Kopitar. Spezza is better offensively, but not by a lot (1.02PPG v. .91 PPG). Kopitar is better defensively. He is four years younger. Not a huge difference, I know, but still a plus in his column. He is cheaper. Again, not a huge difference (only 200k cap hit), but another plus in his column.
And I can't think of Spezza without thinking of his ridiculous laugh.
__________________
You can take my wings, but I'm still gonna fly
I think Jason Spezza is the slightly better player right now, but I'll take Kopitar overall as I feel he has yet to hit his prime whereas Spezza is likely passing his soon.
I think Jason Spezza is the slightly better player right now, but I'll take Kopitar overall as I feel he has yet to hit his prime whereas Spezza is likely passing his soon.
Spezza is 29. Hes still got atleast 5 years in his prime.
I'm voting Kops here because he's a more complete player overall. Nonetheless, being several years younger in close polls tend to always gives an unfair advantage on HF. We kinda automatically expect that all those talented kids will only get better. Hype for the young guns, I guess.
In reality when you enter the league, It's tough to play at your best for a complete season but it's even harder to do it for years, let alone a supposed constant improvement.
__________________
We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Alexei Yashin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.
Of course, this is not set in stone, but I think that saying his prime will last for another half decade is more than a little optimistic. Especially considering Spezza had a 3 year stretch where he scored at 1.32, 1.30 and 1.21 points per game, following that with 3 seasons of less than a point per game before his recent resurgence scoring at 1.05 points per game.
I think Jason Spezza is the slightly better player right now, but I'll take Kopitar overall as I feel he has yet to hit his prime whereas Spezza is likely passing his soon.
Of course, this is not set in stone, but I think that saying his prime will last for another half decade is more than a little optimistic. Especially considering Spezza had a 3 year stretch where he scored at 1.32, 1.30 and 1.21 points per game, following that with 3 seasons of less than a point per game before his recent resurgence scoring at 1.05 points per game.
What are you talking about? Spezza had the best line in hockey when he was producing at the level of 1.3 and 1.2. He had two 100 point players and he himself was producing at 100 point seasons if his seasons weren't cut short.
Spezza remains near or over ppg the past 3 years with 3rd line or AHL linemates in Bobby Butler, Colin Greening, Ryan Shannon, Randy Robataille.
Last year he was still playing with Colin Greening and an average Michalek yet he bumped both their numbers up and his own passing the PPG mark.
Spezza with proper linemates can eclipse the 100 point mark he isn't close to passing his prime. If anything, Spezza is playing his best hockey ever.
Of course, this is not set in stone, but I think that saying his prime will last for another half decade is more than a little optimistic. Especially considering Spezza had a 3 year stretch where he scored at 1.32, 1.30 and 1.21 points per game, following that with 3 seasons of less than a point per game before his recent resurgence scoring at 1.05 points per game.
I'd assume elite forwards have a longer shelf life than other forwards. Especially when they don't play a power game.
Anyways Kopitar for me because he's less injury prone. Spezza's better by a bit though.
What are you talking about? Spezza had the best line in hockey when he was producing at the level of 1.3 and 1.2. He had two 100 point players and he himself was producing at 100 point seasons if his seasons weren't cut short.
Spezza remains near or over ppg the past 3 years with 3rd line or AHL linemates in Bobby Butler, Colin Greening, Ryan Shannon, Randy Robataille.
Last year he was still playing with Colin Greening and an average Michalek yet he bumped both their numbers up and his own passing the PPG mark.
Spezza with proper linemates can eclipse the 100 point mark he isn't close to passing his prime. If anything, Spezza is playing his best hockey ever.
This always comes up during Ottawa players v. LA players polls, but the teams play completely opposite systems. If guys like Kopitar played in Ottawa's system, they'd put up a ton more points. Kopitar is one of the most defensively responsible centers in the league with consistent top line matchups and defensive zone starts. Kopitar's advanced statistics, especially fenwick, annihilate most of Spezza's.
Of course, this is not set in stone, but I think that saying his prime will last for another half decade is more than a little optimistic. Especially considering Spezza had a 3 year stretch where he scored at 1.32, 1.30 and 1.21 points per game, following that with 3 seasons of less than a point per game before his recent resurgence scoring at 1.05 points per game.
tend to agree that a forwards prime generally won't last until 34, but at the same time, I definitely don't agree that a forwards prime is a function of his point production.
Also, at least the first graph studied a period of Seasons (83-2000) durring which a there was a steady drop in scoring league wide, from 7.8 GPG to 7 at the mid point, all the way down to 5.5 GPG by the end. So when that first group of players reached 29 years of age, league wide scoring had dropped almost a GPG, and by the time the last group studied reached 29, scoring had gone from about 6.8 all the way down to 5.5, a goal and a half less per game. Given that Assists per Goal throughout the period stayed relatively stagnant at around 1.6 to 1.7, and the players studied had a worst of about .385 pts/g to a best of .455, it seams as though the league wide scoring had a bigger effect than did their respective ages, or at very least added a substantial amount of noise to the data making the chart relatively useless when trying to gauge a players peak point production years.
