The #1, the Goat, Jason Visser. Drafted 8th OA to the Winnipeg Jets in the legendary S31 Class. With the likes of fellow top 75 players like Ludwig Koch Schroder, Joe Kurczewski. Jason Visser stands above the rest of that draft class and every player that played a game in the SHL. Out of 2000+ skaters and 300+ goalies that ever played in the SHL, Jason Visser is the best. At least on this list. Certainly as you can tell with the Voting Points we gave. Garbanzo and Visser were a very close race in being the #1. For that discussion, look forward to a follow up article. For this list however, Visser is the best.
The start of it all… Jason did not start off great. Visser first played in S32. playing less than 10 minutes per game, Visser only scored 8 points over those 50 games. S33 started to get better, but still not what makes him the goat. With now 16 minutes a night, Visser scored 11 goals, 13 assists for 24 points that season. S34 would be his last season of mediocrity for a while however. Scoring 12 goals, 19 assists for 31 points. Visser was about to leap in both minutes and points. Going from 16/17 minutes a night to 21 minutes a night.
S35 saw him take his game to the next level. His first PPG season of his career. Scoring 17 goals, 34 assists for 51 points. That is a great point total for that season, even though we are in the middle of the double shift era of the SHL*. His 51 points were good for 17th in the league in points. His first elite season of his career. Getting to a point per game was very difficult.
S36 however, now playing 28 minutes a night. Is where Visser had his first truly out of this world season. Scoring 27 goals and 43 assists for 70 points. Jason Visser had led all the way up to t-2nd in points for that season. With Randy Randleman leading the league in points that season with 74, and Visser and Lord Pretty Flacko with 70. For all the effort however, was only a 2nd All Star Team.
S37 would be another amazing season as well. His 2nd and only season being truly double shifting With 28.7 minutes per game, Visser had 24 goals, 36 assists for 60 points. Tied for 3rd in points that season. This was another amazing season by any standard. For those efforts, he won the Sarmad Khan for players MVP. Only still to get 2nd All Star. However, he was able to capture something that was eluding him. His first Challenge Cup with the Winnipeg Jets. He helped lead Winnipeg to defeating the Toronto North Stars in [/url=https://simulationhockey.com/games/shl/S37/Playoff/SHL-PLF-ProStanding.html]7 games[/url]. Finishing that playoffs with 23 points in 18 games. He was t-3rd in scoring for Winnipeg that postseason.
S38 saw both his minutes and points get pulled back, however for points only slightly. Now only playing 24 minutes a night. Visser scored 20 goals, 34 assists for 54 points.10th in the league in points. For that season, he got a 3rd All Star Team.
After 4 seasons of being a PPG, Visser went back below a point per game. In S39 with a still respectable 23 goals, 22 assists for 45 points. Fall all the way down to 30th in points that season. He was still a very capable goal scorer. With those 23 goals being 10th in the league in goals scored at that time. S40 would see Jason still back on the top of the league again. Bouncing back with a 24 goal, 35 assist for 59 point season. Tied for 4th most points alongside Geromino Otto and Kristian Eriksson. Visser
Cemented himself back into being a top 5 player in the SHL. However he was still needing one of those breakout seasons to prove he can be the most dominant player in the league. So far, he proved he can be one of the most dominant. He still needs to be that guy.
With him being at his peak powers TPE wise this season. Although not really because all TPE builds really capped out at 1600 TPE. Jason Vissers user, ToeDragon also set records. With 2285 TPE, he surpassed Jasper Clayton for getting the most TPE in a single player. So if anyone who could really breakout and stay there, it would be Visser.
S41 would be that season to do so. With only playing 23 minutes a night(as compared to his previous high of 70 points played in 28 minutes a game). Jason Visser scored 34 goals, 44 assists for 78 points. Tied for 10th all time in single season point record for STHS history. Tied for 2nd all time points in the Modern Day STHS History(S13-S52). Jason Visser did it only playing 23 minutes a night. In comparison Chris York had his 78 point season in S40 playing 25 minutes a night. And VLAD McZerhl had his 79 point season in S34. With 28.6 minutes a night. All great players, all on this list. However, with Visser doing it with the least amount of minutes played during the season, is incredible. In S41 the 2nd most point player was Joe Kurczewski scoring 66 points that season. So Visser had a 10+ point lead in 2nd place. For all those efforts Visser finally got a 1st All Star Team. Along with the most important wins. Being the McDonald & Karpotsov awards for most goals and points for the season. In addition he won the Ron Mexico and Sarmad Khan awards as well.
As if Karma was a thing. With Ying comes Yang. Going from 78 points, Jason Visser had his worst season since S35. S42 was out of the worse nightmare for Jason. Only scoring 13 goals, 26 assists for 39 points. This was one of the worst seasons in Jason Visser’s career. After 6 seasons of 20+ goals, that streak came to an end. It would be for long though.
S43 he had another all time SHL season. Rebounding into this historic season. Visser scored 29 goals, 45 assists for 74 points. In the STHS modern era, it was tied for 5th best point total during that era. Tied with Randy Randleman and Bobby Watson as well. However, in S43 Jason Visser was once again over double digits above 2nd place. With Louie Garret getting 62 points that season, to Vissers 74. Visser won all the awards again. Winning the McDonald, Mexico, Khan, Karpotsov and 1st All Star Team that season.
S44 was another strong season out of Visser. Like all great players, and in STHS, one great season doesn't always mean the next one is great. Especially after an amazing 74 point season. S44 came with Visser scoring 19 goals, 28 assists for 47 points. An elite season out of Visser. Ranked 14th in points by forward that season, he is still an elite player in this league. This postseason as well, Visser went and won his 2nd Challenge Cup of his career as well. Not only that, Visser earned an Anton Razov nomination as well! With 17 points in 18 games, he was excellent in the playoffs.
S45 was another elite season. 15 goals, 34 assists for 49 points. Along with 170 hits that season, the most in his career, Visser was nominated for the Jeff Dar for the first time in his career. He is also ranked 11th in points by a forward that season too. Another elite season.
S46 showed the most serious dropoff since S34. 11 seasons later, was the first time Visser went under 40 points. Scoring 22 goals, but only 17 assists, Visser only scored 39 points that season. The first major drop in points in his career since he broke out in S35. Good for 46th in points by a forward, this is showing his first signs of slowing down. Although, the 22 goals this season was ranked 16th in the league for goals. So was is he just not getting his assists? Or signs of slowing down?
S47 would answer that question very quickly. Bouncing back to being one of the best players in the league. Visser went on a tera that season. Scoring 25 goals, 33 assists for 58 points. Good for 5th in the league in points, and 4th in goals that season. Another season of being one of the best players in the league. In his 16th season in the league. Not high enough for any awards, but he earned a 2nd All Star Team from that.
If you thought S47 would be a great season for the regressing forward, S48 would show them that S47 would not be a fluke for the regressing forward. Visser scored a whopping 28 goals, 32 assists for 60 points! His 5th 60+ point season of his career. 3rd in the league in points that season, however 1st in goals that season. Earning his 3rd Jay McDonald award of his career. This season would also mark his 3rd Ron Mexico Nomination, and only time he did not win the Ron Mexico in his career.
S49 was another great season by Visser. Scoring 18 goals, 31 assists for 49 points. He was 13th in points by a forward this season. Elite season after elite season for Visser, in his 18th season in the league. Still being a top player for the Winnipeg Jets. S50 would unexpectedly be the last season for Jason Visser. Finishing his career with 14 goals, 29 assists for 43 points. Visser was still a great player in the league. Marked by his last season being 22nd in the league in points. Still a great player when he went out.
With that, Jason Visser retired. The best player ever to play in the SHL. One of the GOATS. All in Winnipeg. Winning 2 Challenge Cups with the Jets, winning 2 Ron Mexico’s and nominated one other time. Jason Visser had the level of consistency at being at the top of the league that we rarely see.
Let's break it down.
950 games played, 379 goals, 559 assists for 938 points. 2 Ron Mexico wins, 1 Ron Mexico nomination. 3 Sarmad Khan Wins, 3 Jay McDonald Wins, 2 Sergei Karpotsov wins. 2 Challenge Cups, 1 Jeff Dar nom, and 1 Anton Razov nom.
When he retired he ranked 4th most points in a career. He ranked 5th in points per game with anyone with over 500 games played. The ones above were VLAD McZehrl with 1.06 PPG in 653 games. Chris McZehrl with 1.02 PPG with 764 games played. Kain Webb with 1.02 PPG in 554 games played. And Terrance Nova with .99 PPG in 900 games played. Where Jason Visser was .98 PPG in 950 games played. One thing to note, is that Terrance Nova had more minutes played in his career in 900 games played than Visser did in 950. Jason Visser was in elite company, playing the 2nd least minutes out of the 5. With Kain Webb playing about 20 minutes per game, Visser with 22.9 minutes per game, Chris McZehrl playing 23.6 minutes per game, VLAD McZehrl playing 24.3 minutes per game, and Terrance Nova playing 24.27 minutes per game over their careers.
In terms of sheer dominance from season to season. Visser had five 60 + point seasons over the course of his career. In modern day STHS(S12-S20 & S25-S52) this feat was only replicated by Lord Pretty Flacko, VLAD McZerhl and Randy Randleman. Where VLAD was doing all the 60+ point seasons playing an average of 28 minutes a night over the 6 seasons he scored 60+. Lord Pretty Flacko had a 4/6 season of being over 60+ playing over 27 minutes a night. With the other 2 playing 24.2 minutes. Then Randy Randleman's impressively only 2/5 60+ seasons were doing it while double shifting playing 27+ minute a night seasons. Same with Jason Visser. Having his 70 and 60 point seasons in S36&S37 playing 27+ minutes. Then his 60+ season performances in S41,43, and 48 playing around 24/25 minutes a night during that time.
Jason Visser also holds the record for most 50+ point seasons during the modern era of STHS, tied VLAD McZehrl with 9 seasons of being over a point per game. Jason Visser is also one of 4 people to win the Jay McDonald 3 times in STHS, and only a handful to lead the league in scoring in STHS twice. Lastly, he is only one of 6 players to win the Ron Mexico twice in STHS as well over those 52 seasons of being in STHS.
He was also in the top 5 scoring in a single season 7 different times. Then top 15 another 4 times on top of that. He was top 10 in goals in a single season 8 different times, including leading the league in goals those 3 times.
That's what makes Jason Visser the goat. He is the best of everything the SHL has to offer. In almost 1000 games played, Jason Visser was just a hair below a point per game. In terms of accolades he has one of the most well stocked award wins in the league. He was a menace season over season, competing with the best. Having some of the best seasons ever in his era of the league, Jason Visser had the most well rounded careers in terms of peak play, sustaining the level of eliteness, and winning awards. He achieved balance in all 4 keys of being one of the best players. The Awards, the Peak Play, the Longevity, and having some of the best seasons in STHS for his era. That's what makes him the #1 player on this list.
As we get into the top 10, we are also going to be sharing where they got ranked on everyone’s ballots. For Visser he had x2 #3 votes, x3 #2 votes, and x3 #1 vote. Both Visser and Garbanzo tied with 415 votes by the committee. Going into the runoff, Visser won the runoff off of the closest split possible. X5 votes for Visser, and x4 votes for Garbanzo.
*double shift was when you played players both on line 1,2, or 3. And then again on the 4th line. Giving them more minutes, thus more goals. Instead of 24 minutes per game, you saw 28-30 minutes a night out of that time. Leading to inflated point total for the modern SHL era
Obviously Jason Visser is rightly viewed as the best player in SHL history. The truly rare and amazing thing is he was also one of the greatest users it has ever been my privilege to know in this league.
Such a beautiful human. I'm lucky to know you and consider you a real friend. Thank you for everything. If anyone hasn't had a chance to get to know him just send him a message and I'm sure he will reply.
You are the goat and I'll always love you brother.
First SHL goal on first SHL shot in first SHL game.
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