Is Peter Forsberg underrated?

[Felidae]

The issue with these "overlap" comparisons is that their peaks never overlapped.

At their very best, Jagr 98/99 to 99/00 (144 games) and Forsberg 02/03 to 03/04 (114 games), Jagr is still a clear tier above IMO based on how much of a gap they created between them and the field. I consider a tier to be a PPG or points that is 10% better.

Jagr's best full season (98/99) is more clearly a tier above Forsberg's best full (02/03).

Forsberg was not on Crosby/Jagr tier offensively and he had plenty of opportunities to show that he was before 02/03. For sure the gap with Jagr closes when 2-way play is considered. But it can arguably widen when quality of team and linemates are considered.

And it is very arguable that a "healthy" Forsberg simply does not exist. Like Lindros, he seemed destined to have an injury-filled career based on his playing style.

Sure, Forsberg had plenty of opportunity before those seasons. But it's pretty clear that 2002 and 2003 is the best version of Forsberg from an offensive standpoint. (Led the league in PPG, and the seperation against his competition was larger than in previous seasons


omitting 2002 for Forsberg is like omitting Joe Thornton and Henrik Sedins art ross seasons. It Paints a very incomplete picture, sometimes player peaks later.

I'm also not arguing that Forsberg is on Jagrs level offensively. Only that the timeframe that Ben White used is more accurate than the one from Bobholly.

 

[Ben White]

You say this like he wasn’t pretty close over a decade timeframe from the start of his career in the regular season and playoffs (also beginning in Jagr’s first actual prime season production wise). Heck, his career playoff totals are better than Crosby’s after the same amount of games, without considering any of their all around play. His goals per game were better than Crosby’s and dozens of other elite goal scorers as well. How this continually gets glossed over is beyond me.

Also taking absolute peaks, shortened seasons peaks, etc. Forsberg holds his own as well considering offense only, and while spending less time on ice than Crosby and Ovechkin.

The following I have posted in another thread. Ovechkin’s best shortened season stretch was actually slightly more dominant than Crosby’s, then there’s Forsberg over a sample of 70 games.

I’m not surprised nobody dares to answer this very accurate post. It’s amazing how people stubbornly continues to ignore Forsberg’s playoff resume as well as his actual peak production rate. Claiming Crosby was on another level and what not. Even putting Ovie in another stratosphere apparently. Ovie was good for longer, but Forsberg was better when at his best. Ovechkin is a better goal scorer and that’s it.