Is Peter Forsberg underrated?

[DJJones]

Agree with most people, when healthy he was dominant and my favorite player growing up.

But injuries killed him, I have no issue with Sakic being ahead of him even if I'd take a healthy Forsberg over him in a playoff series.

 

[Midnight Judges]

And the key is how this list was headlined - it says “best players” not “greatest players”. I’m pretty sure all hardcore hockey fans make a distinction between those two terms.

I think people are often talking past each other in this regard. Most of the time when people say "best" they actually mean "greatest."

 

[archangel2]

Everyone can not be in the top 10. Forsberg was one of the best from his era. There are certain key stats that hurt him from the word go. 249 goals and 885 pts in 708 games. If he was healthy for his entire career? that is another story. He was a very good player, in the hall of fame and all that. But if he had stayed healthy? Legend.

Sakic vs Forsberg

Sakic

NHL Totals

1378

625

1016

1641

614

172

84

104

188

78

Forsberg

NHL Totals

708

249

636

885

690

151

64

107

171

163

 

[RandV]

I voted overrated but it's really hard to tell. A lot of Avs fans will insist when healthy he was the better player than Sakic, but it's hard to peg these guys when they only got maybe 10 seasons in and they don't stand out as an all time great like Bobby Orr. You only get to see him playing in his prime for a stacked multi-Cup winning team with some better playoff performances than his peer Joe Sakic, that creates an air of mystique around a player.

As a comparison I don't have access to THN ranking but I'd ask if/were Malkin lands on their list, and question how he'd be perceived if after some Cups and a Conn Smythe he had to hang them up after about 10 seasons.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Around here he walks on water.

 

[John Mandalorian]

He's infamously overrated on this site though not as much lately, not as sure about the general public. He'll end up underrated in the long run due to injuries, but he's not there yet.

This sounds highly scientific. What instrument are you using to measure this?

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

On the recent THN top 75 best players of all time list Peter Forsberg was ranked at place 48. Sakic was on place 33. Yet I now for a fact, through various experiments on here for example, that Avs’ fans almost unanimously think Forsberg was the better player. And the key is how this list was headlined - it says “best players” not “greatest players”. I’m pretty sure all hardcore hockey fans make a distinction between those two terms. Forsberg is top 5 in assists per game all time, he’s top 10 in ppg as well as playoffs points per game all time, this while playing in the dead puck era. That’s pretty insane. Has Forsberg become underrated?

Sakic was a far superior goal scorer.

As for your question. Quite the opposite. Forsberg is one of the most overrated players to ever play.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

On here he's overrated by a handful of fans. He had a couple of great years and a few great playoff stretches. There's a lot of what could have been. Still an obviously great player, but so was Lafontaine.