This pretty much goes to show that you can't build around one player either though as well. Soon as Bure left, what happened? Reliance on one player has never been the best thing for a team. Ask Cleveland Cavaliers about that with Lebron James, or even Kobe Bryant with the Lakers after Shaq left.
I idolized Bure growing up. But, individually Ovechkin has accomplished much, much more than Bure.
The only thing he hasn't done is gone to the SCF.
Calder Trophy - 2006
Richard Trophy - 2008, 2009
Art Ross Trophy - 2008
Hart Trophy - 2008, 2009
Pearson - 2008, 2009
1st Team All-Star - 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
It's simply more than Bure accomplished.
well i can do one for bure
Calder trophy- 1992
Richard trophy- 1994, 2000, 2001
Art Ross- runner up to jagr
hart- 50 votes away from winning with jagr and pronger as comp
lester- runner up to pronger
all star team at right wing is far more prestigious than left wing
playoffs- bure took his team to the finals and would have won the conn smythe if they won game 7.
See, when you factor in competition and understand that guys like Jagr, Lemeiux and Gretzky make a difference, then you would understand why the other poster is saying Bure is up there with ovechkin.
Adam Oates and Peter Stastny cracked the top 5 on numerous occasions in thier career, why dont they have fancy hardware, I dont know, some guy named Gretzky played back then.
all star team at right wing is far more prestigious than left wing
in bure's time, RW was the more prestigious wing position. his career overlapped with hull, jagr, neely, mogilny, selanne, recchi, fleury... all guys who are at least in the discussion for HHOF.
but in most of bure's career, LW wasn't nearly as bad as it was in the years before it, when robitaille and stevens had the first two spots locked down before the season even began because there was no other elite LWs to push them. that was the time you could really say a second team all-star selection at LW is not that big of a deal, well, that and the 80s, when good but not great players like gerard gallant, john ogrodnick, and mats naslund made the second team.
'94 and after, you have shanahan, tkachuk, kariya, leclair, and, at the very end of bure's career, elias and markus naslund. these are elite players. as a group, not as strong as the RW of the time, but it wasn't like there was no competition.
in ovechkin's time, LW is by far the more prestigious wing position. the LW of his time include kovalchuk, zetterberg, heatley, and parise, whereas on RW you have iginla, alfredsson, and... who else? hossa, an aging st. louis, kovalev, gaborik... these aren't exactly the same calibre of stars that ovechkin is facing. in fact, they're actually a little below the second tier of LWs like nash, marleau, and vanek.
in bure's time, RW was the more prestigious wing position. his career overlapped with hull, jagr, neely, mogilny, selanne, recchi, fleury... all guys who are at least in the discussion for HHOF.
but in most of bure's career, LW wasn't nearly as bad as it was in the years before it, when robitaille and stevens had the first two spots locked down before the season even began because there was no other elite LWs to push them. that was the time you could really say a second team all-star selection at LW is not that big of a deal, well, that and the 80s, when good but not great players like gerard gallant, john ogrodnick, and mats naslund made the second team.
'94 and after, you have shanahan, tkachuk, kariya, leclair, and, at the very end of bure's career, elias and markus naslund. these are elite players. as a group, not as strong as the RW of the time, but it wasn't like there was no competition.
in ovechkin's time, LW is by far the more prestigious wing position. the LW of his time include kovalchuk, zetterberg, heatley, and parise, whereas on RW you have iginla, alfredsson, and... who else? hossa, an aging st. louis, kovalev, gaborik... these aren't exactly the same calibre of stars that ovechkin is facing. in fact, they're actually a little below the second tier of LWs like nash, marleau, and vanek.
zetterberg is a C, not LW. he was a LW before the lockout, but since then, he was almost always a C. when he was 2nd AS LW, he played C, and datsyuk usually played LW.
zetterberg is a C, not LW. he was a LW before the lockout, but since then, he was almost always a C. when he was 2nd AS LW, he played C, and datsyuk usually played LW.
Actually he played LW on Dats's line. Dats very rarely ever plays a wing position because he is better at the faceoff. They may switch positions later on, but at the faceoff that is more the exception than the rule.
Actually he played LW on Dats's line. Dats very rarely ever plays a wing position because he is better at the faceoff. They may switch positions later on, but at the faceoff that is more the exception than the rule.
