Best Two-Way Seasons Since 1967 Expansion Polls Series Results

[DitchMarner]

This was the theme:

Vote for the best overall combination of offense and defense.

Note: These are not necessarily the best overall seasons since '67. If Gretzky has a 200+ point season where his contributions are 90-95% offensive and 5-10% defensive, his season can be better in terms of net impact than any seasons listed as options. However, the spirit of these polls is to vote for the best combination of offense and defense from forwards and to consider seasons where offensive and defensive contributions are both very high.


Here are your results:


#1. Sergei Fedorov 1994 (33.3%)
#2. Bobby Clarke 1975 (47.1%)
#3. Bobby Clarke 1976 (70.6%)
#4. Sergei Fedorov 1996 (beat Joe Sakic 2001 in a run-off)
#5. Joe Sakic 2001 (50%)
#6. Bryan Trottier 1979 (50%)
#7. Doug Gilmour 1993 (beat Pavel Datsyuk 2009 in a run-off)
#8. Pavel Datsyuk 2009 (beat Kopitar 2018 in a run-off)
#9. Anze Kopitar 2018 (27.3%)
#10. Pavel Datsyuk 2008 (54.5%)


Commentary: I think the results are pretty solid in terms of accuracy and realism. It's not just a bunch of Datsyuk and Fedorov seasons with some Matthews and Crosby and a couple of older seasons thrown in (as some might expect from a mainboards topic). There's good representation of different time periods (Clarke and Trottier for the 70s, Fedorov and Gilmour for the 90s, Sakic and Datsyuk for the 2000s). If anything, you can argue recent times are a little underrepresented, with only Kopitar 2018 making the winning list from the last decade and a half. Then again, I guess guys like Bergeron, Toews, Kopitar and Barkov don't quite have the offense of some of the winners, and guys like Matthews and Crosby don't have the defense of Clarke, Fedorov and Trottier. There's no season from the 1980s on the final list, but that decade isn't renowned for great two-way play, either.

Click to read more...

 

[Crosby2010]

Clarke in 1975 and 1976 are both wonderful, and they would be my picks. Clarke was on the ice for 53 goals in 1976. 30 of them were power play goals against. That leaves 23 either even strength or shorthanded against. I can't remember the exact stat, but I think it was 15 or 16 even strength goals he was on the ice for in 1976. And the stats are the same basically in 1975. He wins the Hart both years, and leads the NHL in assists both years. Finishes 2nd in points in 1976 and has a +83 which led the league. You can say "Well, Bernie Parent was his goalie............." but Parent played in only 11 games in 1976. That's why I think 1976 is more impressive. Fedorov in 1994 had 99 goals against him, only 28 were power play goals against. So that's a lot more even strength goals than Clarke was on for. 1996 Fedorov did better in that department, but didn't win the Hart and dropped a bit offensively. Still a great year, and he was on the 62-win Wings. The knock on Trottier in 1979 is that he wasn't killing penalties as much as Clarke or Fedorov. Trottier would in later years do it more, but to have a great two-way season you have to be doing that I think regularly.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

I take it this was only for forwards.

 

[buffalowing88]

I take it this was only for forwards.

Seeing how those were the only options, yes.

 

[DitchMarner]

I take it this was only for forwards.

Correct.

 

[bobholly39]

I love that you ran this poll series OP - as well as the offensive seasons poll. It's unfortunate there wasn't that much participation.

But - it's hard. You list ~10-20 seasons that people are at most only a little familiar with, it's hard to tell them apart.

That's why I always wanted this board to do an in-depth peak season ranking.

Regarding the results - I still say Fedorov 1994 gets overinflated at times. It definitely shouldn't be #1.