Great individual performances of the decade

The first decade of the new century was replete with historic individual performances, so winnowing down the best of the best wasn’t easy.

Washington defenseman Mike Green’s 31 goals and eight-game goal-scoring streak didn’t make the cut. Nor did Jarome Iginla’s 52-goal season in 2001-02, Peter Forsberg’s playoff heroics in 2003, Jaromir Jagr’s 54-goal, 123-point season for the New York Rangers in 2005-06, or a host of worthy challengers.

With that in mind, here are the top 10 individual one-season performances of the decade.

Alex Ovechkin’s 65 goals in 2007-08
As goals became more precious in the late ’90s and early ’00s, the 50-goal scorer became an endangered species and the 60-goal man disappeared altogether — until the arrival of Ovechkin in 2005-06. Ovechkin electrified crowds and rejuvenated the Washington Capitals in his first two seasons, but he became a household name in 2007-08 when he reached the 60-goal mark, the first player to do so since Pittsburgh teammates Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr in 1995-96. His 65 goals were 13 more than runner-up Ilya Kovalchuk.

Martin Brodeur’s historic 2006-07 season
What do you get when brilliance meets durability? How about Brodeur’s performance in 2006-07?
With defensive stalwarts Scott Niedermayer and Scott Stevens gone, Brodeur faced more and better scoring chances than ever in ’06-07 — but he didn’t seem to mind. He set NHL records with 4,697 minutes played and 48 victories in 78 appearances (one short of Grant Fuhr’s record), while posting a career-high 12 shutouts. The 48 victories (including 10 in shootouts, also a record) were one more than Bernie Parent’s previous mark and were the second of an NHL-record three consecutive 40-win seasons for Brodeur.

Joe Thornton’s 125-point season in 2005-06
Thornton, the No. 1 pick in the 1997 Entry Draft, was having an ordinary season for the Boston Bruins when they decided to send him to San Jose on Nov. 30, 2005. Talk about a change of scenery making a difference. Thornton caught fire in his new home, piling up points at a rate that turned him into the biggest single-season scorer of the decade — two points ahead of the Rangers’ Jaromir Jagr, whom he caught and passed in the final days of the season to win the scoring title. Thornton turned Jonathan Cheechoo into a 56-goal scorer, and his 96 assists were more than the point total of Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis, who led the NHL in scoring in 2003-04.

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