Thornton is definitely on top followed by Iginla, but I think Elias and Alfredsson at their peaks were closer to Iginla than people are giving credit. Elias' career suffered from the lockout more than probably anyone in the NHL. (He caught hepatitis in Russia and nearly died) Plus has always been incredibly underrated for playing on the Devils (Being generally such a defensive oriented team and begrudged by the hockey world) When he was in his prime, he was one of the best forwards in the NHL. Same goes for Alfredsson, but Elias was paramount to a powerful Devils offense with Arnott and Sykora; compared to Alfredsson who while integral got a boost from playing with 2 of the best forwards in the game at his peak. So I would put Elias over Alfredsson, but I could reasonably see them being interchangeable.
All these guys deserve to be the HOF although I am not sure if Alfredsson and Elias with cut it. Its a shame they weren't born 10-15 years earlier when they would be surefire locks.
Alfredsson scored 103 points in 2005-2006, by far the highest scoring season since the mid 90s (6.17 goals per game). He was arguably only the 3rd best player on his line, which was definitely the NHL's best last season (some credit goes to him obviously, but you can't deny that playing with Heatley and Spezza is a huge boost). He was tied for 4th in league scoring (behind Thornton, Jagr and Ovechkin) with linemate Dany Heatley. Alfredsson was a 2nd team NHL All Star this season.
It could be argued that he was unarguably the best player on that line. But this is typical and an example of why he was considered one of the more underrated players in the league at that time.
The only one thats not "great" all around is Thornton. Elias is easily the best defensive forward of the group and still put up 96 pts. He is easily probably the most underrated forward in the last 2 decades.
Zetterberg is easily the most underrated forward of the last decade. Elias is a good pick for second place.
Zetterberg is easily the most underrated forward of the last decade. Elias is a good pick for second place.
Thornton is the correct answer to this poll.
I'm getting tired of Detroit fans saying Zetterberg/Datsyuk are underrated. They really aren't. Zetterberg won the Conn Smythe, Datsyuk is widely respected (absurdly so on hfboards), and nobody badmouths either of them. I don't understand how he could be underrated.
I would put Thornton on top but his best season came directly following the lockout and you have to take numbers that year with a grain of salt. Iggy putting up 52 goals and 96 points pre-lockout is more impressive, especially when you consider supporting casts.
Lol... Alfredsson was the main reason that line functioned the way it did.
Of all the players mentioned, at their peaks, Alfredsson is the best all-around player. An all-around player scoring 100 points is pretty ****ing amazing.
Thornton
Alfredsson
Iginla
Elias
take off your glasses, Iginla is quite easily over Alfredsson.
I'm getting tired of Detroit fans saying Zetterberg/Datsyuk are underrated. They really aren't. Zetterberg won the Conn Smythe, Datsyuk is widely respected (absurdly so on hfboards), and nobody badmouths either of them. I don't understand how he could be underrated.
Nobody gives Zetterberg credit as an elite center. He had an almost identical scoring pace (points per minute) to Henrik Sedin and only slightly behind Claude Giroux last year at even strength, while playing Selke-type defense. The guy is one of the absolute elite forwards in hockey and isn't even mentioned anymore in discussions about top forwards. He would have been ahead of both if you take away secondary assists. Some other players he was ahead of in ESP/60: Pavel Datsyuk, Jonathan Toews, Phil Kessel, Marian Gaborik, Joe Thornton, and just about everyone else in the league.
Datsyuk I think is underrated on HFboards becaue everyone goes on about how overrated he is. There are realistically only a handful of forwards on his level in the entire league. But it's the trend right now to hate on two-way play, which means players like Dats, Z, Toews, Sharp, Hossa and Elias will be tossed aside en masse in favor of players like Stamkos, D.Sedin, H.Sedin, Kessel, and Perry. Which isn't right IMHO.
Last edited by eva unit zero: 11-17-2012 at 05:28 PM.
It was just an argument to make Alfie look good, he failed miserably though. And this thread should be done, only thing really left to talk about is Elias or Alfie
96 points on the New Jersey Devils in the prime of the Dead Puck Era is a pretty friggin' high peak.
96 points (52 goals) in '01-'02 during the Dead Puck Era on the Flames, with literally a bunch of 3rd liners for line mates is even more impressive considering the Devils were a mini dynasty back then and were 1st in goals that season.
96 points (52 goals) in '01-'02 during the Dead Puck Era on the Flames, with literally a bunch of 3rd liners for line mates is even more impressive considering the Devils were a mini dynasty back then and were 1st in goals that season.
As a Canucks fan, there was no player I hated (and secretively loved) more than Jarome Iginla. He was everything you wanted in a player; a great scorer, a good playmaker, a solid fighter, and an amazing leader. He was one of the top five forwards I'd want to build my team around, from the last ten years (the others being Crosby, Sakic, Forsberg, and Malkin).
There's no way I'd rank him below Elias or Alfredsson.
I would put Thornton on top but his best season came directly following the lockout and you have to take numbers that year with a grain of salt. Iggy putting up 52 goals and 96 points pre-lockout is more impressive, especially when you consider supporting casts.
how about thornton's 3rd best season way back in 2002-03 with 36 goals, 65 assists, 101 points (still better then iginla's). people see the 125 point and say oh that was in a high scoring period. but just forget thornton was putting up great numbers even before the lockout happened. and still is putting up great numbers 77 points in 82 games is pretty good.
thornton's lowest point total in his career outside of his rookie and sophmore years (where thornton was a 4th line goon, and a 3rd line checker) was a 60 point campaign.
even if we go pre-lockout, thornton wins the best peak (which wasn't even his peak lol).
Something that always surprised me a bit was how Thornton was a bit of a sniper earlier in his career (37 and 38 goal seasons) and then turned into a assist machine.
I would put Thornton on top but his best season came directly following the lockout and you have to take numbers that year with a grain of salt. Iggy putting up 52 goals and 96 points pre-lockout is more impressive, especially when you consider supporting casts.
The whole "exclude the year after the lock-out" argument doesn't make any sense. It's not like Iginla didn't play that year. Nothing was stopping him from taking advantage of the rule changes.
96 points (52 goals) in '01-'02 during the Dead Puck Era on the Flames, with literally a bunch of 3rd liners for line mates is even more impressive considering the Devils were a mini dynasty back then and were 1st in goals that season.
With hindsight, it is funny, there's always a good reason to decrease Devils personal achievements :
Brodeur is supposed to be a product of a system but Stevens couldn't put a team on his back like Pronger did, also Niedermayer was mostly a 2nd pairing defenceman over there and offensively Elias had better linemates than the opposition to help him producing.
