Evgeni Malkin vs Joe Sakic

[nowhereman]

When we talk about peak, do we consider that Sakic played on a stacked team of HHOFers in an era where the salary cap didn't exist? Malkin's best season was in a year when Crosby missed almost the entire year and his peak playoff performance was on a team where the third and fourth leading scorers were Ruslan Fedetenko and a 38 year old Bill Guerin.

As a born and bred British Columbian, Sakic is a legend and hometown hero,so he holds a special place in my heart. But I have never seen Sakic play as well as Malkin did in that 2009 run. I think Malkin was the better player but Sakic had better luck with health.

 

[centipede2233]

When we talk about peak, do we consider that Sakic played on a stacked team of HHOFers in an era where the salary cap didn't exist? Malkin's best season was in a year when Crosby missed almost the entire year and his peak playoff performance was on a team where the third and fourth leading scorers were Ruslan Fedetenko and a 38 year old Bill Guerin.

As a born and bred British Columbian, Sakic is a legend and hometown hero,so he holds a special place in my heart. But I have never seen Sakic play as well as Malkin did in that 2009 run. I think Malkin was the better player but Sakic had better luck with health.

I agree. Malkin had crosby(sometimes not even cause of Crosby concussions) and not much else. And found a way to win 3 cups in a cap era. That’s just more impressive than Sakic winning 2 cups on pre cap era with a bunch of hall of famers. Not sakics fault, amazing player and fantastic longevity, but at their best, it’s Malkin, and I have no horse in the race.

 

[kp61c]

Shameful results. No wonder Toews made the top 100 over Malkin. There is just nothing you can do about canadian/american bias.

 

[Garthinater]

There are few players I hold in higher regard than Sakic.

Simply for being part of the greatest call in hockey.

Such a nice goal but I prefer the one he got earlier in the game with the wrist shot from the blue line.

 

[JasonRoseEh]

I have no idea how this is so lop sided, Malkin is the better player even if it's marginal. NHL fans continue to be the most blinded by rose tinted nostalgia glasses.

 

[nowhereman]

I have no idea how this is so lop sided, Malkin is the better player even if it's marginal. NHL fans continue to be the most blinded by rose tinted nostalgia glasses.

It's easy to get drunk off the sweet nectar of nostalgia. You see it so often on this site.

 

[DickSmehlik]

There's actually no nostalgia involved.

There's nothing wrong with going with the guy that has 541 more points than the other guy involved in the poll (if that isn't enough, read the 4 previous pages for other reasons).

At the rate Malkin misses games, it will be 2032 before he catches Sakic.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

I agree. Malkin had crosby(sometimes not even cause of Crosby concussions) and not much else. And found a way to win 3 cups in a cap era. That’s just more impressive than Sakic winning 2 cups on pre cap era with a bunch of hall of famers. Not sakics fault, amazing player and fantastic longevity, but at their best, it’s Malkin, and I have no horse in the race.

Two Cups in a pre-cap era facing off against the likes of Detroit (Lidstrom-Yzerman-Fedorov-Shanahan-Chelios), Dallas (Modano-Hatcher-Hull-Belfour-Zubov) and New Jersey (Brodeur-Elias-Mogilny-Arnott-Niedermayer/Rafalski/Stevens) essentially every year (six seasons out of seven between 1996-2002, and eight series in that span). I'm not sure how many players/teams faced off against such opposition for such a long span of time. And even against that competition the Avalanche made it to the conference finals all of those seven seasons except for one.

Also forgetting to mention that Sakic played his first seven seasons on a low-talent team that was eventually relocated (with two playoff appearances and one divisional title during his tenure there), while Malkin was already part of a cup-contending roster within his second year in the NHL (and won a cup during that time).

Malkin absolutely deserves credit and praise, but I don't think we need to overly simplify things in order to make Sakic appear worse.

 

[NyQuil]

It's pretty close I think.

Anyone losing their shit over the results of this poll should re-examine their priorities.