Will Forsberg's scoring record from the 1993 WJC ever be beaten?

[MrOT]

In 1993 Peter Forsberg scored 31 points in 7 games at the World Juniors, a record still standing. Will it ever be beaten? And when?

Sidenote: The most anyone has scored since then is 18 points in 7 games by Brayden Schenn in 2011.

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[Mickey Marner]

Nah, not enough patsy teams anymore. Forsberg had 10 points in a 20-1 win over Japan. Even Schenn had 5 in a 10-1 win over Norway.

 

[Voight]

The chemistry he had with Naslund and Sundstrom was insane. Playing a sad sack team like Japan helped, but those 3 were crazy together.

I could only see it happening if a player played in 3 or more likely 4 tournaments. While some guys play in it during their draft year, they almost never play in it the year before.

 

[JackSlater]

The chemistry he had with Naslund and Sundstrom was insane. Playing a sad sack team like Japan helped, but those 3 were crazy together.

I could only see it happening if a player played in 3 or more likely 4 tournaments. While some guys play in it during their draft year, they almost never play in it the year before. McDavid didn't even make TC his first two OHL seasons, he waited until 2015.

McDavid was there in 2014.

As always, "ever" is a long time. I can see it being beaten if a few things happen at the same time. An overqualified 19 year old, maybe playing due to a lockout or a Russian playing in the KHL for a few years, a group with exceptionally weak teams (particularly if the tournament ever expands) and a lot of luck.

 

[Fig]

Nah, not enough patsy teams anymore. Forsberg had 10 points in a 20-1 win over Japan. Even Schenn had 5 in a 10-1 win over Norway.

I seem to also recall it's frowned upon to give an opposing team that bad of a drubbing. If you hit 10-1 in a tournament like that, you ease up on the gas.

With this mentality in place, no one is ever going to supplant Forsberg for that record.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Highly unlikely.

The gaps between the top countries has narrowed. The lesser countries get destroyed less.

So, it would be surprising if it were to fall.

 

[MrOT]

Nah, not enough patsy teams anymore. Forsberg had 10 points in a 20-1 win over Japan. Even Schenn had 5 in a 10-1 win over Norway.

In all fairness Forsberg had 4 points vs Canada, 5 vs Czech, 5 vs Finland, 3 vs Russia so it wasn't like he got the majority of his points against "patsy teams".

 

[bobbyking]

Highly unlikely.

The gaps between the top countries has narrowed. The lesser countries get destroyed less.

So, it would be surprising if it were to fall.

there also could be years where the countries have weak prospects

 

[HarryLime]

Nah, not enough patsy teams anymore. Forsberg had 10 points in a 20-1 win over Japan. Even Schenn had 5 in a 10-1 win over Norway.

I read the title and didn't believe he had that many and saw this post and was like "ooooooooooohhhh"


yeah this record prob stays until the tournament is expanded in games

 

[MrOT]

I read the title and didn't believe he had that many and saw this post and was like "ooooooooooohhhh"


yeah this record prob stays until the tournament is expanded in games

In all fairness the Japan blowout was pretty impressive in its own right. After all the Japans qualified over countries like Switzerland and their general negative goal differential wasn't that unusual back in the days (maybe slightly bigger) for the lesser teams. Canada beat them by 8-1, Finland by 7-0, much more "normal" numbers. But Sweden had that kind of team, and especially the first line, that year that could really bully teams. Finland, Czech and Russia got completely destroyed as well if you watched the games, but the numbers weren't as big off course. However 9-2, 5-1 and 7-2 vs these teams were pretty impressive. Canada's (who lost to the Czechs btw) early win over Sweden was actually a little bit like the JWC's answer to "Miracle on ice"

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

It was also a perfect storm for Forsberg in that, aside from the absolutely laughable Japan team, he also played in the tournament as a 19 year old that was clearly better than the level of play. Most players who are that good are usually in the NHL by age 18, and thus aren't even available to play in the WJC for their 18 and 19 year old seasons.

 

[Ben White]

I seem to also recall it's frowned upon to give an opposing team that bad of a drubbing. If you hit 10-1 in a tournament like that, you ease up on the gas.

With this mentality in place, no one is ever going to supplant Forsberg for that record.

I wonder if there’s any footage of that game? I’ve never seen any. Would’ve been kind of fun to see those 10 points in one game by Forsberg

 

[Beau Knows]

It seems pretty unlikely, especially with how competitive the tournament has become. It would either take a tournament where absolutely everything went right or a Gretzky level player, possibly both.

 

[MrOT]

It was also a perfect storm for Forsberg in that, aside from the absolutely laughable Japan team, he also played in the tournament as a 19 year old that was clearly better than the level of play. Most players who are that good are usually in the NHL by age 18, and thus aren't even available to play in the WJC for their 18 and 19 year old seasons.

This mostly applies for NA players and especially nowadays. In Forsberg's era this was rather the norm for European players to play in Europe when they were 19 and play in the World Juniors.

That's one reason the top 10 WJC scoring list historically is dominated by Europeans. So this takes nothing away really from Forsberg's performance more than it does from any other young European WJC scoring leader of the past.

Edit: Btw Forsberg also dominated the Swedish elite league (which was very strong at the time with players like Loob, Mats Näslund returning from the NHL) as a 18-19 year old. Leading the scoring race for most of the season and got beaten by Swedish legend Håkan Loob by only 4 points in 1 less game carrying a young MODO team on his shoulders. Interesting sidetones: Forsberg had almost as many goals as assists and was 3rd in the league in penalties .

Poängliga Elitserien 1992-93
Pl	Namn	Lag	Ma	Utv	Mål	Ass	Poäng
1	Håkan Loob	Färjestads BK	40	28	25	26	51
2	Peter Forsberg	Modo Hockey	39	92	23	24	47
3	Raimo Helminen	Malmö IF	40	59	9	33	42
4	Greg Parks	Leksands IF	39	66	21	19	40
5	Mika Nieminen	Luleå HF	40	28	17	23	40
Utvisningsliga Elitserien 1992-93
Pl	Namn	Lag	Ma	Mål	Ass	Poäng	Utv
1	Heinz Ehlers	Rögle BK	38	7	26	33	97
2	Tomas Jonsson	Leksands IF	38	8	15	23	93
3	Peter Forsberg	Modo Hockey	39	23	24	47	92

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Check that goal from 0:20 that's a goalscorers goal

 

[Todd Parchment]

No. Kids are too good now and too prideful. Also lesser teams somehow always have a goalie who will go full Patrick Roy and keep the game respectable. Sorry kid but Fappa is the bests almost as unbreakable as Gretzky point I total.

 

[Thenameless]

31 in 7 probably won't fall for a while.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Nope. Never. Next

 

[2Pair]

Canada as a team scored 32 goals this year. Russia had 27

 

[Staniowski]

Markus Naslund, Forsberg's linemate, is 2nd all-time with 24 points (tied with Helminen) in one tournament.


Forsberg and Reichel are the two highest scorers in WJC history, with 42 and 40 points respectively. But, they achieved those totals in different ways: Forsberg only played when he was 18 and 19, (didn't play when he was 17); Reichel, though, played in 3 tournaments, when he was 16, 17, 18 (he was in the NHL, and didn't play, when he was 19).

 

[Stealth JD]

The rest of the world would have to have a substantial fall-off in the participation levels at the youth level; which would allow class-separation in the level of play. Global warming, pandemics which shut down sports; civil unrest. It's not unreasonable to think that the bottom three or four qualifying nations could see a generational shift away from hockey, allowing Canada/USA/Russia/Sweden to produce a generational-type of class that is head-and-shoulders above their peers.

I think this record falls in my lifetime (God-willing I get another ~ 40 years) - but it's unforeseeable as to when.

 

[Ben White]

 

[Wasted Talent]

Also worth noting how the European top prospects tend to come to North America earlier than they did back then. A 19.5 year old high draft pick like Forsberg would likely already be playing in the NHL and thus be unable to participate.

For example, 17 year old Puljujärvi was the highest scoring recent player with 17 points in 7 games, but didn't participate in WJC the next 2 years when he was eligible because he was already with the Oilers.