We pretty saw what Jagr, Crosby and McDavid could do in seasons when scoring was high and when scoring was low and, IMIO, conclude they were as effective in both levels.
What about Mario though? Did we truly see how a drop in scoring would have affected his peak numbers?
In 96/97, he plays his most complete season since 88/89 and wins the Art Ross in a clear but not dominating fashion. The PPG gap between him and his competition has taken a significant drop from 95/96 as the DPE really kicked in for good. It was a similar level of dominance to peak Crosby, peak Jagr and peak McDavid. His PP points took a huge drop; more so than the league drop in PPO (from 5 to 4) would explain.
How much relevance do we place on this? He was 31 years, battling injuries for years and was contemplating retiring.
At age 35, In 00/01 and dominates as much, perhaps more so than in 96/97 , and not just on the PP.
How much relevance do we place on this? He plays a ton with a peak Jagr.