Barker's breakout season. You were talking 40 points seasons. 29 of 40 points on the PP.
'08-'09
CHI
68 6 34 40 -6 65 101 5.9 5 24 0 1 1 -- 18:21 31:11
Have a nice day.
Not going to bother with the rest of it. It has nothing to do with the player in question, just random "facts" about other players that doesn't pertain to Dougie. Discuss the player and don't play the crow and looking around for something shiny. Comparing Hamilton and Barker was nonsense; they aren't the same type of players and even a glace at their stats proves that.
I'm done discussion the rest of the NHL over the history of a few decades to support whatever this is you and a couple of other posters are stirring up.
"Random facts" are pretty important. If a specific player has done something that only nine other comparable players have done in the last 20 years and they've all become All-Stars, then that's kind of important. If it's something that nine others have done and only two have become All-Stars, chances are it's not necessarily a meaningful achievement.
Now, for something that you'll undoubtedly dismiss out of hand, here's what this search had for parameters:
- Defenseman
- Since 2000-01
- By their 21-year-old season
- With a 0.5 PPG during said season
- And at least 30 games played (to get anyone from the 2012-13 season in there)
There are 14 player seasons like that; Hamilton in 2014-15 is among them. The others were:
- Drew Doughty (twice)
- Erik Karlsson (twice)
- Dion Phaneuf (twice)
- Michael Del Zotto
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson
- Cam Fowler
- Jonathan Girard
- Tyler Myers
- Alex Pietrangelo
- Shea Weber
Girard is obviously the outlier; his career was cut short after nearly being killed in a car accident. Everyone else is active.
Ekman-Larsson played just 48 games, which represented the entirety of the 2012-13 season. For consistency's sake, he's out as well.
In their respective seasons in question:
- Del Zotto was 21, and had 8 goals and 16 assists at even strength, 1 and 13 on the power play. His most frequent defensive partner at even strength was Anton Stralman, followed by Michael Sauer and Marc Staal. On the power play, he was normally the only defenseman out there, as the Rangers used four forwards.
- Myers was 19, and had 8 goals and 23 assists at even strength, then 3 and 13 on the power play. His most frequent defensive partner was Henrik Tallinder by a huge margin (78.41% of Myers' season had these two paired, 68% at even strength and 10.41% shorthanded). On the power play, it was either Myers solo, or he was paired with one of Chris Butler or Craig Rivet.
The others don't really bear a further look; they're basically the best of the best in the league.
Myers may yet rebound, but his development went backwards in Buffalo pretty quickly. He was given a shutdown defensive partner in his prime who provided little offense.
Del Zotto went backwards in New York as well, to the point that he was traded for a second-pairing defenseman and then not qualified as a 23-year-old. He seems to have rebounded in Philly this past year, but whether it continues remains to be seen.