Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
I do think Mike Bossy benefits from being injured. He only had a peak and never had that gradual decline that changes how people remember him. He was great but using era adjusted numbers he has lots of company. Without debate a top 10 goal scorer ever.
Not to be a homer but Iggy era adjusted peak match Bossy's peak.
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Really it's doubtful he would have had anywhere near the decline in goals Gretzky did as unlike Wayne (had a below average shot) he had an all time elite release and shot. I believe personally a reason Gretzky's goals scoring prowess really dropped off in the back half of his career is because goaltenders got a lot better in the late 80's going forward. I'm not taking anything away from him but if you look at a lot of his goals in his early years a lot of them were pretty laughable by todays standards and I subscribe to the theory below that shows the increase in goaltending save percentage in line with his decrease in goal scoring prowess. It must be noted that Mario Lemieux or Brett Hull were largely unaffected by the increase in goaltending quality and I believe Bossy would have still scored plenty of goals because of his quick release and shot which was something Gretzky didn't have.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/...terfly-effect/