Hart Trophy Tournament (1969-00) Round 1: 1974 Phil Esposito vs 1991 Brett Hull

[blundluntman]

MATCHUP #5 (Round 1): Phil Esposito (1974) vs Brett Hull (1991)

Phil Esposito (1973-74):
78 GP 68 G 77 A 145 Points | 1st in Points, 1st in Goals 2nd in Assists, Art Ross, , 1st AST

Brett Hull (1990-91):
78 GP 86 G 45 A 131 Points | 2nd in Points, 1st in Goals, Pearson/Lindsay 1st AST, 50 Goals in 50 Games (49 Games)

Round 1 Matchups:
69 Esposito vs 99 Jagr Thread
70 Orr vs 72 Orr Thread
71 Orr vs 00 Pronger Thread
73 Clarke vs 82 Gretzky Thread
74 Esposito vs 91 Hull
75 Clarke vs 98 Hasek
76 Clarke vs 90 Messier
77 Lafleur vs 80 Gretzky (Still Active) Thread
78 Lafleur vs 93 Lemieux
79 Trottier vs 94 Fedorov
81 Gretzky vs 87 Gretzky
83 Gretzky vs 86 Gretzky
84 Gretzky vs 85 Gretzky
88 Lemieux vs 89 Gretzky
92 Messier vs 95 Lindros
96 Lemieux vs 97 Hasek

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[Albatros]

Brett Hull, the greatest goal-scoring season of all time.

 

[bobholly39]

This is..... a very close and difficult one for me.

Phil Esposito was a better player. His peak was also better overall, definitely. But I don't think this is Phil's best season - and for just one year peak, Brett Hull is tremendous as well.

I'm going to vote Hull - but I'm open to being talked out of it if someone presents strong arguments for Phil.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

This is..... a very close and difficult one for me.

Phil Esposito was a better player. His peak was also better overall, definitely. But I don't think this is Phil's best season - and for just one year peak, Brett Hull is tremendous as well.

I'm going to vote Hull - but I'm open to being talked out of it if someone presents strong arguments for Phil.

I haven't done a deep dive here, but Esposito's season appears to have been a bit stronger offensively (ie looking at his output compared to the rest of the top five or ten scorers). But Bobby Orr scored/assisted on 53 of his points. Esposito was a great player of course, but you'd have to think that he'd lose some productivity without playing next to (arguably) the best player in hockey history.

Granted, Hull played with Oates, who was an excellent playmaker, but Orr was on a different level. (Plus, Oates missed 17 games in 1991, and Hull still scored at a 76 goal, 114 point pace in the games Oates missed - a bit less, but not significantly).

All this discussion has been focused on offense, but neither of them contributed much defensively.

 

[JackSlater]

Hull comfortably, in some ways it's actually an underrated year.

I haven't done a deep dive here, but Esposito's season appears to have been a bit stronger offensively (ie looking at his output compared to the rest of the top five or ten scorers). But Bobby Orr scored/assisted on 53 of his points. Esposito was a great player of course, but you'd have to think that he'd lose some productivity without playing next to (arguably) the best player in hockey history.

Granted, Hull played with Oates, who was an excellent playmaker, but Orr was on a different level. (Plus, Oates missed 17 games in 1991, and Hull still scored at a 76 goal, 114 point pace in the games Oates missed - a bit less, but not significantly).

All this discussion has been focused on offense, but neither of them contributed much defensively.

I recall that by 1974, Boston was generally dominating the opposition when Esposito was on the ice but dominating even more when Esposito was not on the ice. Even strength anyway. I could be wrong going from memory, but also in video Esposito in his late Boston years is a lot less engaged than he was in his earlier years. I don't think that Esposito post-1972 was nearly as good as Esposito up to 1972 in Boston, even if the numbers look more or less the same.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Hull comfortably, in some ways it's actually an underrated year.


I recall that by 1974, Boston was generally dominating the opposition when Esposito was on the ice but dominating even more when Esposito was not on the ice. Even strength anyway. I could be wrong going from memory, but also in video Esposito in his late Boston years is a lot less engaged than he was in his earlier years. I don't think that Esposito post-1972 was nearly as good as Esposito up to 1972 in Boston, even if the numbers look more or less the same.

I double checked and you're right. In 1974, the Bruins had a better ES GF% when Esposito was off the ice. (The difference is small, probably within a reasonable margin for error, but you'd still expect better than that for a Hart winning season). The Bruins were much better (at ES) when Espo was on the ice in each of 1969 through 1972, then the trend reversed for 1973 through 1975.

Hull, at his peak, made essentially zero effort to play defense. But it didn't matter - he was so good at scoring that the Blues were vastly better when he was on the ice in 1991. (I suspect Hull would look a fair bit worse if we had corsi-type stats back then, but it's hard to argue with the end result).