Cecil Dye – you have to go all the way back to the 1920-21 season to find his first goal scoring title. He led the league three times in a five year span, with totals of 35, 26 & 38 goals.
Charlie Conacher – the NHL's first true goal scorer. He tallied 156 goals in five seasons where he was #1 in goals, his final being in 1936. Did I mention those five seasons were in a six year span?
There was a 10 year span when the consistency of goal-scoring dropped off and no player was able to lead the league more then twice, some of those players are Nels Stewart, Bryan Hextall and Doug Bentley. Now, I'm a pretty avid hockey fan and I consider myself to know more about the game then... I dunno... 95% of people I meet and I definitely don't know any of those guys I just mentioned above. Hallelujah for 1945!
Maurice Richard – Ok, maybe I was a bit hasty in naming Conacher the NHL's first true goal scorer. Richard took the NHL where it had never been before, with one simple word... Fifty. It's the mark that all great scorers shoot for in a season and it's the mark in which fans use to annoit a great scorer. In 1945, not only did he score 50, but set another benchmark for greatness, he did it all in 50 games. Although he wouldn't score 50 goals again (nor would the mark be equaled for another 16 years) The Rocket set his name in history as one of the best goal scorers ever.
Gordie Howe – led the league in goals five times over his 136 year career (close enough), but never did hit the magical 50 mark. I'm not a huge Gordie Howe fan... I'm actually not even a fan of him at all. So this is all he gets.
Bobby Hull – holds the record for having led the league in goals on seven different occasions and was the 2nd person to hit 50 goals in a season (mind you it took him a 70 game schedule). He would go on to hit 50 goals 5 times in the NHL and another 4 times with the Jets in the WHA. To put it all in perspective, he led the NHL in scoring 47% of the time he played, Howe led for only 19% of the time he played.
Phil Esposito – it's just staggering. Ridiculous. Actually ridiculous. 6 seasons. 6 straight goal scoring titles, with every year having at least 43 goals (and a high of 76 goals, an NHL record at the time). Talk about consistency. He shattered Richard's record by 152% and its a record that has only been equaled by 5 other players. He is also the last player to ever lead the league in goals in 6 or more seasons.
After Esposito, the league went through a new phase of goal scorers. In the next twelve seasons, nine different players would go on to lead the league (a 3-way tie occurred in the 79-80 season) including: Reggie Leach, Steve Shutt, Guy Lafleur, Mike Bossy (twice), Blaine Stoughton, Charlie Simmer, Danny Gare, Wayne Gretzky (five times in four seasons, but im not writing about him because there is just too damn much to write. We all know he is the greatest player to ever lace up a pair of skates. End of story.) and Juri Kurri.
Mario Lemieux – scored 155 goals in his two seasons in which he led the league. The guy goes out and beats a goalie 5 different ways in one game (SH, even, PP, penalty shot, EN), then decides he wants to score 199 points in one season, THEN decides he wants to beat Hodgkin's lymphoma. Simply amazing.
Brett Hull – the Golden Brett. If his father is credited with making the slapshot a regular part of the game, Brett made the slapshot an integral part of the game. No one could hammer puck like Hull. Scored 50 in 50 twice, led the league 3 straight years, and is the only player to score 50 goals in a season at the NCAA, AHL and NHL levels. Honestly, what would Sawchuk do if he saw Hull open up in the slot, on a powerplay, for a patented one-timer? Brett's daddy would be proud.
After 91-92, Europe took over the NHL scoring charts and continue to dominate them today. Guys like Mogilny, Selanne (rookie record 76), Bure and Bondra won 5 of the next 7 season (Tkachuk and Lemiuex the others) and the Euro stranglehold hasn't let up since...
Pavel Bure – led the league on three separate occasions and is arguably the greatest Russian trained player to play in the NHL. His dangles are well documented and he holds the single season goal records for two different franchises (VAN and FLA). Plus, anyone who has banged Anna Kournikova knows how to 'score'. Ya, a sex joke in relation to hockey. What up.
Teemu Selanne – the Finnish Flash also led the league in goals three separate times (including his rookie record 76 in '93) and is the career leader for the Anaheim Ducks, but I often wonder how many he would have had if not for his partner in crime Paul Kariya...
Since Bure's win in 2000-01, there have been 7 different winners (Iginla twice & a 3-way tie in 03-04) in 6 seasons: Iginla, Hejduk, Kovalchuk, Nash, Cheechoo, Lecavalier & Ovechkin. Those 7 winners have combined to average 52 goals per campaign, almost half of what the NHL record is (92 goals in 81-82 by Gretz). Players like Alex O, Gino Malkin and Sid the Kid all have the potential to exceed 50 goals (Ovi already has), or exceed 60 (Ovi has, again), heck maybe even exceed 70 (something that hasnt been done in fifteen years), but what about this years crop of 50 goal potentials: Vanek, Semin, Parise, Gagne, Setoguchi, Carter & Hossa (I'm not counting Iginla, we already know he can break 50). Will any of these past champions or young guns reach the highest stratosphere as Gretzky or Hull? We have 60-odd games left to find out.
Cheers.
-Smith
awesome post man. i like best that you didnt try and compare the goal scorers because you really cant, each position has at different times been revolutionized by different players, coaches, and equipment, awesome post!
ReplyDelete-Drew