Peak: Alfredsson vs Iginla vs St.louis

[ahmon]

really hard to choose.

St.louis best offensively,

Iginla brings a power/physical game that the other 2 can't,

Alfie is much better defensively than the other 2.


Iginla
st.louis/alfredsson too close to call.

[Fred Taylor]

Iginla.

[Lime]

In 01/02 Iginla went 52-44-96 on a team that was bottom 10 in scoring, and was a +27 on a team -19 overall. I don't think the best of MSL or Alfie even compares with this accomplishment.

[Prairie Habs]

Iginla
MSL




Alfy

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Originally Posted by Lime

In 01/02 Iginla went 52-44-96 on a team that was bottom 10 in scoring, and was a +27 on a team -19 overall. I don't think the best of MSL or Alfie even compares with this accomplishment.

Counterargument:

MSL and Alfredsson were both in the playoff race during their best seasons. The Flames were out of the playoffs with several weeks left in the season and started focusing on feeding Iginla, rather than winning games.

[I Hate Chris Butler]

Originally Posted by TheDevilMadeMe

Counterargument:

MSL and Alfredsson were both in the playoff race during their best seasons. The Flames were out of the playoffs with several weeks left in the season and started focusing on feeding Iginla, rather than winning games.

The strategy that entire year was "feed Iginla pucks" so I don't see what difference it makes?

Iginla has three other seasons, in the playoffs, that rival St. Louis' and Alfredsson's seasons.

Alfredsson's best seasons:

77 GP, 43 G, 60 A, 103 P, 1.33 PPG
70 GP, 40 G, 49 A, 89 P, 1.27 PPG
77 GP, 29 G, 58 A, 87 P, 1.12 PPG

Likewise, remove both Iginla and St. Louis Art Ross seasons and you have these:

St. Louis
82 GP, 43 G, 59 A, 102 P, 1.24 PPG
82 GP, 31 G, 68 A, 99 P, 1.20 PPG
82 GP, 29 G, 65 A, 94 P, 1.14 PPG

Iginla
82 GP, 50 G, 48 A, 98 P, 1.19 PPG
70 GP, 39, 55 A, 94 P, 1.34 PPG
82 GP, 35 G, 54 A, 89 P, 1.08 PPG

[Lime]

Originally Posted by TheDevilMadeMe

Counterargument:

MSL and Alfredsson were both in the playoff race during their best seasons. The Flames were out of the playoffs with several weeks left in the season and started focusing on feeding Iginla, rather than winning games.

Except that his best two months in terms of PPG were October and November. And I can't see Greg Gilbert putting a dent into his coaching resume just so Iggy could have a few more points.

[aemoreira1981]

Iggy and St. Louis, flip a coin. Then Alfredsson.

[Billy Mays Here]

St. Louis
Iginla
Alfredsson

[jbeck5]

Why alfredsson is in this, i don't know....

Iginla and st louis both had better peaks, as well as way worse dips(if you wanna call them that)

Alfredsson is known for being one of the most consistent players, whereas the other players have hardware.

This is a good topic when comparing careers, but not peaks.

[Go Habs Go]

I'll take Iginla, then St. Louis and finally Alfredsson.

[HavlatMach9]

Alfie was unreal and he's easily third here. How good would Iginla have been with a legit 1st center?

[sky04]

Originally Posted by HavlatMach9

Alfie was unreal and he's easily third here. How good would Iginla have been with a legit 1st center?

Probably a good 15-20 points/ 5-10 goals on top of his prime years.

[quoipourquoi]

Martin St. Louis came just three goals away from leading the league in Goals, Assists, Points, and Plus-Minus in 2003-04. And he was "gentlemanly" on top of it.

[NyQuil]

Originally Posted by jbeck5

Alfredsson is known for being one of the most consistent players, whereas the other players have hardware.

It's precisely his amazing consistency that has made him an elite player.

This poll pretty much ignores that aspect of his game.

I go Iginla, St. Louis, Alfie.

They're also 3 of my favourite players.

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Originally Posted by Lime

Except that his best two months in terms of PPG were October and November. And I can't see Greg Gilbert putting a dent into his coaching resume just so Iggy could have a few more points.

Recent post on the history board:

Originally Posted by Big Phil

This is why I look a little further than just the raw numbers. Look, he had a fine year and it isn't taken away from him. You won the scoring title in the National Hockey League against the field, take it to the bank. But he scored 33 points in the first 20 games. He was way ahead of the field. The Flames were 13-2-5. Then they won 11 of their next 40 and were out of playoff contention.

Iginla's quarterly point distribution looked like this:
First 20 games: 33 points
next 20: 14
next 20: 19
next 22: 30

He scored 63 of his points during quarters that didn't matter much. The Flames were out of reach by Game 60. Compare that to someone like Theodore who did the total opposite and carried the Habs on their hind legs for the last half of the season to catapult them to the playoffs and you get why he won the Hart.

Or what Thornton did, 92 points in his final 58 games - all with San Jose - in 2005-'06 to make them a 99 point team. Even the last quarter of the 2002 season for Iginla it seemed like the Flames were more interested in ensuring he won some awards rather than winning the games.

So again, looking at it closer, in their most decorated seasons, Thornton was the more dominant player for sure.