Mike Modano or Anze Kopitar?

[Nadal On Clay]

Close one, but Kopitar.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

What 10 centers were better than him in the late 90s, early 2000s? Cause I don't see how he's not a top 10 center in that timeframe where he had his best seasons.

Depending on when they peaked or declined:

Sakic
Forsberg
Yzerman
Federov
Lemieux
Sundin
Gilmour
Francis
Oates
Lindros
Thornton

Gretzky was still better than him till 99
Messier was better until about 98

And even beyond that. That mini-era was punctuated by supremely talented wingers.
Jagr, Bure, Selanne, Kariya. Iginla, MSL,


There might have been a year or so he might have flirted with being top 10?
But even then, I think he might be in the tier of Elias, Richards, Lecavalier, Roenick,, Recchi, Shannahan, Hull, Alfredsson.

All really good player. But come on. He was nowhere close to winning any kind of hardware (cept maybe that Lady Trophy).

 

[Spawn]

Modano a more dynamic offensive player. But Kopitar was notably better defensively imo.

I feel Modanos defensive game gets overrated due to having played in his peak on those Hitchcock Dallas teams.

 

[SirPaste]

I watched most of Modano's career.

He's way so overrated. Never was he ever considered a top 10 Center in his career. Even then maybe outside top 20 forwards.

Maybe it's unfair he played most of his career against Gretzky Messier Lemieux Francis Lindros Yzerman Sakic Forsberg Federov Gilmour Sundin

But for some reason it seems like a sin to knock him down a few pegs. For some stupid reason, he's retroactively being propped up post retirement.


But no, he wasn't THAT good. He was alright, but I'm not even sure I would consider him elite.

Meh I remember him being lumped in all those centers you just listed

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

Fairly close but pretty clearly Kopitar IMO.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Very close. Modano was a better skater and arguably a tad bit more dynamic offensively, but Kopitar is bigger and stronger and could control the pace of a game by himself in his prime.

 

[ESH]

Depending on when they peaked or declined:

Sakic
Forsberg
Yzerman
Federov
Lemieux
Sundin
Gilmour
Francis
Oates
Lindros
Thornton

Gretzky was still better than him till 99
Messier was better until about 98

And even beyond that. That mini-era was punctuated by supremely talented wingers.
Jagr, Bure, Selanne, Kariya. Iginla, MSL,


There might have been a year or so he might have flirted with being top 10?
But even then, I think he might be in the tier of Elias, Richards, Lecavalier, Roenick,, Recchi, Shannahan, Hull, Alfredsson.

All really good player. But come on. He was nowhere close to winning any kind of hardware (cept maybe that Lady Trophy).

You have no idea what you’re talking about

Modano had a 7 year stretch from 1996-2003 where he finished 4, 7, 5, 2, 4, 4, 3 in All-Star team voting for centers. He was clearly a top-10 (top-5 based on voting) center for a large portion of time

 

[JohnnyBerts]

Such a great question because it's hard to definitively pick one over the other. I'd lean Kopitar. I feel like Modano got the benefit of the late 80's early 90's offensive boost but then had to live through the dead puck era.

I'd also say Modano played on better teams for more years than Kopitar did. The Kings were super dominant for only 3 (consecutive) seasons. Outside of that they either missed the playoffs or were eliminated first round.

 

[The Tourist]

Depending on when they peaked or declined:

Sakic
Forsberg
Yzerman
Federov
Lemieux
Sundin
Gilmour
Francis
Oates
Lindros
Thornton

Gretzky was still better than him till 99
Messier was better until about 98

And even beyond that. That mini-era was punctuated by supremely talented wingers.
Jagr, Bure, Selanne, Kariya. Iginla, MSL,


There might have been a year or so he might have flirted with being top 10?
But even then, I think he might be in the tier of Elias, Richards, Lecavalier, Roenick,, Recchi, Shannahan, Hull, Alfredsson.

All really good player. But come on. He was nowhere close to winning any kind of hardware (cept maybe that Lady Trophy).

Your posting just a bunch of nonsense. Modano was clearly a top 10 center in his prime from the mid to late 90's. He went head to head with Colorado and Detroit constantly in the playoffs and would be relied on to shutdown Sakic and Yzerman while also carrying a huge chunk of the offense.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Your posting just a bunch of nonsense. Modano was clearly a top 10 center in his prime from the mid to late 90's. He went head to head with Colorado and Detroit constantly in the playoffs and would be relied on to shutdown Sakic and Yzerman while also carrying a huge chunk of the offense.

Just to add, from 1997 to 2003 (Modano's peak):

• among centres, he was 3rd in goals, 6th in assists and T-2nd in points
• among centres who played at least 250 games (Modano played in 524), he was 4th in points per game
• we don't have official ice time data for 1997, but for 1998 to 2003, he was 13th among centres in ice time on the penalty kill (with many of the names ahead of him not being anywhere close in terms of offensive contribution - ie Mike Eastwood, Stephane Yelle, Kent Manderville, Bob Corkum, etc)
• he never won the Selke, but was consistently in the top ten (he finished 3rd, 4th, 6th and 6th again in voting)
• he was never a Hart finalist but he was getting consistent recognition - he finished 7th, 7th again, 10th, 11th and 12th
• in the playoffs, among centres, he was T-3rd in goals, 2nd in assists, 3rd in points, and 3rd in PPG (minimum 40 games)
• during these seven seasons, Modano led his team in scoring by wide margins - 30 points (1997), 23 points (1999), 22 points (2000), 28 points (2002), and 30 points (2003)
• he led Dallas in playoff scoring five times (four times outright, tied once), and was one point out of first in another season
• Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe in 1999, but Modano led Dallas in assists, points, primary points, and ES and PP ice time (2nd on the team in PK ice time)

The only centre who was definitively better than Modano during this period was Sakic. An argument can be made for Forsberg and Lemieux depending on how much value you place on per-game vs actual contributions.

 

[Albatros]

No one in their right mind would take Modano over Forsberg 1997-2003. Mats Sundin would at least be debatable, though he did it largely on his own while Modano had a ton of support.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

No one in their right mind would take Modano over Forsberg 1997-2003. Mats Sundin would at least be debatable, though he did it largely on his own while Modano had a ton of support.

Forsberg was obviously the better player, but it's not clear if he was more valuable, during this time period, given the huge disparity in games played.

I would rank Modano ahead of Sundin during this period - very similar offensive production, but Modano was better defensively, and better in the playoffs. Modano certainly played on a stronger team, but most of the advantage was in terms of defensive systems (Hitchcock vs Quinn as coach), and defense/goaltending (Belfour/Zubov/Hatcher vs Joseph/McCabe/Kaberle). The Leafs actually outscored Dallas (albeit slightly) during this period. In any case, Modano (and Sundin) were pretty clearly top ten centres during this timeframe.

 

[Albatros]

Forsberg missed one entire regular season but came back to dominate the playoffs. Dallas meanwhile didn't make the playoffs.

 

[wetcoast]

Solid comparo, i will dig in a little more on them before i vote, flash reaction is that they are practically the same player

My first reaction is that they are both really close but Imy gut feeling is that on a deep dive Kopitar comes out on top.

Really good poll.