Best player in the world: 2015

[FrankSidebottom]

Crosby won it again and we are moving on to 2015 (14/15 season).

Previous polls:
1998 (62% 1 Hasek, 2 Jagr, 3 Forsberg)
1999 (48% 1 Jagr, 2 Hasek, 3 Forsberg)
2000 (72% 1 Jagr, 2 Pronger, 3 Bure)
2001 (33% 1 Lemieux, 2 Sakic, 3 Jagr)
2002 (36% 1 Iginla, 2 Lidstrom, 3 Lemieux)
2003 (52% 1 Forsberg, 2 Naslund, 3 Lemieux)
2004 (23% 1 Forsberg, 2 St. Louis, 3 Luongo)
2006 (31% 1 Thornton, 2 Jagr, 3 Crosby)
2007 (73% 1 Crosby, 2 Lidstrom, 3 Lecavalier/Luongo)
2008 (64% 1 Ovechkin, 2 Crosby, 3 Zetterberg)
2009 (44% 1 Ovechkin, 2 Malkin, 3 Crosby)
2010 (56% 1 Ovechkin, 2 Crosby, 3 H.Sedin)
2011 (58% 1 Crosby, 2 Thomas, 3 D. Sedin)
2012 (47% 1 Malkin, 2 Crosby, 3 Stamkos)
2013 (70% 1 Crosby, 2 Ovechkin, 3 Malkin)
2014 (80% 1 Crosby, 2 Malkin, 3 Price)

Click to read more...

 

[jigglysquishy]

Fairly easy for Price here.

No forward had a standout season. In fact, it is collectively the worst season we've seen from top forwards since the 40s.

Crosby looked great, then got mumps and then looked weak. Seguin looked good, but missed time. Tavares almost held onto the Art Ross.

Benn worst Art Ross winner since the 40s. Literally posted the lowest Vs5 score since expansion.

A few defensemen looked good (Karlsson, Doughty) but nothing approaching best player in the world.

 

[hamzarocks]

Price
OV
Crosby

 

[TheGuiminator]

Price was the best player in the world in 2015

He's also gonna get my vote for 2016, despite playing 12 games.

 

[Video Nasty]

Fairly easy for Price here.

No forward had a standout season. In fact, it is collectively the worst season we've seen from top forwards since the 40s.

Crosby looked great, then got mumps and then looked weak. Seguin looked good, but missed time. Tavares almost held onto the Art Ross.

Benn worst Art Ross winner since the 40s. Literally posted the lowest Vs5 score since expansion.

A few defensemen looked good (Karlsson, Doughty) but nothing approaching best player in the world.

Sums it up. What a wretched season. Probably the least interesting I’ve ever followed.

 

[wintersej]

Zach Senyshyn not an option?

 

[Coffee]

If you don’t vote for price here, you need to seriously log out for a couple hours

 

[Regal]

Goalies can be weird because they can have big seasons that aren’t sustainable and it’s hard to use those as a measuring stick. With Price though, I think he was really reaching a sustainable level of excellence coming from the season before that was squashed by his injury the following year. While I think Crosby would have probably been the most frequent answer for “who is the best player in the world?” or “who would you take first if starting a team?” around that time, and there were some excuses for his mediocre season (MJ and the mumps), he was ultimately only part of the pack. And while Ovechkin won another Richard and was 2nd in Hart voting, his overall production, like the rest of the forwards, wasn’t very strong even relative to a low scoring environment, and his 5v5 play had declined a lot from his peak. I think Price was playing well enough to justify taking him over what was a pretty weak group of forwards at the time.

 

[blundluntman]

Arguably the worst art ross performance since the expansion era. Definitely Price and nobody else really stands out.

 

[Albatros]

EK65

 

[Video Nasty]

Easiest season for Crosby to make up some of the hardware he missed out on and he just couldn’t hack it. Stymied by Benn and Tavares at age 27 the season after one of the supposedly most dominant Art Rosses in recent memory.

Dreadful stuff.

 

[Bouboumaster]

This magnificient beast right there

 

[nowhereman]

Yet again, people seem to be handing out the "Best Season" award. Crosby finished three points shy of the Art Ross, after missing a bunch of games due to the mumps and having a bumpy recovery after that. He was still clearly a better player than Benn or Tavares, especially coming off a season where he lapped the field the year prior.

Price had an amazing year but didn't finish as a Vezina finalist the year after or in any year prior and only ever placed as a finalist one other time in his career. Does this really sound like the best player in the world vs. a guy who had an all-world season?

 

[wetcoast]

Yet again, people seem to be handing out the "Best Season" award. Crosby finished three points shy of the Art Ross, after missing a bunch of games due to the mumps and having a bumpy recovery after that. He was still clearly a better player than Benn or Tavares, especially coming off a season where he lapped the field the year prior.

Price had an amazing year but didn't finish as a Vezina finalist the year after or in any year prior and only ever placed as a finalist one other time in his career. Does this really sound like the best player in the world vs. a guy who had an all-world season?

Came here to say something like this but really some people when asked this question for the current season might have 5 different answers as the season goes on right?

 

[blundluntman]

Yet again, people seem to be handing out the "Best Season" award. Crosby finished three points shy of the Art Ross after missing a bunch of games due to the mumps and having a bumpy recovery after that. He was still clearly a better player than Benn or Tavares.

Price had an amazing year but didn't finish as a Vezina finalist the year after or the year prior and only ever placed as a finalist one other time in his career. Does this really sound like the best player in the world or a guy who had an all-world season?

This post makes zero sense whatsoever. What does what Price did before and after this season have to do with how good he was this year?? Everybody who followed the NHL this year knew Price was the best player in the world. Crosby missing 5 games because of allergies is no excuse for losing an art ross in his prime to Jamie Benn. And even if it was, it doesn't magically make him a better player than Price that season. Usually, the best player in the world has the best season. The only explanation for that not being the case is injuries.

 

[nowhereman]

This post makes zero sense whatsoever. What does what Price did before and after this season have to do with how good he was this year?? Everybody who followed the NHL this year knew Price was the best player in the world. Crosby missing 5 games because of allergies is no excuse for losing an art ross in his prime to Jamie Benn. And even if it was, it doesn't magically make him a better player than Price that season.

Fair enough. Then we should just change this poll to "Who had the Best Season", leave it at that and save us all the trouble.

Oh and, "allergies", lmao.

 

[wetcoast]

This post makes zero sense whatsoever. What does what Price did before and after this season have to do with how good he was this year?? Everybody who followed the NHL this year knew Price was the best player in the world. Crosby missing 5 games because of allergies is no excuse for losing an art ross in his prime to Jamie Benn. And even if it was, it doesn't magically make him a better player than Price that season. Usually, the best player in the world has the best season. The only explanation for that not being the case is injuries.

I'm not a doctor but mono isn't allergies and I'm wondering where the source is for allergies....do you have one?

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Lol calling price the best player in the world in 2015 is wild. Crosby had just dominated the two prior seasons. Finishing third in scoring 3 points back of the ross doesn't throw him off the throne. Price had the best season that's fine

 

[blundluntman]

I'm not a doctor but mono isn't allergies and I'm wondering where the source is for allergies....do you have one?

I do indeed. It's called Hyperbole, or in other words: a joke.

Fair enough. Then we should just change this poll to "Who had the Best Season", leave it at that and save us all the trouble.

Oh and, "allergies", lmao.

They're basically the same thing if you don't rely on reputation to judge a player in a given year. Barring injuries that year anyway.

 

[blundluntman]

Lol calling price the best player in the world in 2015 is wild. Crosby had just dominated the two prior seasons. Finishing third in scoring 3 points back of the ross doesn't throw him off the throne. Price had the best season that's fine

Carey Price and Sidney Crosby play against each other in a game: Carey Price posts a .933 sv % and leads his team to a 2-1 victory despite getting outshot and outplayed. Crosby has one measly secondary assist and is outplayed by other Canadiens forwards. Afterward, if somebody asks you who was the better player that game, are you gonna pick Crosby over Price because of his accomplishments outside that given game? Now apply that logic over the course of an entire year. Are you gonna say Crosby was a better player that year despite performing worse because of his reputation?

 

[bobholly39]

Yet again, people seem to be handing out the "Best Season" award. Crosby finished three points shy of the Art Ross, after missing a bunch of games due to the mumps and having a bumpy recovery after that. He was still clearly a better player than Benn or Tavares, especially coming off a season where he lapped the field the year prior.

Price had an amazing year but didn't finish as a Vezina finalist the year after or in any year prior and only ever placed as a finalist one other time in his career. Does this really sound like the best player in the world vs. a guy who had an all-world season?

Crosby had been slowly decreasing for 3 straight years now.

Great in 2013
Great still in 2014 but slightly less so (yes despite awards)
And still really good, but again decrease in 2015

With Price - its the exact opposite. Huge spike in 2014. MVP in olympics in what i consider perhaps 2nd best goaltending performance ever at an olympics after Hasek 98. Followed by great end of season playoffs till round 3....where he got injured it cost his team final, if not who knows, maybe finals/cup.

Then in 2015 - clear best season in the league, by far. Close to unanimous hart winner (for a goalie, even more impressive), also wins Vezina/Lindsay.

Then - start of 2016 - only played ~1-2 month before season ending injury, but was again at top of league for goalies/overall.

I'm all for differentiating between best season and best player, but:

Crosby - 3 year downward slide
Price - 3 year upward spike, with 2015 his best season, clear best season in league

Close, but I'm voting Price here.

 

[Three On Zero]

Privechby

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Carey Price and Sidney Crosby play against each other in a game: Carey Price posts a .933 sv % and leads his team to a 2-1 victory despite getting outshot and outplayed. Crosby has one measly secondary assist and is outplayed by other Canadiens forwards. Afterward, if somebody asks you who was the better player that game, are you gonna pick Crosby over Price because of his accomplishments outside that given game? Now apply that logic over the course of an entire year. Are you gonna say Crosby was a better player that year despite performing worse because of his reputation?

Did I say he was the better player that year? He was the better player for 10 straight years before and 10 years after. Crosby was the best player in 12-13 and 13-14 by a huge margin then finished third in scoring 3 points back of the lead. He was still the best player in the world and will only strengthen that the next 2 years with h2b smythes and cups

 

[Turin]

Crosby had been slowly decreasing for 3 straight years now.

Great in 2013
Great still in 2014 but slightly less so (yes despite awards)
And still really good, but again decrease in 2015

With Price - its the exact opposite. Huge spike in 2014. MVP in olympics in what i consider perhaps 2nd best goaltending performance ever at an olympics after Hasek 98. Followed by great end of season playoffs till round 3....where he got injured it cost his team final, if not who knows, maybe finals/cup.

Then in 2015 - clear best season in the league, by far. Close to unanimous hart winner (for a goalie, even more impressive), also wins Vezina/Lindsay.

Then - start of 2016 - only played ~1-2 month before season ending injury, but was again at top of league for goalies/overall.

I'm all for differentiating between best season and best player, but:

Crosby - 3 year downward slide
Price - 3 year upward spike, with 2015 his best season, clear best season in league

Close, but I'm voting Price here.

Crosby was playing with one wrist from March 2014 onward.

 

[blundluntman]

Did I say he was the better player that year? He was the better player for 10 straight years before and 10 years after. Crosby was the best player in 12-13 and 13-14 by a huge margin then finished third in scoring 3 points back of the lead. He was still the best player in the world and will only strengthen that the next 2 years with h2b smythes and cups

The poll is literally asking who the best player in the world was in that given year though. Crosby definitely had the reputation as the best player in the world during that time period, but that year in particular, he just wasn't.