Jagr vs S. Stevens in their primes

[manisback121]

This is all subjective. But if you are old enough to be a diehard fan of the Devils before and after Scott Stevens (and I was in attendance at Game One in 1982 at the age of 15), then you can get a much better sense of the great many "intangibles" he brought to the franchise. He was one of the greatest Captains to ever play this or any sport. And we went from complete joke (a "Mickey Mouse team") to champions.

So to ask an old school Devils fan if they would trade that for more scoring, the answer is "no".

There are no graphs, metrics, or numerical arguments that would change that opinion.

In a complete vacuum, away from the seismic change in our team's fortunes, Jagr is a fine choice. He has epic numbers. And dominated the league offensively in his peak.

But I would not risk the Three Cups and total vindication for my fandom for any alternate reality.

Remember Merlin Malinowski lol.

 

[Scott04]

See, I came up with 312.635

I had that the first time. Gotta carry the 3 and you get the right answer at the end of the equation.

 

[Dylan9z9]

Maybe we should ask Eric Lindros, Paul Karyia, Vyacheslav Koslov and Ron Francis just to name a few....lol

 

[MartyOwns]

It wasn't only that. His nickname was 'Dad'. That should be enough to understand what he brought to the team as far as leadership was concerned.

And you're completely wrong that only Devils fans recognize this. I had a bunch of Leafs fans stop me while on vacation when they noticed my Devs hat just to tell me that 'Stevens was a beaut, eh... and LouLams too...'

He shows up on just about every teams' message board at some point, if defensemen are being discussed.

I saw a Habs fan post that outside of an angry Larry Robinson, absolutely no defenseman since has had the same on-ice presence that Stevens had - and I completely agree with that statement.

I usually agree with some things you say, but im not sure if serious. if youre saying that stevens was better than jagr- in their primes- based on the nickname ‘dad’, people stopping you because of your hat, ‘showing up’ in message boards and his anger…idk. I think the stevens voters continue to move further and further away from the ‘prime’ argument because it doesn’t suit them, and its getting a bit outlandish.

maybe this would help those who are having trouble understanding- if this poll was who would you rather have on your team, im pretty sure 90% of the board (myself included) would say stevens. I don’t think we’d have 3 cups with JJ over scotty. hell this team may not have even been in NJ at this point. but for the billionth time, that’s not the question.

 

[billingtons ghost]

I usually agree with some things you say, but im not sure if serious. if youre saying that stevens was better than jagr- in their primes- based on the nickname ‘dad’, people stopping you because of your hat, ‘showing up’ in message boards and his anger…idk. I think the stevens voters continue to move further and further away from the ‘prime’ argument because it doesn’t suit them, and its getting a bit outlandish.

maybe this would help those who are having trouble understanding- if this poll was who would you rather have on your team, im pretty sure 90% of the board (myself included) would say stevens. I don’t think we’d have 3 cups with JJ over scotty. hell this team may not have even been in NJ at this point. but for the billionth time, that’s not the question.

Yeah, I think this started when someone said 'greatest ever to wear the Devils sweater' - and I just said I would rather have Stevens on my team - that if identical teams were out there, and I got to choose one or the other - I would choose Scotty. That's my position, and that's all I'm trying to defend.

So - I think you are answering a different question...


So I think the whole disagreement is all in the definition of greatness. Stats, or the whole package.

 

[JerryGigantic]

I usually agree with some things you say, but im not sure if serious. if youre saying that stevens was better than jagr- in their primes- based on the nickname ‘dad’, people stopping you because of your hat, ‘showing up’ in message boards and his anger…idk. I think the stevens voters continue to move further and further away from the ‘prime’ argument because it doesn’t suit them, and its getting a bit outlandish.

maybe this would help those who are having trouble understanding- if this poll was who would you rather have on your team, im pretty sure 90% of the board (myself included) would say stevens. I don’t think we’d have 3 cups with JJ over scotty. hell this team may not have even been in NJ at this point. but for the billionth time, that’s not the question.

Pretty sure we are shy of a billion posts in this thread. But trying to approach this question among Devils fans and require them to remove the inherent bias of how much Stevens means to the franchise and the fans is nigh on impossible.

I simply cannot be made to choose Jagr in this scenario, despite all the barking and braying. Because Scott Stevens is my favorite player ever. The end.

 

[JimEIV]

Pretty sure we are shy of a billion posts in this thread. But trying to approach this question among Devils fans and require them to remove the inherent bias of how much Stevens means to the franchise and the fans is nigh on impossible.

I simply cannot be made to choose Jagr in this scenario, despite all the barking and braying. Because Scott Stevens is my favorite player ever. The end.

I seriously can't watch this without getting a lump in my throat...I was there that night and it was even more intense.

 

[JerryGigantic]

You made my eyes rain.

Will never forget that night.