Greatest 'Foreign' player ever who graced the NHL?

Guttersniped

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Dec 20, 2018
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KHL was his willing. If I remember correctly w/o KHL he would quit.

Even so, Jagr and Ovechkin’s missed production from lockouts cancel each other out.

Both could have potentially scored a lot in the lost 04-05 season and both had 48 GP seasons.

And just games lost from COVID isn’t enough to really matter much. They list a hypothetical-27 G for those.
 

Felidae

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Sep 30, 2016
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he spend 3 seasons in the khl and wasn't even a ppg player there, lol
Pretty sure he's joking.

Also "not even a PPG player"

he was top 10 in scoring in 2 of those 3 KHL seasons. The league wasn't that high scoring.
 

Ghost of Murph

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Dec 23, 2023
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Goalie and skater are such different things. Hasek obviously wins in the goalie category.

Skater it's really tough. Jagr and Ovi are two of my all-time favorite players. I give the nod to Ovi. He's going to end up the all-time leader in the most important stat category in hockey. He is still productive as he nears 40. Who knows what his final totals will be. Then there's the era adjustments, which make Ovi's numbers even more impressive. Throw in that Ovi will finish his career with over 3,500 hits. He was a wrecking ball in his prime. More of a complete player than Jagr.

Certainly just my opinion. I won't argue with anyone who says Jagr is the greatest. Watching him play was pure joy, and his life path has been legendary.
 

CokenoPepsi

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Oct 28, 2016
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Jaromir Jagr. It's crazy he put up 1,921 points and he could have gone well past 2,000pts if he didn't leave for the KHL for 3 seasons. If you figure he would put up at least 70pts in each of those 3 seasons he left the KHL for, likely more if he was on better teams, probably finish around 2,150-2,250pts or so.

After Jagr, it'd be hard not to say Ovechkin.

He wouldn't have made it had he stayed
 

Section 104

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Sep 12, 2021
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I probably go with Jagr. One thing I really remember was him playing in the KHL wearing the number “68” in honor of the Prague Spring of 1968. Then again my family went on vacation the day the Russians suppressed that and the car radio on 88o WCBS AM an all news station, they was they kept repeating over and over exclusively for our 5 hour drive.

And when I mentioned that to a friend, he noted that Tikhonov’s grandson was playing for the Phoenix Coyotes. Sometimes the world really does change.
 
May 2, 2005
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Consistency


Consistency and never missing playoffs
Well I put the playoff aspect more on team success, but even in that case I think Hasek's teams made the playoffs every year but one.

The consistency aspect I would say both players were two of the most consistent players of all time, with just how exceptional they were for their entire careers.
 

LuGBuG

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Mar 16, 2006
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Have you seen him play?
Both quite a bit actually but the word definitely is absolutely silly and bias and there is zero argument against that. There is no way you can “definitely” project him to be better. Use your noggin bud.
 

ESH

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Jun 19, 2011
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Imagine how many points Jagr would have if he didn't spend those 2 seasons in the Bolivian Hockey League.
I’m pretty sure Jagr has spoken about how taking a break from the NHL helped him extend his career. I don’t think he would’ve lasted as long as he did without the break he took
 

shello

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Mar 5, 2011
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Jaromir Jagr. It's crazy he put up 1,921 points and he could have gone well past 2,000pts if he didn't leave for the KHL for 3 seasons. If you figure he would put up at least 70pts in each of those 3 seasons he left the KHL for, likely more if he was on better teams, probably finish around 2,150-2,250pts or so.

After Jagr, it'd be hard not to say Ovechkin.

Pretty sure Jagr credits going to the KHL for his longest
 
May 2, 2005
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I think it's Hasek by a non-negligible margin.
The argument is there. I don't think other than Gretzky and Lemieux that you can find a longer stretch where a player dominated like Hasek did from 93 to 2001. That is 8 years with 6 Vezinas and 2 Harts. Even if you look at 96 where Jim Carey won the Vezinas with a .906 % , Hasek once again lead the league with a .920%. In that same time span other than his two Hart trophies, he was the runner up 1 time and a finalist twice for the MVP - including the one season which was his statistical greatest where he finishes with a .937%, .12 points higher than the next closest goalie.

To pile on although this might not be in consideration for this discussion, but finally in the first NHL attended Olympics Hasek backstops Czech to a gold medal.

So I have convinced myself that no other player other than Gretzky and Lemieux were as dominant in their prime than Hasek was.
 

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