Best Slovak player of all time

[Ivo]

With Chara finishing 2nd in Norris voting and getting another 1st team all-star nod, I wonder whether this bumps him over Stastny as the best Slovak player of all time. Not counting Mikita (Slovak born but Canadian trained), these two are clearly above the rest and until this point most ranked Peter Stastny over Chara (a poll on this board in January 2013 had Stastny 1st with 64% over Chara with 22%). With Chara adding to his already very impressive resume, is there a chance that he will finish his career as the best Slovak player of all time?

Some notes:

Chara
- 1 x Norris Trophy (Norris finishes 1-2-3-1-1, only 5 Dmen in history have more top-5 finishes)
- 3x 1st team all-star, 4x 2nd team all-star, 1x 3rd team all-star
- 1132 games, 161 goals, 357 assists, 518 points, +188
- (Plus minus award, Messier Award, Hardest shot)
- Stanley Cup
- 141 playoff games - 15 goals, 43 assists, 58 points, +37
- International - 2x Silver WHC (Best Defenseman in 2012), 4th and 5th place in the Olympics, 76 games (OG, WC, WHC) and 22 points

Stastny
- Calder Trophy (Rookie scoring record until Selanne)
- no 1st and 2nd team all-stars, 3x 3rd team all-star
- Scoring finishes - 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6 (seven 100+ points seasons)
- 977 games, 450 goals, 789 points, 1239 points (1.27 PPG - 6th of all time)
- (2nd only to Gretzky in scoring during the 80s decade)
- Playoffs - 93 games, 33 goals, 72 assists, 105 points
- International - 2 x gold WHC, 2 x silver WHC, Canada Cup - silver with Czechoslovakia, gold with Canada, 66 points in 66 games (WC, OG, Canada Cup)

Whose career is better?

(feel free to rank other Slovak players too, quite curious to see how Hossa, Gaborik, Bondra, Palffy, Demitra rank in relation to each other)

 

[BenchBrawl]

I think Chara is better than Stastny

 

[nabby12]

Stastny. AINEC.

 

[Ishdul]

Stastny. AINEC.

For the benefit of us mere mortals, please expand on this.

 

[kingdok]

I'll go with Stastny. 1.27 PPG - 6th of all time.

 

[nabby12]

I'll go with Stastny. 1.27 PPG - 6th of all time.

This.

Stastny was the second best player during the 1980s after Gretzky of course. He was also one of the most naturally talented players ever to grace a sheet of ice.

 

[double5son10]

Well if it's whose career is better then it's Chara, because of being the captain of a Cup-winning team. But I think Stastny was the better player. Just a tremendous all-around game, great scorer and playmaker, and good clutch player who drove mediocre teams into the Conference final twice. Being second to Gretzky in scoring during the 80s is really impressive, considering what a scorers' decade it was.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

This.

Stastny was the second best player during the 1980s after Gretzky of course. He was also one of the most naturally talented players ever to grace a sheet of ice.

Bourque, Coffey, and Bossy would certainly have something to say about that. And don't forget about Messier and Kurri. Trottier and Potvin if you don't just conisder them "70s players." Lemieux in the late 80s. Then you have Fetisov and Makarov who are hard to judge... no I don't see any case there.

2nd in regular season points in the 1980s due to his prime perfectly lining up with the 1980s. 2nd best player of the 80s? Not even close.

Really hard to compare Stastny to Chara though.

One thing I can say to the OP - I think Hossa has established himself as decisively better than the Gaborik, Bondra, Palffy, Demitra crew. Palffy probably wins for absolute peak, but he just didn't hold it together for all that long

 

[BenchBrawl]

Bourque, Coffey, and Bossy would certainly have something to say about that. And don't forget about Messier and Kurri. Trottier and Potvin if you don't just conisder them "70s players." Lemieux in the late 80s. Then you have Fetisov and Makarov who are hard to judge... no I don't see any case there.

Agreed

2nd in regular season points in the 1980s due to his prime perfectly lining up with the 1980s. 2nd best player of the 80s? Not even close.

Agreed

Really hard to compare Stastny to Chara though.

I think Chara had more impact during his career , I have to give him the advantage.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Chara was never considered the best at what he did and neither was Stastny.

Stastny's best scoring finishes were 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6, so while he wasn't blowing the door off of the high-scoring times of the 80s, he still amassed 1,048 points in 737 games and really brought it in the playoffs for what was otherwise a pretty dismal Nordiques squad.

Chara has a Norris and a Cup, but I don't think that anything he's done warrants putting him above Stastny.

 

[tony d]

Close but Statsny.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Chara was never considered the best at what he did

He was not definitively the best, but he has been in the conversation from around 2008 to present.

Here's an HF poll from only a year ago that had him #1 in the league by a decent margin: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1447445

Everyone's going to have their favorite between him, Keith, Weber, and some other flavor of the month. But I'd say Chara has as much of an argument as anyone during the post-Lidstrom period.

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

I'm usually a guy who goes for the oldies, but as good as Stastny was Chara's size and skill bring a dimension to his game unseen previously. I'd say Chara is in the argument for 'if you were to start a team from scratch today, who would you take for your starting lineup?' Stastny most likely would not have made that team in the 80's.

 

[Big Phil]

Stastny was elite offensively at a rare level for a decade. That's hard to top. Chara has been that good as a defenseman for a decade too. Hmmm. I don't know, who do you start your franchise with? That's tough. Stastny gives you more immediate results but if you build around Chara he might be better in the long run.

 

[crobro]

Stastny
Chara
Petr nedhead
Bondra
Gaborik
Lubomir vaic

 

[alko]

I would say also Peter Stastny. Dont forget, what he did also here, in Czechoslovakia league. And at that time, it was "THE LEAGUE". Maybe 2. best in the world, after NHL.
Stastny debuted in NHL 24 years old.

Bourque, Coffey, and Bossy were here mentioned in regard to his 80s. Hm, good point. But look for the teams, where did they play. Especially Coffey and Bossy.

 

[Theokritos]

I would say also Peter Stastny. Dont forget, what he did also here, in Czechoslovakia league. And at that time, it was "THE LEAGUE". Maybe 2. best in the world, after NHL.

Over the Soviet League? I don't think so. The WHA also has to be in the debate.

 

[VMBM]

I would say also Peter Stastny. Dont forget, what he did also here, in Czechoslovakia league. And at that time, it was "THE LEAGUE". Maybe 2. best in the world, after NHL.
Stastny debuted in NHL 24 years old.

Oh c'mon, no way was it ever better than the Soviet league, although the talent was more equally spread.

Stastny did not seem to do anything overly special in the Czechoslovak league; he was a top 10 scorer four times (at his best, 4th in the 1978-79 season), which is good, but hardly unique.

 

[Rexor]

I never rated Chára that highly because he's basically a small ice specialist. I doubt we would have heard much of him had the Iron Curtain not crumbled. Not that great a hockey talent in my opinon, only suiting the NHL style of hockey tremendously. That's not to take anything away from his NHL accomplishments of course, I just have a hard time placing him among the all-time greats (or even the Slovak all-time greats).

 

[VanIslander]

 

[JustOneB4IDie]

It's still Peter Stastny.

 

[Plural]

This.

Stastny was the second best player during the 1980s after Gretzky of course. He was also one of the most naturally talented players ever to grace a sheet of ice.

I don't think he was 2nd best. He just was 2nd most productive.

Still, the answer to this is Stastny.

 

[Laphroaig]

1.Peter Statsny
2.Zdeno Chara
3.Marian Hossa
4.Zigmund Palffy
5.Peter Bondra
6.Pavol Demitra
7.Lubomir Visnovsky
8.Marian Gaborik
9.Anton statsny
10.Robert Svehla
11.Miroslav Satan
12.Jozef Stumpel

 

[begbeee]

Slovak players are quite easy to judge:
Palffy - the best natural talent
Bondra - the best sniper
Visnovsky - the best offensive defensman
Chara - the best career so far
Hossa - the most complete forward with the best career among forwards
Satan - the most internationally decorated Slovak
Stastny - well, he is the piece which doesn't fit anywhere...

OP related, I'm probably the minority, but I give the nod to Chara, Stastny was "just" very good, Chara translates his talent better into the results/awards.
I mean, all that Stastny has are points in inflated 80s. No trophy (even his Calder is meh, due to the age), no real success, not even a post-season all-star. In the contrast , Chara plays in a weak era for D's, is not really a playoff God, but still earns SC as a captain, numerous All-star teams, Norris and top-3 finish almost any year since 2004.

 

[kmad]

No trophy (even his Calder is meh, due to the age), no real success, not even a post-season all-star.

As a center in the 80s he had some pretty stiff competition for trophies and post-season all-stars. Probably the toughest era of competition for any all-star position in the history of the game. I wouldn't hold that bit against him.