I agree with you guys that elite players will find a way to be productive even with poor linemates.. but if you are inferring that they would hit the same numbers as they do with good linemates/teammates.. that just makes no sense.
Makes perfect sense to me. I have seen dozens of players hit near the same, if not better numbers while they had to be the teams go to guy with little help. You might have your icetime suddenly cut if you are sharing duties with a great second line, despite also having the benefit of those linemates on the powerplay.
There are as many accounts of Superstars scoring just as well or better without great help as their are of them losing a step. Some superstars can find Chemistry with anyone, others have a harder time finding that Chemistry.
Time for some cut and paste.
For Instance. Mike Bossy. In the year 1984-85, Trottier was recovering from a string of injuries which required surgery, and as a result, was relegated to lower line duties. Gillies at this point, was ready to retire and was no longer what he was. Sutter was moved to Bossy's line all year, along with Tonelli. Both Sutter and Tonelli had career years in which they never came close to matching ever again, while Bossy scored around the exact same clip he would have with Trottier/Gillies on his line. He never missed a beat without his superstar linemates and 2nd liners replacing them.
Adam Oates and Brett Hull had Magic Chemistry. Oates proved he was capable of carrying on that superstar level mega scoring with Fool's gold Joe Juneau and Dmitri Kvartalnov in Boston the year he left and then maintaining that excellence the next year with half a season of Neely, while Hull dropped off a bit with Janney and Shanahan.
I mentioned how Jari Kurri didn't miss a beat his first season without Gretzky.
Kurri's last year with Gretzky: 43 goals, 96 points in 80 games
Kurri's first year without Gretzky: 44 goals, 102 points in 76 games.
Yzerman for Example. Never mattered who he was playing with. They let him play his game and he would produce.
Jagr was much the same. Ron Francis left and was replaced by Straka and Kip Miller, and Jagr does not miss a beat. In fact, he had his best season ever(IMO) after Francis left.
Mark Recchi went from the Pens to the Flyers, and was stuck with completely different linemates(Rookie Lindros) yet did not miss a beat.
Mario Lemieux scored 199 points with Rob Brown and Bob Errey.
Hull and Mikita rarely played on the same line and played with lesser players on their team more often than not, yet both were constant scoring title threats.
Hawerchuk went from the Jets to the Sabres, where he was with better linemates like Turgeon, Mogilny, Andreychuk and later, LaFontaine, and his numbers did not suddenly skyrocket.
Marcel Dionne was scoring 122 points with the Dead wings and nobody on his wings, and 130-37 points with Much better superstars like Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer on his line in LA. If you want to argue that that 7-10% increase was due to better linemates instead of the changing philosophy of teams going to all out offense, I won't argue. But it was a marginal increase, and I have always advocated that linemates might make a 5-10 point difference, but that the superstars will score big no matter who you put them with.
A more recent example would be Joe Thornton, Alex Ovechkin and Sydney Crosby. All of whom put up their best years with less than super linemates, yet did not suddenly have a scoring spike when they received better linemates.
