Alex Mogilny and Pat Lafontaine's 1992-93 season
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MadLuke
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around that time Mogilny achieve to have a 82 played regular season games streak where he scored 84 goals, Cam Neely did the same around that time, Lemieux did 94, Esposito 83 in the 70s, Brett Hull very close to that time 92.
What they achieve to do before reaching the nhl (and the eye test), do not leave much doubt that it was a lot of talents driven, but the 92-93 season was maybe the highest scoring season for the top line players ever.
You had 84 games, lot of power play, expansion team to beat on, a new change in ads break that did rest player and you could use them more, which will tend to exaggerate that season raw numbers versus the rest of their career for many.
What they achieve to do before reaching the nhl (and the eye test), do not leave much doubt that it was a lot of talents driven, but the 92-93 season was maybe the highest scoring season for the top line players ever.
You had 84 games, lot of power play, expansion team to beat on, a new change in ads break that did rest player and you could use them more, which will tend to exaggerate that season raw numbers versus the rest of their career for many.
BarnabyJones PI
I'd kindly settle for a tall glass of milk.
Their success is mostly due to them complementing each other - being able to do so at a high speed - but I'll add that it didn't hurt that Hawerchuk took that power play to another level (playing the point).
1992-93
- Mogilny register 27 G and 21 A on the PP
- Lafontaine 20 G and 43 A on the PP
- Hawerchuk 8 G and 44 A on the PP
By comparison, Gretzky's highest assists output on the PP was with the Kings in 1990-91, registering 51 assists (and 8 goals). Lemieux put up 58 assists to go along with 22 goals on the Penguins PP in 1987-88.
Other notable passers and their career high on the power play:
- Phil Housley - 50 PP assists in 1992-93
- Paul Coffey - 53 PP assists in 1988-89
- Adam Oates - 38 PP assists in 1990-91 and again in 1992-93
- Steve Yzerman - 29 PP assists in 1988-89
- Craig Janney - 36 PP assists in 1992-93
- Mark Messier - 34 PP assists in 1989-90
- Raymond Bourque - 42 PP assists in 1993-94
- Peter Stastny - 40 PP assists in 1985-86
- Denis Savard - 48 PP assists in 1987-88
- Ron Francis - 41 PP assists in 1992-93
- Jaromir Jagr - 34 PP assists in 1998-99 and again in 2006-07
- Joe Sakic - 33 PP in 1995-96
- Bobby Orr - 44 in 1970-71
- Marcel Dionne - 36 in 1984-85
- Sidney Crosby - 48 in 2006-07
- Larry Murphy - 36 in 1992-93
- Connor McDavid - 50 in 2022-23
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I feel like we've had some threads about the 1992-93 season and the factors for it being high scoring. Mogilny wasn't the only guy who didn't match those sort of numbers again. Teemu Selanne also scored 76 goals that season and his next best season was 52 (which some around here argued was maybe more impressive).
Offhand, two factors would be three new expansion clubs (Sharks/Senators/Lightning) taking their lumps. And then the USSR breaking up in 1991 which opened the door for more in their prime veterans to make the jump. Florida and Anaheim were given more favorable expansion rules, so they weren't as bad as Tampa/Ottawa out of the gate.
Goaltending technique and equipment would start to improve rapidly in the early 90's. You can find footage of Sean Burke from the late 80's / early 90's and he looks like a completely different goalie than he was later in his career. Taller butterfly goalies would start to become the norm whereas in the early 90's there were still a lot of sub six foot standup goalies.
Mix in defensive hockey becoming more of a thing in the mid-90's.
Offhand, two factors would be three new expansion clubs (Sharks/Senators/Lightning) taking their lumps. And then the USSR breaking up in 1991 which opened the door for more in their prime veterans to make the jump. Florida and Anaheim were given more favorable expansion rules, so they weren't as bad as Tampa/Ottawa out of the gate.
Goaltending technique and equipment would start to improve rapidly in the early 90's. You can find footage of Sean Burke from the late 80's / early 90's and he looks like a completely different goalie than he was later in his career. Taller butterfly goalies would start to become the norm whereas in the early 90's there were still a lot of sub six foot standup goalies.
Mix in defensive hockey becoming more of a thing in the mid-90's.
Gerulaitis
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- Apr 19, 2024
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Alex and Patty are one of the most incredible duos of the modern era.
Like Trottier and Bossy
Like Trottier and Bossy
BarnabyJones PI
I'd kindly settle for a tall glass of milk.
Trottier and Bossy together:
Regular Season Combined
- 1510 GP
- 951 Goals
- 1,210 Assists
- +800
- 269 GP
- 145 Goals
- 164 Assists
- 2 Smythe
- 1 Hart
- x7 Top 5 Hart
And those 4 Stanley Cups, vs 0 for Mogilny and Lafontaine together (Mogilny with NJ doesn't count here nor Trottier's 2 with Pittsburgh).
I love Mogilny and Lafontaine (and the Sabres at that time), they were awesome together, and extremely fun to watch (10/10), but they made the 2nd round once, and lost 4 straight (though they were all very close games).
They had a lot of work to do, to make that comparison. I do appreciate that you're acknowledging Bossy here.
The Panther
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It's often overlooked that Lafontaine's 1991-92 was just as good as his 1992-93... except he didn't play the full season, appearing in only 57 games.
In the 57 games, however, he scored 93 points. At that pace (which was higher than Gretzky's that season), he'd have scored about 137 points in 84 games played.
In the 57 games, however, he scored 93 points. At that pace (which was higher than Gretzky's that season), he'd have scored about 137 points in 84 games played.
The Panther
Registered User
Looking at the stats from that season doesn't support your point, however. Scoring-wise, it appears he cooled off briefly in mid-February, but otherwise, he was pretty much "on"' all season:
Oct. 1, 1991 to Feb. 7, 1992:
1.90 PPG -- Mario Lemieux (42 GP)
1.88 PPG -- Pat Lafontaine (32 GP)
March 3, 1992 to End-of-Season 1992:
2.64 PPG -- Mario Lemieux (14GP)
1.86 PPG -- Rick Tocchet (14 GP)
1.82 PPG -- Joe Sakic (17 GP)
1.69 PPG -- Gary Roberts (16 GP)
1.65 PPG -- Kevin Stevens (17 GP)
1.64 PPG -- Brian Leetch (14 GP)
1.63 PPG -- Pat Lafontaine (16 GP)
(It would appear a lot of players were on 'heaters' late in 1991-92, for some reason, Lafontaine among them.)
Lafontaine's big dip was Feb. 7th to March 1st 1992, during which he inexplicably (?) scored only 7 points in ten games.
But even with that ten-game slump included, he still paced for 137 points (per 84 games, mind), based on his 57 games that season.
I agree it's unlikely he hits that many points if he played all 82 games, but clearly it would have been his career-season to date. I mean, over his first 32 games he was matching Mario in scoring pace...
Gerulaitis
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I had to bring Bossy into the discussion because he's a winger like Mogilny.
The league was too competitive for the Sabres to win anything but they really put up the show.
vadim sharifijanov
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i feel like mogilny’s souped up 1993 season is different from most.
selanne, for ex, never scored numbers that big ever again, but he did lead the league in goals again (twice) and he did finish top five in pts again (three times, including two second place finishes). you could say the same about numerically outlying career seasons by robitaille, oates, recchi, sundin, and others.
and then you have guys who feasted on all the extra powerplays. gilmour and housley come to mind.
but mogilny never came close to leading the league in goals again (peaking at 3rd) or that high in pts/game (4th in 1993, next highest was 9th).
and he also wasn’t racking up all those extra pts on the PP. on a per game basis, he was 3rd in ES scoring, on pace to finish two pts behind yzerman and two pts ahead of lafontaine and selanne (but actually finished 5th in ES scoring because he missed seven games and the four guys ahead of him not named mario all played the full 84).
for him and lafontaine, i think it was just the magic of having each other. their half year together in 1992 was also a clear step up from their next best year (lafontaine’s 1990 and mogilny’s 1996).
LaFontaine had 14 points in the 12 games (1.17 ppg) he played until Xmas. Then exploded with 46 points in 19 games (2.42 ppg) until February 4. After that 33 points in the remaining 26 games (1.27 ppg). His January was points-wise the best month of all time by anyone other than Gretzky and Lemieux (tied with Kurri) and that was in no way sustainable.
The Panther
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tabness
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Yes they were both really that good. As @BarnabyJones PI points out, the duo was basically killing teams with their speed and skill at top speed together, it was absolutely perfect. The Sabres even traded Andreychuk who did have success on the line before because it made them even faster. He was replaced by Yuri Khmylev, unsung player, good speed and decent enough finesse skills, in the Tikkanen mold of guy, obviously not as good.
I cut up the LaFontaine (and thus Mogilny) shifts from one of the games they played against Detroit during that year that shows some of this magic. It is the absolute best game I have seen any player play. Ever. Don't just take my word for it though, Yzerman after the game said that LaFontaine (and Mogilny) played as well as he ever saw any players play as well.
In terms of LaFontaine, the stats on face value look like outliers, because it's too focused on the numbers themselves without taking into account that he came from the late eighties Islanders where he was the most man on an island superstar I can think of. Like Derek King, Alan Kerr, and Randy Wood were his guys. Only really comparable guys who were like Lemieux early on before Coffey, and Yzerman around like 1990ish, and I still think they had more to work with than LaFontaine.
This is why even though LaFontaine's stats with the Islanders aren't as flattering as other players from that time, he was considered amongst the very best in the league by the late eighties (from Gretzky's entry in the Hockey Scouting Report following the 1989-1990 season)
The knock on him to be considered a helicopter player who tried to do too much by himself was shattered when he got to Buffalo with some talent around him, and he more than showed he could actually make plays when there was someone to finish.
As for Mogilny himself, well we just had the long topic on him.
I remember just a couple years back when all the retrospectives about 1992-1993 were going out, I read a quote from LaFontaine telling Mogilny that he could score 50 going into the year. He then presciently told the trainer that Mogilny would score 70. When Mogilny scored 70 though, he basically said something like it was just another goal and you can't celebrate too much or you'll get tired lol!
LaFontaine would also say when lobbying for his buddy for the Hall of Fame that "Alex, for me, was the best player I played with and best player I saw" and at Mogilny's best it's hard to argue, he was that talented.
Continuing on the theme, from that story:
“As far as highlight-(reel) goals and as far as speed and doing things at a high level, high speed, we’d shake our heads on the bench most nights,” LaFontaine said of Mogilny’s exploits in 1992-93. “Actually, I had a front-row seat. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing.”
LaFontaine believes only two players besides Mogilny – Hall of Famer Pavel Bure and current Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid – have operated at what he called “mach speed.”
“I mean, they’re going as fast as you can go, and they’re doing things with their hands and their mind and their feet altogether,” he said.
I cut up the LaFontaine (and thus Mogilny) shifts from one of the games they played against Detroit during that year that shows some of this magic. It is the absolute best game I have seen any player play. Ever. Don't just take my word for it though, Yzerman after the game said that LaFontaine (and Mogilny) played as well as he ever saw any players play as well.
In terms of LaFontaine, the stats on face value look like outliers, because it's too focused on the numbers themselves without taking into account that he came from the late eighties Islanders where he was the most man on an island superstar I can think of. Like Derek King, Alan Kerr, and Randy Wood were his guys. Only really comparable guys who were like Lemieux early on before Coffey, and Yzerman around like 1990ish, and I still think they had more to work with than LaFontaine.
This is why even though LaFontaine's stats with the Islanders aren't as flattering as other players from that time, he was considered amongst the very best in the league by the late eighties (from Gretzky's entry in the Hockey Scouting Report following the 1989-1990 season)
The knock on him to be considered a helicopter player who tried to do too much by himself was shattered when he got to Buffalo with some talent around him, and he more than showed he could actually make plays when there was someone to finish.
As for Mogilny himself, well we just had the long topic on him.
I remember just a couple years back when all the retrospectives about 1992-1993 were going out, I read a quote from LaFontaine telling Mogilny that he could score 50 going into the year. He then presciently told the trainer that Mogilny would score 70. When Mogilny scored 70 though, he basically said something like it was just another goal and you can't celebrate too much or you'll get tired lol!
LaFontaine would also say when lobbying for his buddy for the Hall of Fame that "Alex, for me, was the best player I played with and best player I saw" and at Mogilny's best it's hard to argue, he was that talented.
Continuing on the theme, from that story:
“As far as highlight-(reel) goals and as far as speed and doing things at a high level, high speed, we’d shake our heads on the bench most nights,” LaFontaine said of Mogilny’s exploits in 1992-93. “Actually, I had a front-row seat. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing.”
LaFontaine believes only two players besides Mogilny – Hall of Famer Pavel Bure and current Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid – have operated at what he called “mach speed.”
“I mean, they’re going as fast as you can go, and they’re doing things with their hands and their mind and their feet altogether,” he said.
Crosby2010
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To the OP asking why the Sabres weren't an elite team in 1993. They are one of those teams with the name recognition that you assume would have been good. Lafontaine and Mogilny up front, Hawerchuk was still a very good player, Andreychuk was traded but was over a point per game in Buffalo. In net you had Fuhr and Hasek. Both were at different parts of their career though. Fuhr was all over the map in the early 1990s and Hasek was just about to hit superstardom. They were 6th in goals and 12 in goals against. So not bad, but I think their defense was mediocre. No one to push the puck up to the stars quite as much. And I guess there wasn't a lot of depth after the big names either. But it was a fun team. Tough guys on the team too, Brad May and Rob Ray.
As for Lafontaine and Almo, I think that was a nice marriage on ice. Too short though. After 1993 Lafontaine would have two injury plagued years and then Mogilny was gone after 1995 to the Canucks. The two of them were poetry on the ice because they were so fast and skilled. Lafontaine hit 95 assists that year.
As for Lafontaine and Almo, I think that was a nice marriage on ice. Too short though. After 1993 Lafontaine would have two injury plagued years and then Mogilny was gone after 1995 to the Canucks. The two of them were poetry on the ice because they were so fast and skilled. Lafontaine hit 95 assists that year.
VaporTrail
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They were absolutely electric...Pat LaFontaine alone made you stand up almost every time he had the puck...only other player in Sabres history that I could say that about would be Gilbert Perreault....If Pat didn't get injured and had a full career he would have easily been the great American hockey player ever...Well ahead of Patrick Kane.
vadim sharifijanov
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i look at that roster and damn, those are some role players they had
wayne presley, dave hannan, colin patterson, bob corkum, at the deadline they traded longtime defensive rock mike ramsey to pittsburgh for bob errey
that is a glut of excellent defensive forwards, although i think patterson was washed up by then, and if you add randy wood, who was a pretty solid two way guy, that’s two full checking lines
They did have Bodger who had a good year, winning the team's unsung hero award. Arguably the third best skater.
tabness
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even though they weren't the best defensive team in 1992-1993, they had an elite penalty kill, and yeah look at the personnel and not too surprising lol
buffalowing88
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Some of my first memories as a kid/Sabres fan were listening to them on the radio in 93. I think most Sabres fans have a soft spot for that team and for those two, in particular. If they had Hasek starting a year earlier, they may have made more noise in the playoffs.
A not so pleasant memory of my youth beginning around that time, however, was that one of them was almost always injured. LaFontaine was especially frustrating.
A not so pleasant memory of my youth beginning around that time, however, was that one of them was almost always injured. LaFontaine was especially frustrating.
Crosby2010
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But who is scoring the goals after Patty, Almo and Hawerchuk? No one. That was the thing, this is why I think they didn't go far in the playoffs. Easier to key on certain players. Wayne Presley was alright, but he isn't going to win you a playoff series. Still a fun team though. I can listen to that May Day goal all day. And I am not a Sabres fan.
MadLuke
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They still did beat a really good Boston team in the playoff in 4, scoring 5 goals a night.
Donald Audette could score (93 was a sandwitch between 2 30 goals season for him), Sweeney could score (as a dept piece)
Yes they did loose to montreal in 4, but all the games were by a single goal, 3 of them in overtime, Lafontaine-Mogilny missing a bit of time.
They put Hasek in goal.... those playoff and stay healthy who knows, it is not like the east and the final was not wide open after MTL.
Donald Audette could score (93 was a sandwitch between 2 30 goals season for him), Sweeney could score (as a dept piece)
Yes they did loose to montreal in 4, but all the games were by a single goal, 3 of them in overtime, Lafontaine-Mogilny missing a bit of time.
They put Hasek in goal.... those playoff and stay healthy who knows, it is not like the east and the final was not wide open after MTL.
