THN Player Poll: Jagr is MVP and it's not even close...

[netwolf]

This poll isn't on the THN website yet, but in the April 25th issue, the player poll was about the MVP. One player from each team was asked and they were not allowed to vote for a player from their own team.

Jaromir Jagr got 23 votes.
Miikka Kiprusoff and Henrik Lundqvist got two votes each.
Joe Thornton, Peter Forsberg, and Daniel Alfredsson got 1 vote each.

The two players quoted were Henrik Zetterberg and Rick DiPietro, both of whom were among the 76.7% that voted for Jagr.

ESPN's hockey people also cast their votes. Barry Melrose, John Buccigross, and EJ Hradek all went with Jagr. Hradek had a column stating the case for Jagr. Someone named Paul Grant stated the case for Thornton.

[relantel]

This poll isn't on the THN website yet, but in the April 25th issue, the player poll was about the MVP. One player from each team was asked and they were not allowed to vote for a player from their own team.

Jaromir Jagr got 23 votes.
Miikka Kiprusoff and Henrik Lundqvist got two votes each.
Joe Thornton, Peter Forsberg, and Daniel Alfredsson got 1 vote each.

The two players quoted were Henrik Zetterberg and Rick DiPietro, both of whom were among the 76.7% that voted for Jagr.

ESPN's hockey people also cast their votes. Barry Melrose, John Buccigross, and EJ Hradek all went with Jagr. Hradek had a column stating the case for Jagr. Someone named Paul Grant stated the case for Thornton.

That's all well and good, but THN does not poll the full voting pool of the Pearson award...

[Vanbiesbrouck]

I think the point is that with that wide of a range, it's clear who the players like. It's not as if there are 23 players in the league that voted for Jags and the rest are going to pick someone else. Even if there are other players picked, the others are such a crap shoot that they'll just be taking votes away from eachother in the minority. Jagr was back to his dominating self.

[netwolf]

Some people can't let go of the past I guess. Jagr was back to his dominating self and people that don't like him don't want to recognize that.

Jagr may or may not win the Hart or Pearson. My post was aimed at proving he's got a better shot at them than the haters care to admit.

All that aside, I was surprised to se Thornton only get one vote. I would go with Jagr, but I would have thought it would be a lot closer of a race.

[Jim]

I vote Thornton. When he got to SJ he turned the team around, and got Cheechoo the Rocket. He meant more to the Sharks than Jagr meant to the Rangers.

[pfim]

I vote Thornton. When he got to SJ he turned the team around, and got Cheechoo the Rocket. He meant more to the Sharks than Jagr meant to the Rangers.

I don't know about that, if the Rangers didn't have Jagr to start the season just like SJ didn't have Thornton, the Rangers would have been just as bad as the Sharks were.

[Jim]

I vote Thornton. When he got to SJ he turned the team around, and got Cheechoo the Rocket. He meant more to the Sharks than Jagr meant to the Rangers.

I don't know about that, if the Rangers didn't have Jagr to start the season just like SJ didn't have Thornton, the Rangers would have been just as bad as the Sharks were.

Unfortunately that is just speculation. A topic for discussion, but speculation none the less. Thornton DID change SJ.

[pfim]

I vote Thornton. When he got to SJ he turned the team around, and got Cheechoo the Rocket. He meant more to the Sharks than Jagr meant to the Rangers.

I don't know about that, if the Rangers didn't have Jagr to start the season just like SJ didn't have Thornton, the Rangers would have been just as bad as the Sharks were.

Unfortunately that is just speculation. A topic for discussion, but speculation none the less. Thornton DID change SJ.

So Thornton is the MVP because he had the opportunity to turn a team around that Jagr did not have? That would also ignore the fact that the Bruins were awful when Thornton was there as captain.

[relantel]

So Thornton is the MVP because he had the opportunity to turn a team around that Jagr did not have? That would also ignore the fact that the Bruins were awful when Thornton was there as captain.

Using that standard, then neither should Jagr based on his 03-04 perfomance with the Rags. The Rags pickup of Straka seemed to have some sort of calming influence on Jagr, maybe it was an old comfort zone, I don't know. But Jagr of 05-06 was more like Jagr of 1998-1999 than the Jagr of 2002-2004. (What Irony that ESPN Classic aired the other night the 4-18-99 Pens @ Rangers game where Jagr scored in OT to end Gretzky's career and the Rags season...)

It does seem pretty clear that it's a two horse race, Thornton and Jagr. It could very well turn out to be a year where one might win the Hart, and the other the Pearson. It's happened to Jagr (and Lemieux) before...

[pfim]

Using that standard, then neither should Jagr based on his 03-04 perfomance with the Rags.

Well, we're talking about the 05-06 season. I thought the Thornton trade was awful for the Bruins, but there's a reason why they traded him.

[Jim]

I vote Thornton. When he got to SJ he turned the team around, and got Cheechoo the Rocket. He meant more to the Sharks than Jagr meant to the Rangers.

I don't know about that, if the Rangers didn't have Jagr to start the season just like SJ didn't have Thornton, the Rangers would have been just as bad as the Sharks were.

Unfortunately that is just speculation. A topic for discussion, but speculation none the less. Thornton DID change SJ.

So Thornton is the MVP because he had the opportunity to turn a team around that Jagr did not have? That would also ignore the fact that the Bruins were awful when Thornton was there as captain.

I did say it was a topic for discussion... I just pointed out that Thornton DID do what Jagr might have done...