Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
This notion that Sakic played on stacked teams his whole career has got to die. His first 3-4 seasons in the NHL, the Nordiques were brutal - the worst team in the NHL. And Sakic was still winning the Calder and putting up 100 point seasons. His last 3-4 seasons in the league, the Avalanche were terrible. And Sakic remained among NHL scoring leaders, still played an elite two-way game.
Sakic spent almost half of his career playing on lousy, lousy teams. And he was still an elite player. So we don't have to pose the question What would Sakic have played like on a team as bad as the Flames? We already know the answer - he shone.
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I've been meaning to reply to this post, but haven't had the time to go back into the numbers again.
First off, Joe Sakic did not win the Calder trophy, it went to Brian Leetch. In fact, Joe Sakic didn't even make the all-rookie team, whereas Jarome Iginla did.
Anyway, to answer your claim that Sakic's teams in his first years in the League should be comparable (if not worse) than Iginla's teams, here are the stats for each player's top five teammates, during their first five seasons in the NHL:
Season One- Iginla: G: 108 A: 132 P: 240
- Sakic: G: 125 A: 180 P: 305
Season Two- Iginla: G: 108 A: 147 P: 255
- Sakic: G: 77 A: 130 P: 207
Season Three- Iginla: G: 83 A: 152 P: 235
- Sakic: G: 82 A: 131 P: 213
Season Four- Iginla: G: 87 A: 166 P: 253
- Sakic: G: 130 A: 140 P: 270
Season Five- Iginla: G: 77 A: 140 P: 217
- Sakic: G: 157 A: 262 P: 419
Totals- Iginla: G: 463 A: 737 P: 1200
- Sakic: G: 571 A: 843 P: 1414
Averages- Iginla: G: 93 A: 147 P: 240
- Sakic: G: 114 A: 169 P: 283
Further to those numbers, here's a look at the actual names of the top teammates each player had during those seasons (* marks Hall of Fame player):
Season One- Iginla
- Theoren Fleury
- Dave Gagner
- German Titov
- Jonas Hoglund
- Corey Millen
- Sakic
- Peter Stastny *
- Walt Poddubny
- Michel Goulet *
- Jeff Brown
- Iiro Jarvi
Season Two- Iginla
- Theoren Fleury
- Cory Stillman
- Marty McInnis
- Andrew Cassels
- German Titov
- Sakic
- Peter Stastny *
- Michel Goulet *
- Michel Petit
- Guy Lafleur *
- Marc Fortier
Season Three- Iginla
- Cory Stillman
- Phil Housley
- Valeri Bure
- Andrew Cassels
- Derek Morris
- Sakic
- Mats Sundin *
- Tony Hrkac
- Stephane Morin
- Tony McKegney
- Mike Hough
Season Four- Iginla
- Valeri Bure
- Phil Housley
- Marc Savard
- Derek Morris
- Andrei Nazarov
- Sakic
- Mats Sundin *
- Owen Nolan
- Greg Paslawski
- Mike Hough
- Mikhail Tatarinov
Season Five- Iginla
- Marc Savard
- Valeri Bure
- Dave Lowry
- Phil Housley
- Derek Morris
- Sakic
- Mats Sundin *
- Steve Duchesne
- Mike Ricci
- Owen Nolan
- Andrei Kovalenko
Also, just for kicks, here's the top five teammates and starting goalie each player had during their best individual seasons:
Iginla (2001-02: Rocket Richard, Art Ross, Lester Pearson)- Craig Conroy
- Dean McAmmond
- Derek Morris
- Marc Savard
- Toni Lydman
- Roman Turek
Sakic (2000-01: Lady Byng, Lester Pearson, Hart)- Peter Forsberg
- Milan Hejduk
- Alex Tanguay
- Chris Drury
- Ray Bourque
- Patrick Roy