Draisaitl vs Sakic

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Idk about that.

Sakic won the hart in a landslide against prime Jagr (boosted by lemieux, but we're still talking about Jagr here). All but 9 1st place votes went to him.

Draisaitl won the hart trophy clearly in 2018-19 but it wasn't unanimous. He had 91 1st place votes to Mackinnon's 48 and Panarin's 24.



Furthermore, Sakic has the 2nd highest single season point total between the two, and he did that in a significantly lower scoring environment than Draisaitl has ever played in.

I will say Draisaitl has more seasons that come close to matching his best whether you think it's 2024-25, 2018-19 or another season.

While no other season from Sakic comes close to 2000-01. Partly due to injury as he has a similar pace the 2 years prior.

Peak Sakic and peak Draisaitl are roughly equivalent IMO.

But to date, prime Draisaitl has very clearly outperformed prime Sakic (age 22-29).

The only argument for Sakic is longevity, as he was better from age 19-22, and had an excellent career after 30. It's hard to give him credit for the latter in a poll like this though. If Draisaitl had been a playoff dud, you could maybe give Sakic credit for his cups, but you can't really blame Leon for not having a cup yet. And those Avs teams were simply way more stacked than Edmonton has ever been.

 

[Xspyrit]

Sakic had a long and fructuous career. He wasn't affected that much by various scoring eras, although he could have piled up more stats early on in the highest scoring years but he was still young I guess. I would say that Sakic has mostly been the most impressive during the DPE (28-34 y/o), as he was the 3rd best forward behind Jagr and Forsberg (Mario only 144 games)

High scoring environment (1988-89- to 1996-97)
655 GP - 307 G - 513 A - 820 Pts (1.25 PPG)

Low scoring environment DPE (1997-98 to 2003-04)
500 GP - 235 G - 347 A - 582 Pts (1.16 PPG)

Average scoring environment (2005-06 to 2008-09)
223 GP - 83 G - 156 A - 239 Pts (1.07 PPG)

That said, Draisaitl since the scoring went up a bit has been more impressive

Average scoring environment (2017-18 to 2024-25)
599 GP - 349 G - 470 A - 819 Pts (1.37 PPG)

Sure, Joe was 19-27 y/o hen he played during the high scoring years but Draisaitl has still scored significantly more goals and points in a more regular era. I find his stats and individual resume more impressive

 

[Canadiens Ghost]

Hard to choose. Both amazing players.

 

[And Bust It Is]

Both are great players. In the 90's, outside of Lemieux and healthy years Lindros, I am not sure there is any player I would want more then Joe Sakic.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Sakic was extremely clutch and has two cups with a CS mixed in.

9 playoff OT goals is crazy.

 

[heretik27]

It will be very interesting to watch as Draisatal goes forward but he is tracking very well to equal or even pass Burnaby Joe IMO.

He is 30 going into this season and just scored a 6th in Selke voting and is a Hart finalist and maybe has that first SC.

As good as Sakic's playoff resume is , is Draisatal really behind him there?

I think not.

Maybe I'm nitpicking here, but 6th place in Selke voting just doesn't seem to be a very accurate representation of Draisaitl's defensive acumen. Doesn't take away the rest of his accolades to date, but I wouldn't really include it as an example of his achievements when 29% of the voters didn't even vote for Barkov who won, and Draisaitl gained 100+ votes over players like Kopitar.

 

[MK9]

Sakic ainec

Better player, playing in a far better era, plus he looks like Earthworm Jim

Dick. I almost spit water on my pc monitor.

 

[tabness]

Dick. I almost spit water on my pc monitor.

 

[Joseppi]

I've been sitting here for a few minutes trying to build an argument for Sakic, but I really don't think I can. Burnaby Joe was one of my favourites in my youth, but I think Draisaitl has him beat almost everywhere other than dynamic shot selection. Sakic was a threat from anywhere on the ice because of his wrister, but I can't ignore the era difference. Draisaitl is a better passer without question, and his defensive game is ahead of Sakic at the same age. Add into that the playoff acumen and it's hard to build a case.

I'm pretty sure this goes to Draisaitl and kind of handily. Maybe I'm more of a Draisaitl fanboy than I thought...

 

[wetcoast]

Maybe I'm nitpicking here, but 6th place in Selke voting just doesn't seem to be a very accurate representation of Draisaitl's defensive acumen. Doesn't take away the rest of his accolades to date, but I wouldn't really include it as an example of his achievements when 29% of the voters didn't even vote for Barkov who won, and Draisaitl gained 100+ votes over players like Kopitar.

I'm just saying that Draisatal had a pretty good all around year this year in every way possible, the Selke voting patters and heck even comparing Hart voting patters across time and different seasons isn't the best way to compare players IMO.

Draisatal is having an elite all time 7 year run here over the regular season and playoffs that very few players have ever achieved and he is still going strong.

Will he ever have the "defensive " chops of Sakic, likely not but he isn't some score only guy either and is definitely tracking with some good health to have as a good a career, or greater, as Sakic and some other ahead of him right now.

If his career ended right now he'd be easily in the top 80-100 players of all time one would think at worst.

 

[authentic]

Sakic ainec

Better player, playing in a far better era, plus he looks like Earthworm Jim

At this point we have to give Draisaitl his due, he’s atleast on that level with Sakic even if I think he’s propped up by McDavid to a fairly significant degree. I don’t think there’s any AINEC here either way though.

 

[authentic]

Sakic has the single best single and the single best playoff.

True although Draisaitl’s scoring has been all-time great, on a level with Gretzky, Lemieux and his GOAT linemate.

 

[authentic]

I've been sitting here for a few minutes trying to build an argument for Sakic, but I really don't think I can. Burnaby Joe was one of my favourites in my youth, but I think Draisaitl has him beat almost everywhere other than dynamic shot selection. Sakic was a threat from anywhere on the ice because of his wrister, but I can't ignore the era difference. Draisaitl is a better passer without question, and his defensive game is ahead of Sakic at the same age. Add into that the playoff acumen and it's hard to build a case.

I'm pretty sure this goes to Draisaitl and kind of handily. Maybe I'm more of a Draisaitl fanboy than I thought...

Hmmm, not quite…

 

[Adam da bomb]

At this point we have to give Draisaitl his due, he’s atleast on that level with Sakic even if I think he’s propped up by McDavid to a fairly significant degree. I don’t think there’s any AINEC here either way though.

You are arguing against some really good points. Sakic does have the "single best single" and he does look like Earth worm Jim. I don't know how anyone can counter those points other than focusing on hockey.

 

[HFpapi]

Burnaby Joe gets so overrated on nostalgia. I think Draisaitl has put together multiple seasons more impressive than Sakic's best.

6x 100 point season
5x 40 goal seasons
2x 50 goal seasons
Hart
Conn Smythe
2 cups
Gold medal
Olympics MVP
Very high Selke finishes
625 career goals
1641 career points
First 100 point season was 1990 and last 100 point season was 2007 = decades as an elite talent

All of that and he's not even talked about in any crazy sort of way, top 25-30ish all-time best.

Ain't nothing overrated about Joe.

 

[Regal]

Some comments talking about nostalgia, but I think some are also forgetting how good Joe was in his prime. From ‘96 to ‘01 it was generally some combo of Lemieux, Jagr, Forsberg, Sakic, Lindros, Kariya, and Selanne as the best forwards in the world, just as it’s been some combo of McDavid, MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Kucherov, and Matthews from ‘19 to now.

Sakic’s best year was better than Draisaitl’s. ‘01 was roughly the equivalent to Draisaitl’s ‘20 season in terms of production relative to the league, and he was better defensively. And Sakic’s ‘96 season compares with any of Draisaitl’s other seasons. Sakic was roughly as good as Drai in ‘99 and ‘00 (3rd and 2nd in points per game), but missed time. But at the same time he had off years in ‘97 and ‘98. He also had top 5 scoring placements in ‘95, ‘02 and ‘04, though I don’t think he was quite as good those years.

Overall I think you have to give the the career to Sakic still due to the sheer size of it, but Draisaitl’s health and consistency over the past 7 years is hard to beat. I think Draisaitl will likely go down as the better player, though I don’t think there’s a huge gulf between them.

From 94-95 to 00-01, here’s the scoring leaders:

And the point per game leaders

And from 17-18 (Draisaitl’s first 100 point year) to 24-25, here’s the scoring leaders:

And the point per game leaders:

I don’t think there’s a dramatic difference between the two.

 

[CascadiaPuck]

Sure but scoring during that time period didn't really have a negative impact on Sakic right?

Playing in a league with Gretzky, Lemieux, etc. surely impacted his finishes in terms of scoring though.

 

[wetcoast]

Playing in a league with Gretzky, Lemieux, etc. surely impacted his finishes in terms of scoring though.

I haven't done a deep dive but Sakic was probably behind Mario and Wayne only a couple of seasons early on in his career when it didn't really matter much and not much at all in the overall scheme of things.

6 of the top 10 of Sakic's top 10 scoring finishes are post Gretzky for instance.

Mario last Big season was in 96-97 as well.

I think that they are pretty close to date and Draisaitl is still going really strong so it should be interesting to watch in the coming years.

At the end of the day Draisaitl is going to have more 120+ and 100+ point adjusted seasons and the number might just push him over Sakic.

But then again maybe health gets in the way too.

 

[BenchBrawl]

One thing about Sakic, he played in a bad era for his prototype. Small-ish player on the soft side, yet he excelled even defensively deep into the dead puck era.

The league was much better in the 1990s than it is today. The 2020s is a weak era. Even the 2010s were tougher than today.

But Draisaitl is having a hell of a career. Will follow this strange comparison as the seasons pass.

 

[MessierII]

Joe Sakic (bolded is what he's accomplished by Draisatl's age)

Stat finishes
Points: 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 10
PPG: 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8
Goals: 2, 5, 6, 6, 10
GPG: 3, 4, 7, 9

Award finishes (only top 10)
Hart: 1, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8
Selke: 2, 9, 10


Draisaitl
Stat finishes
Points: 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8
PPG: 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10
Goals: 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4
GPG: 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 5

Award finishes (only top 10)
Hart: 1, 1-3?, 7, 8, 9
Selke: 6

If you compare them from the start of their career to Draisatl's current age, it's no contest.

But Sakic adds so much to his resume from 30 onwards including virtually all his Selke finishes and his best season where he nearly won every award a forward could (came 2nd in goals and Selke voting).

I don't think Draisaitl has to do nearly as much as Sakic did in his 30s given he has the better individual accomplishments from 20-29, but a few more elite seasons would help.


What's clear right now is Draisaitl is the better offensive player with a clear edge in goalscoring. Sakic's 2000-01 season can compete with any of Draisatl's best and is arguably the top season between either of them. But Draisaitl has slightly more high end productive seasons

Both of them competed against linemates more talented than them (arguable in Forsberg's case) which likely affected their hart record, but obviously McDavid>Forsberg. Yet despite that Draisaitl has the additional hart finalist season.

I think by the time Draisatl's career ends it will be him, assuming he remains an elite player for a bit longer.

Why don’t Draisaitls art ross and rocket richard count?

 

[wetcoast]

One thing about Sakic, he played in a bad era for his prototype. Small-ish player on the soft side, yet he excelled even defensively deep into the dead puck era.

Sakic was 5'11 and 195 lbs kind of of average or even above average height and weight for a forward when he broke in.

Lots of guys his size excelled in the 90s.

Sure Draisaitl is bigger but not sure if this is an advantage or anything of significance

The league was much better in the 1990s than it is today. The 2020s is a weak era. Even the 2010s were tougher than today.

What's the argument for these decades being "much better" than the 2020S

But Draisaitl is having a hell of a career. Will follow this strange comparison as the seasons pass.

As we all will.

 

[weremarkar]

6x 100 point season
5x 40 goal seasons
2x 50 goal seasons
Hart
Conn Smythe
2 cups
Gold medal
Olympics MVP
Very high Selke finishes
625 career goals
1641 career points
First 100 point season was 1990 and last 100 point season was 2007 = decades as an elite talent

All of that and he's not even talked about in any crazy sort of way, top 25-30ish all-time best.

Ain't nothing overrated about Joe.

Not to mention he was soooo close to 17 consecutive PPG seasons, also could have 4x50 goal years but was a little unlucky. We'll see how Drai handles his 30's and and the rest

 

[weremarkar]

Sakic was 5'11 and 195 lbs kind of of average or even above average height and weight for a forward when he broke in.

Lots of guys his size excelled in the 90s.

Sure Draisaitl is bigger but not sure if this is an advantage or anything of significance


What's the argument for these decades being "much better" than the 2020S


As we all will.

Wasn't Joe considered undersized at the time like Gretzky which is iirc he slipped due to that

 

[wetcoast]

Wasn't Joe considered undersized at the time like Gretzky which is iirc he slipped due to that

Joe wasn't huge and went back for another year in junior but the size thing isn't really a thing for Burnaby Joe.

 

[NordiquesForeva]

Wasn't Joe considered undersized at the time like Gretzky which is iirc he slipped due to that

If you're referring to the draft, Sakic likely slipped because he was somewhat undersized, didn't have enough strength to play a pro game AND was a relatively weak skater in the WHL. Quebec took a a flyer on him because of his undeniable offensive skills and hockey IQ. He was a prolific scorer in Swift Current. At the time he was seen as either being a complete waste of a draft pick OR potentially being the best player in the draft.

When Sakic was cut from the 1991 Canada Cup team fairly early in camp, Keenan told him he didn't have the lower-body strength necessary to compete at the best-on-best level.

Sakic was motivitated to work very hard to improve his strength early in his career and it wasn't an issue for him after his first few seasons in the league. He had a great work ethic. He was strong on his feet, shifty and quick. He was never an elite skater like some of his contemporaries (Modano, Fedorov, Kariya). He wasn't a powerful skater like Jagr or Forsberg. I don't remember him getting hit all that hard during his career or being behind the play due to his skating. He made it all work.

As for the poll, I think Draisaitl is a little ahead at this point in their careers but Sakic's back-9 was very strong. I love Draisaitl's game. Sakic was the kind of player that you wouldn't notice for much of the game, but he would pop out of nowhere and put one past the goalie from long-range with his wrister, end the game 1+1, +2, and that was that. Draisaitl is a more obvious player on the ice simply due to the way he plays.