With that logic let's also throw in Ullmark when he won a Vezina. He posted .938 which was better than price and Lundqvist so he too is a comparable?
I don't see a comparable I'm sorry, and not sure how that's being disingenuous. One guy won a Vezina, the other won a Vezina, Jennings, hart & Lindsay. Using the low scoring argument is doing a disservice to Price because I honestly think he still wins all those awards regardless. There was nobody close to as valuable as he was so he was still winning the Hart. Vezina and Jennings obviously too. So maybe the Ted Lindsay goes to a forward instead? Again it's possible but I doubt it with how dominant price was that year.
It goes beyond stats especially since they're both 930%+. Price was pure dominance that year. He was THE team and single handedly won them games all year long. Habs were embarassing, and without price they collapsed the following year. Price was more valuable to Habs than Hank was to the Rags.
If you want to remind yourself how dominant Price was that season, Game 6 sens and Habs full game is on YouTube. Closeout game and he puts up a 43 save shutout to win 2-0 (EN goal at the very end). Puts up a clinic in the final 5 minutes when Ottawa was applying all sorts of pressure. Habs did nothing yet they still win because of Price.
I bring this game up because He had games like this all year long. All Habs had to do was score 1-2 goals and then Price does the rest lol rinse and repeat
What you say about Price can be true, while
@Voight also speaks the truth on the perfect external forces that led to him winning, in combination with his terrific play.
Price had an awesome year, but we’ve seen similar stories play out each time the forward crop has no real contenders. A terrific season from a goaltender (or defenseman) gets extra play when the forwards generally strike out.
Over the past 25 years, a non-forward has won the Hart just 3 times, and in every case, there’s other contributing factors, that are almost all the same.
1999-2000: No one scored 100. Jagr missed 19 games and still almost won the award. Pronger wins.
2001-2002: Theodore wins the Hart. Again, no one hits 100. Two 90+ point scorers and two additional 80+ scorers. Iginla manages to tie in votes, but loses on the first place tie-breaker. He’s there on the strength of his 52 goals and winning the scoring race.
2014-2015: Little sizzle when it came to forwards. Sure, there was some vague interest because of a scoring race won on the final day, but no one cracked even 90 points. There were only five 80 point scorers. Only three players topped 38 goals. Ovechkin is runner up solely because he scored 53 goals, a beacon in a year of otherwise unimpressive numbers all around.
2003-2004 explained. This is the one season during this time period that there was no 100 point scorer and a forward still won the Hart. It is easily explained because there was a compelling story with who won it. St. Louis led the Lightning to the best record in the Eastern Conference and was electric during the second half, putting up 26 goals and 62 points in his last 44 games while leading the Lightning to a 30-7-2-5 record the rest of the way.
We all know that Hart is a forward centric award. In recent history, it only goes to a non-forward if two things happen simultaneously: the forward crop has nothing compelling going on and a goalie/defenseman puts up an elite season, making it easy to cast votes for.
