Best player in the world by year: 1998

[SillyRabbit]

Maybe this isn't the point of this poll but I do feel like individually determining who was the "best" player on a year-by-year basis can cause people to look at who had the "best season" while overlooking who may have been the best player.

For example, I think Jagr was the best player of this time period, but Hasek certainly had a couple of "better seasons."

There was arguably an ~8 year period where Crosby might have only had 2-3 of the "best seasons" but was considered the "best player" for that entire stretch.

 

[JJ68]

Jagr is the best player after Mario and Wayne. Wayne said to Jags you are the man now and he wasnt wrong.

 

[Video Nasty]

Definitely Iginla in 02. Was robbed of that Hart due to some shady voting in MTL as I remember

In the real world, the vote was much more affected due to the Flames floundering in the final month or so of the season, finishing 11th in the West, and being 15 points back of #8.

Meanwhile, Montreal played better during the same stretch, ripped off a 7 game winning streak in the final weeks of the season in large part due to Theodore’s stellar play, and squeaked in as the #8 seed.

If the Flames finished with a better record, a few of those lower votes would have gone higher, and Iginla then would have won the Hart outright.

The shady vote narrative has always been lazy, low hanging fruit that has distracted from the fact that the Flames were nowhere near a playoff berth.

 

[Regal]

People are talking about not focusing on the season alone, but the player, but this was the second of back to back Hart/Pearson seasons for Hasek. Granted Jagr missed time in 96-97 but I don’t think he would have won that year if he was healthy either. Hasek was also the best player in the Olympics on the same team as Jagr (though admittedly with a team that wasn’t playing to Jagr’s strengths). I think this is Hasek, then Jagr starts the next year

 

[Larry Hanson]

In the real world, the vote was much more affected due to the Flames floundering in the final month or so of the season, finishing 11th in the West, and being 15 points back of #8.

Meanwhile, Montreal played better during the same stretch, ripped off a 7 game winning streak in the final weeks of the season in large part due to Theodore’s stellar play, and squeaked in as the #8 seed.

If the Flames finished with a better record, a few of those lower votes would have gone higher, and Iginla then would have won the Hart outright.

The shady vote narrative has always been lazy, low hanging fruit that has distracted from the fact that the Flames were nowhere near a playoff berth.

Absolutely ridiculous.

Imagine leaving the Rocket and Art Ross winner off of your Hart ballot entirely because they play on a bad team, complete BS no matter how you spin it. Iginla scored 52 goals and 96 points during the 2nd lowest scoring season in modern history. His linemates were Craig Conroy and Dean McAmmond FFS.

He was the best player in the world that year and it wasn't all that close, leaving him off a ballot should be grounds for losing future voting privileges.

 

[Regal]

Absolutely ridiculous.

Imagine leaving the Rocket and Art Ross winner off of your Hart ballot entirely because they play on a bad team, complete BS no matter how you spin it. Iginla scored 52 goals and 96 points during the 2nd lowest scoring season in modern history. His linemates were Craig Conroy and Dean McAmmond FFS.

He was the best player in the world that year and it wasn't all that close, leaving him off a ballot should be grounds for losing future voting privileges.

It’s dumb to leave him off, but I think the point is that it’s not unusual for a player to be punished for missing. McDavid got it worse in 17-18

 

[Video Nasty]

Absolutely ridiculous.

Imagine leaving the Rocket and Art Ross winner off of your Hart ballot entirely because they play on a bad team, complete BS no matter how you spin it. Iginla scored 52 goals and 96 points during the 2nd lowest scoring season in modern history. His linemates were Craig Conroy and Dean McAmmond FFS.

He was the best player in the world that year and it wasn't all that close, leaving him off a ballot should be grounds for losing future voting privileges.

Players get punished when their team doesn’t make the playoffs. Right or wrong, this is just reality and it’s nothing new.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Definitely Iginla in 02. Was robbed of that Hart due to some shady voting in MTL as I remember

Absolutely ridiculous.

Imagine leaving the Rocket and Art Ross winner off of your Hart ballot entirely because they play on a bad team, complete BS no matter how you spin it. Iginla scored 52 goals and 96 points during the 2nd lowest scoring season in modern history. His linemates were Craig Conroy and Dean McAmmond FFS.

He was the best player in the world that year and it wasn't all that close, leaving him off a ballot should be grounds for losing future voting privileges.

Lol people still repeat this bs? Theodore was left off more ballots than Iginla. There was no robbery.

 

[Connor McConnor]

No offense to OP, I get your overall premise. But aren’t we basically just re-voting the Hart each year?

 

[Evergreen]

Wrong. Forsberg was the 2nd highest scorer 11 points behind Jagr with 5 fewer games played and a superior 2 way game. I’d say it’s a toss up between Forsberg and Jagr in 98 who the best player was. Both had a significant margin to the rest of the league in points per game too.

(Side note: Selanne was only 8th in scoring so you’re obviously looking at the wrong season.)

The poll asks about a time period beginning in 1998, so I figured it would make sense to look at the season that started in 1998. You're referring to the 1997-1998 season and the scoring during that season would have included points scored in 1997, which is prior to the period discussed in the OP. In the 1998-1999 season, Jagr outscored Selanne by 20 points and Forsberg by 30 points (note that Forsberg played 78 games to Jagr's 81, so only 3 fewer games).

Even if we are trying to narrow just down to the 1998 calendar year, I don't think there is a realistic claim to be made that Forsberg was better than Jagr when Jagr outscored Forsberg by 41 points over the 1997-1999 seasons and Jagr only played 8 more games during those 2 seasons combined.

 

[Haatley]

The best player based on talent/abilities but award finishes, injuries, form, etc don't matter? Everyone is just going to give their favourite player because how exactly is that supposed to be measured? Based on the criteria I'd say

97/98-05/06: Jagr
06/07: Crosby
07/08-09/10: OV
10/11-15/16: Crosby
16/17-present: McDavid

Iginla was the best player in the league in the early 2000s.

 

[daver]

... at least try to follow along. The discussion has veered well away from the 1997-1998 season.

Like I said. If forwards are magically better by default, let it be known and save everyone a lot of time.

What do 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002 all have in common?

Is it:

(A) Seasons in which non-forwards won Hart Trophies and Lindsay Trophies

or

(B) Seasons that are irrelevant because a certain Swedish D-man wasn't on the list of non-forwards who won Hart Trophies and Lindsay Trophies

 

[bobholly39]

Mario Lemieux, easily.

If you want to limit to best "active" player - Jaromir Jagr. Hasek close behind.

Definitely Iginla in 02. Was robbed of that Hart due to some shady voting in MTL as I remember

Sounds like you have a shitty memory.

1 voter left Iginla off the hart vote.
3 voters left Theodore off the hart vote.

If bias was at play, it was anti-Theodore.

Good thing common sense prevailed and he won anyways.

 

[bobholly39]

No offense to OP, I get your overall premise. But aren’t we basically just re-voting the Hart each year?

So you think Taylor Hall was the best player in the world in 2017-2018?

 

[bobholly39]

The best player based on talent/abilities but award finishes, injuries, form, etc don't matter? Everyone is just going to give their favourite player because how exactly is that supposed to be measured? Based on the criteria I'd say

97/98-05/06: Jagr
06/07: Crosby
07/08-09/10: OV
10/11-15/16: Crosby
16/17-present: McDavid

That's pretty close.

I'd have McDavid take over from Crosby in 2017-2018 only, as opposed to the year prior.

I'd also be temped to give Forsberg a run from 2003-2005 possibly, and Lemieux probably factors in too upon his return in 2001, but who knows how long based on age/health. You can probably argue Jagr was still better than Forsberg in 2003/2004 but just didn't play up to his best.

 

[FrankSidebottom]

Maybe this isn't the point of this poll but I do feel like individually determining who was the "best" player on a year-by-year basis can cause people to look at who had the "best season" while overlooking who may have been the best player.

For example, I think Jagr was the best player of this time period, but Hasek certainly had a couple of "better seasons."

There was arguably an ~8 year period where Crosby might have only had 2-3 of the "best seasons" but was considered the "best player" for that entire stretch.

Yes, that’s why I think it should be a complex decision. You’re combining and weighting the year itself and player‘s abilities and the past performance in some proportions. Hall won the Hart in 2018 with the great season, so literally he was exceptionally valuable to his team. But was he the best player that year? That’s debatable.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

He was literally retired in 1998

Still the best player in the world

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Hasek. Best goalie of all time at his peak.

Perhaps most dominant player ever. Period.

At his peak.

 

[Toby91ca]

Imagine Gretzky getting injured in 1984 and missing 40 games along with the Hart/Art Ross. It’s an extreme example, but sometimes it should be considered. The poll is not about who should have won the Hart.

You don’t need a make belief example….look at 2010-11, how could Crosby not be the best player in the world? He won no awards

 

[Golden_Jet]

Absolutely ridiculous.

Imagine leaving the Rocket and Art Ross winner off of your Hart ballot entirely because they play on a bad team, complete BS no matter how you spin it. Iginla scored 52 goals and 96 points during the 2nd lowest scoring season in modern history. His linemates were Craig Conroy and Dean McAmmond FFS.

He was the best player in the world that year and it wasn't all that close, leaving him off a ballot should be grounds for losing future voting privileges.

Not the second lowest, there are 17 seasons since 96/97 that are lower. So actual not close to second.

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[amnesiac]

Im saying Jagr.... as impressive as Hasek was at his peak (and he is the GOAT goalie FWIW), it still had lot had to do with the league entering the DPE making life much easier for goalies.

Jagr won the Art Ross by 11 points over Forsberg, and did it without Mario.

 

[Toby91ca]

Perhaps most dominant player ever. Period.

At his peak.

More dominant than winning scoring titles by 70-80 points a year? Ummm, no.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Bolded is Forsberg. The question was who was the best player in the word, not who played the most games.

You can’t look at awards to determine who the BEST player was, cause that automatically excludes all players who played like less than 72 games or so.

Missing games is a knock against a player. When Forsberg was sitting in the press box, he was more useless than the lowest scrub in the AHL, except he also had a sizable salary.

Durability is a virtue in all professional sports. If you aren't on the ice, you aren't the best player.

Forsberg was lucky that his team didn't need him to win a cup. For most teams, if they lose their second best player, they aren't able to win a cup. In other words, Forsberg's lack of durability is the type of problem that could cost a team a cup. You think that's a neutral event. It isn't.

 

[wetcoast]

If a player wins the Hart and Lindsay/Pearson, they are almost certainly the best player in the world in a given year.

A lot of the posters in these types of polls will give their guy a grace period but not the other players. Basically, it invites history revision.

Here's my list:

1998: Hasek (won Hart and Pearson)
1999: Jagr (won Hart and Pearson)
2000: Jagr (2nd for Hart and Pearson)
2001: Sakic (Hart and Pearson)
2002: Up for debate
2003: Up for debate
2004: Martin St. Louis
2005: Lockout
2006: Up for debate
2007: Crosby (Hart and Pearson)
2008: Ovechkin (Hart and Pearson)
2009: Ovechkin (Hart and Pearson)
2010: Ovechkin (2nd for Hart and Pearson)
2011: Up for debate
2012: Malkin (Hart and Lindsay)
2013: Up for debate
2014: Crosby (Hart and Lindsay)
2015: Price (Hart and Lindsay)
2016: Kane (Hart and Lindsay)
2017: McDavid (Hart and Lindsay)

Most every season there will and should be a debate.

For the poll here in 98 Hasek is the obvious choice but Jagr, Forsberg and an all situations Bure on a crappy Moose led Canucks were all excellent as well that season.

Voted Hasek as he is the obvious choice for that year being at the top of his game for a crappy Sabers team.

They also aren't to get any votes here but guys like Fedorov, Lidstrom and sadly many players with Lindros leading the way were cooked by then with concussion injuries.

 

[wetcoast]

Like I said. If forwards are magically better by default, let it be known and save everyone a lot of time.

You have a point here for Lidstrom in the 01-02 and the 02-03 seasons but 03-04 was an off year for Lidstrom, he was still good but not in the conversation for best player in the world that year.