Best player in the world: 2008

[Felidae]

I will never understand this community's fetishization of regular season awards.

I love Ovi as much as the next hockey fan, but beating up on the Southeast division is not the grand achievement some people make it out to be.

It's not just the awards. But he also lead the league in PPG 3 times in that times span while unquestionably being the best goalscorer.

2008-09 he was neck in neck with Malkin in terms of points per game, but the next year he had a significant lead over 2nd place that it's very likely he had a 2nd Art Ross under his belt had he played the games.

Also, guess who was 2nd in postseason PPG from 2007-08 to 2009-10? Ovechkin. Ahead of Crosby, Malkin.


There's a fair bit to criticize Ovechkin about, but in that specific timeframe he was incredibly dominant

And are we really gonna use the division argument here? I'd have thought people would have stopped that argument after McDavid, considering what he did last season.

 

[JaegerDice]

Regular season is a way bigger sample size so the chances of someone getting hot and fluking an elite season are way lower than someone getting hot and having an elite playoff run. Not to mention the obvious that playoff success depends on the team.

Lol beating up on the southeast?

OV 07/08
82 GP
65 goals, 0.79 GPG
112 pts, 1.37 PPG

Vs southeast
32 GP
22 goals, 0.69 GPG
39pts, 1.22 PPG

Vs rest of NHL
50 GP
43 goals, 0.86 GPG
73pts, 1.46 PPG

Considering you chose Makar over OV in the "who would you draft at 18 poll" it's not surprising that you are again clueless about the facts.

Of course I would take the do-everything #1D over a scoring winger. If literally the best scoring winger of all time won a single cup in his career, while elite #1D like Keith, Doughty, Hedman, etc all won more cups individually, obviously, I'm going for the more important, more impactful position. It would be malfeasance on the part of the GM to prioritize a scoring winger over an elite 1D.

Can we see the numbers the other top scorers had against the Southwest division please?

 

[Video Nasty]

Crosby was leading the league in scoring when he got hurt, but not blowing the league away to the point where you could look to him even though he missed 30 games or whatever it was, so obviously he was one of the best players in the world that year, but I think the past polls here suggests you have to look at those that played.....other than that one year Lemieux came out on top, which I totally disagree with that one......so yeah, deserves to be a choice here, but not top 2 or 3 I don't think.

The great omission of truth when adding to the myth of Crosby.

Crosby was in a 3-4 way tie with players who were not Ovechkin or Malkin when he got hurt.

The day before the game he played in and got hurt:

Including the game he left early due to going down:

 

[Toby91ca]

The great omission of truth when adding to the myth of Crosby.

Crosby was in a 3-4 way tie with players who were not Ovechkin or Malkin when he got hurt.

The day before the game he played in and got hurt:

View attachment 746143

Including the game he left early due to going down:



View attachment 746144

Correct....leading, but not separated from pack.....exactly what I said

 

[Video Nasty]

Correct....leading, but not separated from pack.....exactly what I said

It’s a line I see used constantly. No one ever mentions how he was literally tied with multiple other players. Not being separated from the pack while also saying he was the leader means he is in sole possession and up by a point or two.

 

[Midnight Judges]

I voted Ovechkin but how in the world was Crosby not close to those two? The guy was injured for a chunk of the year but was still better than Malkin when he was healthy and played against the other teams' best match-ups...

I eagerly await the very first time a Pens fan makes that statement in favor of Ovechkin.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

08 OV is peak OV. Best player I've ever seen.

Edit: Until McDavid, I suppose.

 

[Wings4Life]

This is Ovie's best year, he gets my vote. Malkin a close 2nd.

 

[amnesiac]

There's more to hockey than regular season goal scoring.

cus winning the Hart, Pearson, Art Ross and getting 47 assists is just awful

 

[Video Nasty]

This is Ovie's best year, he gets my vote. Malkin a close 2nd.

Best season from start to completion and in terms of winning all the hardware, but he was at the peak of his powers to me for 3/4’s of the 2009-2010 season.

He had just come off two Harts, two Pearsons, two Rockets, an Art Ross and a runner up while playing 3 less games, and had 42 goals and 46 assists for 88 points in his first 52 games (60 team games). Was +42 up to that point. 11 multi-goal games and 14 games with at least 3 points. Was up by 10 points in 6 less games over Sedin. Was up 14 points in 7 less games than Crosby. Just in the midst of a near otherworldly stretch of dominance. Went into the Olympic break with a commanding 1.65 PPG while Sedin was second at 1.31 PPG.

That was a hard transition to watch in real time. The loss in the Oympics and his second suspension that season for being “reckless” really seemed to take the wind out of his sails and we’ve pretty never seen that player since.

 

[banks]

Ovie was so good for so long that his peak doesn't stick out too far from the rest of his career, numbers wise. But this was his peak, IMO.

Ovie.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Is this who had the best season or who was the best player in the world? If it's the former ov and the latter crosby

 

[Toby91ca]

It’s a line I see used constantly. No one ever mentions how he was literally tied with multiple other players. Not being separated from the pack while also saying he was the leader means he is in sole possession and up by a point or two.

Yeah, but the others also played more games as not all teams play their games at the same time, so I'd suggest he was the leader.

 

[LevelingSolo]

This was the year of Ovie

Until McDavid this past year, this was the best MVP season

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

This guy wins hands down. Highest peak performance since 2005 lockout until McDavid last year topped it off with a 150 point season.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

The great omission of truth when adding to the myth of Crosby.

Crosby was in a 3-4 way tie with players who were not Ovechkin or Malkin when he got hurt.

The day before the game he played in and got hurt:

View attachment 746143

Including the game he left early due to going down:



View attachment 746144

Ah so he had a healthy lead on both ov and Malkin. Nice.

 

[KevinRedkey]

Voted Ovie for this year, and it was a relatively easy choice.

Of course I would take the do-everything #1D over a scoring winger. If literally the best scoring winger of all time won a single cup in his career, while elite #1D like Keith, Doughty, Hedman, etc all won more cups individually, obviously, I'm going for the more important, more impactful position. It would be malfeasance on the part of the GM to prioritize a scoring winger over an elite 1D.

Can we see the numbers the other top scorers had against the Southwest division please?

Keith, Doughty, and Hedman combined for 7 cups (and counting?)
Jeff Beukeboom, Matt Cullen, and Pat Maroon combined for 9 cups

I know what you're saying - and there's some merit to it - but team awards are often a poor way to evalate talent. My example of three random players winning a bunch of cups is really just to illustrate that point. I'm not suggesting anything more than that.

It's also worth pointing out that 4 defencemen have won the Conn Smythe since the lockout. The same number as wingers. Oddly enough, also 4 C and 4 G.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Ovechkin by a country mile.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

If we're including playoffs then it's hard to ignore a 27-point Selke-level postseason.

But I think the impact of peak Ovechkin is starting to be forgotten around here a little bit. The dude was unstoppable.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Best season from start to completion and in terms of winning all the hardware, but he was at the peak of his powers to me for 3/4’s of the 2009-2010 season.

He had just come off two Harts, two Pearsons, two Rockets, an Art Ross and a runner up while playing 3 less games, and had 42 goals and 46 assists for 88 points in his first 52 games (60 team games). Was +42 up to that point. 11 multi-goal games and 14 games with at least 3 points. Was up by 10 points in 6 less games over Sedin. Was up 14 points in 7 less games than Crosby. Just in the midst of a near otherworldly stretch of dominance. Went into the Olympic break with a commanding 1.65 PPG while Sedin was second at 1.31 PPG.

That was a hard transition to watch in real time. The loss in the Oympics and his second suspension that season for being “reckless” really seemed to take the wind out of his sails and we’ve pretty never seen that player since.

One of the reasons that OV's ppg fell was that OV-Backstrom-Semin was an insanely dominant line but Boudreau stopped using them together in the last third of the season.

 

[nowhereman]

I eagerly await the very first time a Pens fan makes that statement in favor of Ovechkin.

What?

 

[Despote]

I'll go with the 65 goal guy. I'm not an Ovie fan, but to do that with that supporting cast was one of the best seasons in NHL history.

 

[pandro]

As soon as it's time to select Ovechkin it became all about playoffs.

 

[Despote]

As soon as it's time to select Ovechkin it became all about playoffs.

Yeah, it's a fair question what the heck did Crosby do or had done in the playoffs by 2007

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Feels necessary to once again point out that Datsyuk's P/60 was better than Ovechkin's, and he won the Selke while Ovechkin was getting "Controller disconnected" memes made about him...