Best Non-Big Four Offensive Season Since 1967 Expansion - #16

[DitchMarner]

Since the '67 expansion, what season is the 16th best offensive season by a non-Big Four (Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr, Howe) player?

People generally think of points scored when they think of "offense," but really, you can consider things like scoring chance generation, effective neutral zone transition game, effective forechecking that causes turnovers, good puck possession in the offensive zone to be part of a player's offensive game.

Things like back checking, defensive play and positioning, shot blocking, body checking to knock players off the puck outside of the attacking zone are irrelevant here. These are things to consider when voting in the best two-way seasons since 1967 polls series.


Results:

#1. Connor McDavid 2023 (54.5%)
#2. Connor McDavid 2021 (50%)
#3. Jaromir Jagr 1999 (44.4%)
#4. Steve Yzerman 1989 (32.1%)
#5. Phil Esposito 1971 (31.4%)
#6. Alex Ovechkin 2008 (35.4%)
#7. Nikita Kucherov 2024 (31.6%)
#8. Evgeni Malkin 2012 (won run-off against Jagr '96 and MacKinnon '24)
#9. Jaromir Jagr 1996 (31.6%)
#10. Brett Hull 1991 (40%)
#11. Guy Lafleur 1977 (45.5%)
#12. Nathan MacKinnon 2024 (35.7%)
#13. Joe Sakic 2001 (won run-off against Thornton '06 and McDavid '24)
#14. Connor McDavid 2024 (50%)
#15. Sidney Crosby 2014 (won run-off against Lafleur '78)

Click to read more...

 

[DitchMarner]

I expect Lafleur '78 to take this one.

I think perhaps Nicholls '89 is being underrated (don't know if it has gotten a single vote yet). Yes, 150 points in a high-scoring era and on a team with Gretzky, but he actually didn't play with Wayne at ES that often and his season is still impressive when adjusted and in comparison to the players behind him in scoring that year (he beat Brown by 35 points).

Jagr/Thornton '06 are two of the stronger ones left.

LaFontaine '93, Jagr '01, Kane '16, Kuch '19 and Drai '20 may be in the next tier.

 

[Video Nasty]

Oh man, it took a tied runoff matchup for the supposed fifth best player ever to finally show up at #15.

Lafleur again.