Datsyuk - Bergeron - Hossa vs Kariya - Kopitar - Guy Lafleur

[norrisnick]

No one is saying this so go put your strawman back on the farm, what was stated was that he would be picked 6th easily as a peak playoff performer by the majority of people here which is still the question you are dancing around.

I put the question in another thread maybe you might elarn something there.

Rank these players at their peak that you'd want in a 7 game playoff series

Just like the question asks rank these players at their peaks in a 7 game playoff series. Bergeron Datsyuk Hossa Kariya

forums.hfboards.com

Did you?

 

[Neutrinos]

Datsyuk = Kariya
Bergeron < Kopitar
Hossa <<< Lafleur

The second group easily.

You're looking at it wrong...

Datsyuk would be lining up opposite LaFleur, not Kariya

This is what an overhead view of the opening face off would look like:

Hossa - Bergeron - Datsyuk
=======O=======
Kariya - Kopitar - LaFleur

 

[Hockey Outsider]

It’s also worth noting, Kariya only had two substantial playoff runs in his career. The first, during his prime, he had 13 points in 11 games. The only other one was the run to the Finals in which his overall production was disappointing, but he did have the legendary “off the floor, on the board” moment.

When we say Kariya’s playoff record is lacking, we’re really putting a ton of weight on his playing mostly on non-playoff teams. And his failure to score a few more points while falling *checks notes* one point short of the team lead while making it to Game 7 of the Finals.

I agree that Kariya didn't get much of a chance in the playoffs (since he spent most of his prime on weak teams, lacking depth). I also agree that Kariya (and the 2nd line as a whole) is being underrated in this thread.

But I've always been critical of Kariya's performance in the 2003 playoffs. He wasn't quite at his peak anymore, but he still had a very strong regular season (2nd team all-star, 13th in scoring). He led the Ducks in scoring by 22 points in the regular season, but in the spring, he was (narrowly) outscored by Petr Sykora and a geriatric Adam Oates. He barely outscored Mike Leclerc (a scrappy utility winger with a career high of 44 points).

Kariya had a streak of 7 points in 17 games, which is ridiculously bad for a HOF player in his prime. 4 points in 7 games in the SC Finals isn't great (even against the suffocating Devils), but it's even worse when you consider that three of those were in one game (he had 1 point in the other 6 games).

I view 2003 as a missed opportunity for Kariya. Giguere was historic, but Kariya finally had a chance to carry his team on a deep playoff run. I know he had that memorable goal (which he scored in the finals after Stevens flattened him earlier in the game), but I found him completely underwhelming that spring. (I get that the opponents tried to shut him down because he was the Ducks' best skater, but you'd still expect more for someone who was being compared to Jagr, Selanne and Bure only a few years earlier).