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Mario Lemieux's under-appreciated 2002-2003 season

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The way he played makes you convinced he was an actual genius in life, not just a physically gifted athlete with a high hockey IQ.
 
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JLaw1719 said:
Lemieux 's comeback after 3.5 seasons away from the game in 2000-2001 is commonly talked about as the unbelievable accomplishment that it was.
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It's actually massively overrated.

Lemieux was the second best player on his own line for a whopping half season, after three full years of rest. Then he fell apart in the playoffs, scoring zero goals and 3 points in his last six games despite playing ridiculously high minutes. People extrapolate that half season as proof that Lemieux could still dominate, but in reality he did the best he could and he was unable to handle playing hockey anymore.

Lemieux never led the NHL in anything after age 31.
 
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JLaw1719 said:
Just how impressive was the lesser talked about 2002-2003 campaign to you? He was two years older on a less talented (bad team) in a league with a little bit lower scoring than his comeback year and his point total compares very favorably in the first half versus his 2nd half comeback of 2000-2001.
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Would you say it's the greatest minus 25 season of all time?
 
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The Panther said:
He was really impressive at the Olympics in '02. I think he knew that was going to be his last 'meaningful' time in hockey, and he played like it. He was slower, but had a veteran's poise, and exuded leadership.

2002-03... yeah, I remember the unbelievable start. But by that season, it was a bit like Gretzky with the limp-wristed Rangers of '98/'99 -- it was a bad line-up of players, with a banged-up, elder-statesman superstar trying to get it done. Lemieux ended up with the 2nd-best PPG in the NHL -- he was only 0.05 PPG behind peak Forsberg, whose team scored 62 more goals than the Penguins.
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Team Canada had this demon named Hasek.

Lemieux was the only player I can remember who made the Dominator his bitch.

Mario scored 2 goals against him to tie it up 3-3.
 
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Passchendaele said:
I remember him slowing down at the end of the season because the Penguins were left with virtually no NHL talent on their roster.

Traded: Kovalev, Hrdina

Morozov missed most of the season due to injuries. The only top-six guy you had left after that was Straka.. then plugs like Kent Manderville, Shean Donovan, Ville Nieminen, Rico Fata, Steve McKenna, Michal Sivek, Dan LaCouture.. horrible.
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Yeah, that 2002-2003 team was terrible. And they used a ton of players that year. Most not so good.
 
That season is a bit underappreciated but it isn't forgotten or anything. Broken down Lemieux with crappy players to play with a lot of the time was still the biggest offensive force in hockey. Because he was huge and also the slowest player in the league at the time I thought he looked like an adult playing with kids and going at about 1/4 speed.
 
nah, 2000-01 was better

it's probably the best season ever considering the circumstances.

didnt play in forever

riddled with nagging injuries

clutch and grab


and yet he f***ing left everyone in the dust that year.

1.77 PPG, next closest was Jagr at 1.49.

lol he also lead in GPG and APG.

(also damn that 2000-01 Pens team was stacked)
 
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Vegito said:
Oh but he won the Richard so it was a GREAT season. Just like this year lol, guy he tied had 30 more points and a way better + but Ovechkin is the best!!
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my favorite stat is that ovechkin is a below PPG player since 2010.
 
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cvrle1 said:
Prime Jagr would be putting up those points in today's game, prime Lemieux would be close to 180-200.
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yah, a 42 year old jagr finished 18th ln scoring in 2016, can't imagine what a prime Jagr or Mario would do today.
 
Quid Pro Clowe said:
The whole team was in a rut until he came out of retirement. He and Hedberg were huge shots in the arm.

It's too bad Mario didn't stay relatively healthy throughout his career. He's probably the only player who would have ever challenged Gretz for his scoring records.
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To e fair, he didn't take great care of his body either. Smoked anywhere from a half pack to full pack of cigarettes a day, didn't eat very healthy, partied a lot.
 
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In 87-88, Lemieux outscored the 2nd best scorer in Pittsburgh (Dan ****ing Quinn) by 89 points. That must be an NHL record, right? (Edit : Gretzky did just a little better twice)

That's dominance!
 
PensandCaps said:
nah, 2000-01 was better

it's probably the best season ever considering the circumstances.

didnt play in forever

riddled with nagging injuries

clutch and grab


and yet he f***ing left everyone in the dust that year.

1.77 PPG, next closest was Jagr at 1.49.

lol he also lead in GPG and APG.

(also damn that 2000-01 Pens team was stacked)
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This is why it's so hard to like anything pens related.
 
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It's probably under appreciated or less talked about than 00/01 because he was -25 and 50% of his pts were on the PP. I personally don't have any problem with that because obviously +/- needs context and PP pts are still pts, I'm just saying that's probably why it's not talked about as much.

Prime Lemieux would drop 150+ today for sure.
 
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Lol at the kids getting wet talking about OV in a thread that has absolutely nothing to do with him. Not surprised who it is though lol
 
Domi a favor said:
In 87-88, Lemieux outscored the 2nd best scorer in Pittsburgh (Dan ****ing Quinn) by 89 points. That must be an NHL record, right? (Edit : Gretzky did just a little better twice)

That's dominance!
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107-89 ≠ "just a little better". It's a lot better. Point still stands that Lemieux was nuts.
 
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Midnight Judges said:
It's actually massively overrated.

Lemieux was the second best player on his own line for a whopping half season, after three full years of rest. Then he fell apart in the playoffs, scoring zero goals and 3 points in his last six games despite playing ridiculously high minutes. People extrapolate that half season as proof that Lemieux could still dominate, but in reality he did the best he could and he was unable to handle playing hockey anymore.

Lemieux never led the NHL in anything after age 31.
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I admire your dedication to the hatred of all things penguins related.
 
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