzky
2. Lemieux (only 2 full seasons)
3. Bourque
4. Hull
5. Oates
6. Yzerman
7. Messier
8. Belfour/Roy
9. Lafontaine
10. Chelios

1994-95 through 1999-2000
1. Jagr
2. Hasek
3. Selanne
4. Lemieux (best player, but only 2 seasons!)
5. Brodeur
6. Forsberg
7. Lidstrom
8. Lindros
9. Kariya
10. Leclair

Not 100% sure about some of these. Would be fine with Hasek #1 for the second half. Lemieux is obviously hard to rank. Also Mark Recchi was the third-highest scorer in the first half of the decade, he probably deserves more respect.

-----

Edit: Oops, screwed up the numbering originally.

Maybe it's just the bias talking, but I think Leetch sneaks in to the top ten for the first half of the 90s...I think Chelios and Leetch would be above Lafontaine.

Though, I guess you counted Roy and Belfour as one spot instead of two...so I guess Leetch might miss the cut anyways.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i don't think there's any argument that lafontaine belongs there.

 

[Dissonance]

Maybe it's just the bias talking, but I think Leetch sneaks in to the top ten for the first half of the 90s...I think Chelios and Leetch would be above Lafontaine.

Though, I guess you counted Roy and Belfour as one spot instead of two...so I guess Leetch might miss the cut anyways.

Yeah, I could see the case for Leetch, too. Lafontaine is tricky--arguably a top-5 forward in the league for the first three years of the '90s, then constantly injured for the next two.

 

[Hardyvan123]

Lemieux is #1. Can you believe it, a guy who missed three full seasons in this decade due to retirement or taking a year off and only played 70 games in a season twice? But that's our Mario.

Well actually it's a lot of group think and different measures here unless one is only measuring actual peak play.

in reality there is no way that he ahd the msot impact (using that defintion of who was actually the best player in the 90's or whose actual GP and resume would you build a team around) 318 regular season games doesn't cut it using that defintion.

I actually thought about the top center to build a team around for that entire decade and that's why I probably ahve feds higher than most.

Consistent excellent 2 way game regular season and killer in the playoffs too, funny there hasn't been a single mention of him yet.