Highest 'plus / minus' in one calendar month?

[The Panther]

Maybe this is too obscure for a thread, but hey, it's the off-season...

I was wondering what was the biggest "plus" any NHL player ever had in one calendar month of regular season play. I checked some obvious candidates for any "+20" or higher months...

Phil Esposito
+20 Jan. 1969

Bobby Orr
+27 Jan. 1971
+26 March 1971
+24 February 1972
+23 Jan. 1959
+23 Jan. 1972
+22 Feb. 1971
+21 Nov. 1974

Bobby Clarke
+22 Feb. 1976
+24 March 1975

Guy Lafleur
+21 Feb. 1977

Larry Robinson
+27 Nov. 1976
+23 Feb. 1977
+21 Nov. 1982
+20 March 1977

Serge Savard
+22 Jan. 1973
+22 Nov. 1976
+21 Feb. 1978

Guy Lapointe
+21 Feb. 1975
+20 Feb. 1976

Steve Shutt
+22 Nov. 1975

Denis Potvin
+20 Nov. 1980

Clark Gillies
+20 Dec. 1978

Bryan Trottier
+26 Dec. 1978
+23 Nov. 1979
+23 Feb. 1982
+22 Dec. 1983
+20 Jan. 1979
+20 Jan. 1980

Mike Bossy
+21 Feb. 1982
+20 Dec. 1978

Rod Langway
+22 Oct. 1981

Mark Howe
+22 Nov. 1985

Brad McCrimmon
+21 Nov. 1985

Wayne Gretzky
+32 Nov. 1983
+26 Oct. 1984
+23 March 1986
+23 Jan. 1987
+22 Jan. 1984
+21 Dec. 1984
+20 Feb. 1982

Paul Coffey
+20 March 1983

Charlie Huddy
+22 March 1983

Jari Kurri
+26 Oct. 1984
+22 Dec. 1984

(Playing with Orr, Dallas Smith reached +19 in January 1969 and in January 1971.)

(Ray Bourque never quite made it, but he hit +19 in November 1989.)

(Peter Forsberg also reached +19 once -- in March 2003.)

(Sidney Crosby reached +19 in March 2013. Albeit this was in a busy month, with 15 games played, it's still remarkable in that I can't find any comparably high monthly plus/minus in the salary cap era.)

For obvious reasons, there was higher probability of a huge monthly plus/minus in the 1970s and early 1980s than subsequently. I can't find anyone who reached +20 in a calendar month after Gretzky in January 1987!

Ranking my list (so far) by highest numbers in history, it's:

1.
Gretzky +32 Nov. 1983

2.
Orr +27 Jan. 1971
Robinson +27 Nov. 1976

3.
Orr +26 March 1971
Trottier +26 Dec. 1978
Gretzky +26 Oct. 1984
Kurri +26 Oct. 1984


But I'm sure I've missed at least some. Can anyone find any other player with at least a +20 in one calendar month?

Click to read more...

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

Maybe this is too obscure for a thread, but hey, it's the off-season...

It's a good jumping-off point for what could prove to be an interesting discussion-

Professional Hockey is now well over a Century old. Reliable plus-minus figures are available for the past 60+ years. When I saw the title to this thread, my first thought was "some Larry Robinson year;" thinking that a month-long stretch of games that featured some recently minted 'little sisters' expansion teams would show well. Well... I would've guessed right were it not for another miracle month from peak Gretzky.

The seasons listed above stretch from 1969 to 1987-- a 19 year span in the 60+ year history of recorded plus/minus. It's 100-level Hockey History to know what was happening then-

Year(s)	NHL # of Teams	WHA # of Teams	Comments
1959-60 to 1966-67	6	n/a	+/- aspirants need not apply
1967-68 to 1969-70	12	n/a	dawn of Orr, just in time for Tomato-Can teams
1970-71 to 1971-72	14	n/a	thank you, Sir, may we have two others!
1972-73 to 1973-74	16	12	whole other league now begins
1974-75 to 1975-76	18	14	apex dilution
1976-77	18	12	WHA in visible decline
1977-78	18	10	see previous
1978-79	17	7	end of WHA
1979-80 to 1990-91	21	n/a	only 3rd time league size was stable for 10+ yrs since WWII [O-6+2000-17 being the other two].

The 1976-77 season is the chart-topper, with five mentions in the original post.

Doubtless most believe I say too few kind things about Crosby- but (seriously), to compare/contrast Crosby's +19 in 3/2013 to any (for instance) Clarke entry is really quite the apples and oranges comparison, given the more challenging league composition Crosby had to face.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

It's a good jumping-off point for what could prove to be an interesting discussion-

Professional Hockey is now well over a Century old. Reliable plus-minus figures are available for the past 60+ years. When I saw the title to this thread, my first thought was "some Larry Robinson year;" thinking that a month-long stretch of games that featured some recently minted 'little sisters' expansion teams would show well. Well... I would've guessed right were it not for another miracle month from peak Gretzky.

The seasons listed above stretch from 1969 to 1987-- a 19 year span in the 60+ year history of recorded plus/minus. It's 100-level Hockey History to know what was happening then-

Year(s)	NHL # of Teams	WHA # of Teams	Comments
1959-60 to 1966-67	6	n/a	+/- aspirants need not apply
1967-68 to 1969-70	12	n/a	dawn of Orr, just in time for Tomato-Can teams
1970-71 to 1971-72	14	n/a	thank you, Sir, may we have two others!
1972-73 to 1973-74	16	12	whole other league now begins
1974-75 to 1975-76	18	14	apex dilution
1976-77	18	12	WHA in visible decline
1977-78	18	10	see previous
1978-79	17	7	end of WHA
1979-80 to 1990-91	21	n/a	only 3rd time league size was stable for 10+ yrs since WWII [O-6+2000-17 being the other two].

The 1976-77 season is the chart-topper, with five mentions in the original post.

Doubtless most believe I say too few kind things about Crosby- but (seriously), to compare/contrast Crosby's +19 in 3/2013 to any (for instance) Clarke entry is really quite the apples and oranges comparison, given the more challenging league composition Crosby had to face.

The 1976-77 season is the chart-topper, with five mentions in the original post.

All 5 from the greatest team ever.

Canadiens were 60-8-12 that season. 12-2 in the playoffs.

Incredibly, they had 19 players that were +22 or better. 6 players +69 or better.

 

[VanIslander]

No surprises there.

 

[Dingo]

It's a good jumping-off point for what could prove to be an interesting discussion-

Professional Hockey is now well over a Century old. Reliable plus-minus figures are available for the past 60+ years. When I saw the title to this thread, my first thought was "some Larry Robinson year;" thinking that a month-long stretch of games that featured some recently minted 'little sisters' expansion teams would show well. Well... I would've guessed right were it not for another miracle month from peak Gretzky.

The seasons listed above stretch from 1969 to 1987-- a 19 year span in the 60+ year history of recorded plus/minus. It's 100-level Hockey History to know what was happening then-

Year(s)	NHL # of Teams	WHA # of Teams	Comments
1959-60 to 1966-67	6	n/a	+/- aspirants need not apply
1967-68 to 1969-70	12	n/a	dawn of Orr, just in time for Tomato-Can teams
1970-71 to 1971-72	14	n/a	thank you, Sir, may we have two others!
1972-73 to 1973-74	16	12	whole other league now begins
1974-75 to 1975-76	18	14	apex dilution
1976-77	18	12	WHA in visible decline
1977-78	18	10	see previous
1978-79	17	7	end of WHA
1979-80 to 1990-91	21	n/a	only 3rd time league size was stable for 10+ yrs since WWII [O-6+2000-17 being the other two].

The 1976-77 season is the chart-topper, with five mentions in the original post.

Doubtless most believe I say too few kind things about Crosby- but (seriously), to compare/contrast Crosby's +19 in 3/2013 to any (for instance) Clarke entry is really quite the apples and oranges comparison, given the more challenging league composition Crosby had to face.

A lot of stats from about 1970-90 need to be taken with a mine of salt.

 

[MadLuke]

The league disparity + high scoring that make for large +/- can also show up for GSAA:

Without Hasek the top season look like this:

Rank	Player	GSAA	Season
1	Bernie Parent*	73	1973-74
2	Tony Esposito*	65	1973-74
3	Ken Dryden*	61	1975-76
4	Rogie Vachon*	61	1974-75
5	Curtis Joseph	57	1992-93
6	Ken Dryden*	56	1971-72
7	John Vanbiesbrouck	56	1993-94
12	Jacques Plante*	52	1970-71
13	Tony Esposito*	50	1977-78
14	Ken Dryden*	49	1972-73
15	Mike Palmateer	49	1978-79

91: +Sharks
92: + Sens and lightings
93: + Panthers and ducks

Looking at month instead of whole season when good and bad team average out would make the high disparity even more valuable.

 

[MS]

Jack Lynch went -40 in March 1975, which has to be the record the other way.

The 1970s were just a disaster in terms of parity and quality of play.

 

[The Panther]

When you think about, going +20 in a calendar month—even in the late-70s or whatever—is pretty crazy on-ice dominance.

Particularly with 1st-line forwards and PP-defencemen, who sometimes get 30-45% of scoring points on the PP, which doesn't factor into it. And also there were more penalties in the 1970s/80s than recently, which means top-line forwards were probably getting less ES ice-time back then, generally speaking.

For example, Trotter in December 1978: he registers a +26. During that month of 14 NY Islanders' games (the club went 10-1-3), Trotter easily led the NHL in scoring with a Gretzky-ish 36 points, or 2.57 PPG. He scored 27 points at ES, and if I counted it correctly the Isles as a team scored 53 ES goals that month. The question would be: How many of those 26 ES goals that he didn't get a point on was Trottier on the ice for? I have no idea, but I suspect not too many. If we take a guess and say '6' of the 26, that would mean he was on the ice for about 33 Islanders' ES goals that month. His +26 then would mean he was on the ice for 7 ES goals by the opposition against his club, or 1 against every two games, which seems probable.

Anyway, it's a really amazing dominance to reach +20. Of course, these are not individual marks and reflect line-combinations / defence-pairings, etc.

(By the way, Clark Gillies was also +20 that month, so I added to him to my list, above.)

 

[MadLuke]

And also there were more penalties in the 1970s/80s than recently, which means top-line forwards were probably getting less ES ice-time back then, generally speaking.

Roster size was a tiny bit smaller too (17 player until 1983, 16 until 1972 and a team like the Islanders seem to have went with at least 6D)

Maybe someone know, but by "feeling" I doubt an Clarke-Esposito-Trottier had lower ES ice time than stars of today.

 

[The Panther]

Roster size was a tiny bit smaller too (17 player until 1983, 16 until 1972 and a team like the Islanders seem to have went with at least 6D)

Good point. I thought of that too, but forgot to mention it. (Not sure how much that would affect the top players, though.)

Maybe someone know, but by "feeling" I doubt an Clarke-Esposito-Trottier had lower ES ice time than stars of today.

I suspect this would depend on how many penalties there were per game, which probably varied in extremes far more than it does today.

Even when I was a kid (mid-80s to early-90s), there were occasionally games like this Edmonton @ L.A. classic from early 1990: Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings Box Score: February 28, 1990 | Hockey-Reference.com (read down to the penalties-summary):

I can't do the math but you'd think there would have been fairly little ES ice-time!

 

[VanIslander]

This thread shows Bryan Trottier as a flash in the pan, like Orr.

9 & 99 are decades flying.

 

[MadLuke]

This thread shows Bryan Trottier as a flash in the pan, like Orr.

9 & 99 are decades flying.

How so ?

Trottier +20 months era span from 78 to 83, 6 years
Orr from 69 to 74, 6 years
Gretzky from 82 to 87, 6 years

 

[VanIslander]

How so ?

Trottier +20 months era span from 78 to 83, 6 years
Orr from 69 to 74, 6 years
Gretzky from 82 to 87, 6 years

Psst... i'm a '87 grad... our generation knew the trade to L.A. wasn't the end: he led the NHL in assists 5 of the next six years; late 90's he led the NHL again in assists for a sad sack Rags team (he tied tge team lead in paltry 25 goals).

Gretzky scored more after 1987 than Orr's entire short career, heck, he scored more in Los Angeles before his NYR years, than Orr did his entire career. Stop it.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Good point. I thought of that too, but forgot to mention it. (Not sure how much that would affect the top players, though.)

I suspect this would depend on how many penalties there were per game, which probably varied in extremes far more than it does today.

Even when I was a kid (mid-80s to early-90s), there were occasionally games like this Edmonton @ L.A. classic from early 1990: Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings Box Score: February 28, 1990 | Hockey-Reference.com (read down to the penalties-summary):

I can't do the math but you'd think there would have been fairly little ES ice-time!

So the Kings had Marty McSorley and the Oilers had Messier, Dave Brown, Jeff Buekeboom, Kelly Buchberger and Steve Smith. Not to mention crazy Glen Anderson, who was given a "deliberate injury" penalty. And of course, Esa Tikkanen for game long agitation.

How good was Gretzky to be able to overcome that kind of disadvantage and bring the Kings to victory?

 

[MadLuke]

Stop it.

What does anything you wrote demonstrated (or linked in anyway) to the statement: This thread shows Bryan Trottier as a flash in the pan, like Orr.

How did this thread showed that, when this thread showed that no nhl players achieved a feat for longer than them... (and for Orr, no one did it more often)

Trottier was a 19 years old Calder winner in 1976 that what was still getting Selke vote while scoring at a ppg rate in 1988, he won 19 playoff series in a row, scored 1425 points in the nhl, 182 in the playoffs in an 18 years career.
Orr was an hockey phenom playing in the OHA as a 14 years old in 1963, he won the MVP of the 1976 Canada cup, winning 8 Norris.

The notion they were flash in a pan (a thing or person whose sudden but brief success is not repeated or repeatable.) like Cheechoo, JIm Carey or Theodore... Is just ridiculous and certainly not shown in this thread.

You cannot compare players to the most consistant dominant pro athlete in team sport of north america history or Gordie Howe ridiculous career and if they felt short putting them in the flash in a pan category. And they do not feel short at all in this thread to start with, they have some of the longest span among all the players listed.

 

[VanIslander]

It's all relative.

Compared to 9 and 99...

 

[Michael Farkas]

It's a thread about a singular month. Everyone is limited to the same time span...

I guess I'm just glad it's not another post about Hasek losing to Lemieux in the playoffs haha

 

[JackSlater]

It's all relative.

Compared to 9 and 99...

And yet you ranked Orr above Howe.

The posts denigrating Orr/Lemieux are just as tedious as the off topic Hasek video spans. .

 

[VanIslander]

And yet you ranked Orr above Howe.

No. And yes. It depends on the question. Orr like Gretzky is otherworldly skillwise.

In 9 of 10 rooms i root Howe over Orr without a hint of doubt. Gawd. A god vs a midget. (I played B.C. Midget hockey for seven weeks... so i can claim, midget is somehow still acceptable).

 

[JackSlater]

No. And yes. It depends on the question. Orr like Gretzky is otherworldly skillwise.

In 9 of 10 rooms i root Howe over Orr without a hint of doubt. Gawd. A god vs a midget. (I played B.C. Midget hockey for seven weeks... so i can claim, midget is somehow still acceptable).

And yet the frequent nonsense posts, often not even relevant to the rest of the post, taking shots at Orr. Calling Orr (or Trottier) a flash in the pan isn't even at the level of the main board. I'm also not sure I buy you as a credible source on your own opinions after your posts on players like Orr, Lindros, Hasek, Fetisov etc.

Post what you want I guess but again, it's tedious.

 

[The Panther]

How good was Gretzky to be able to overcome that kind of disadvantage and bring the Kings to victory?

...with the legendary Ron Scott in net....

Well, Gretzky won that battle, but the Oilers won the playoff war that spring 1990, again in 1991, and again in 1992.

 

[VanIslander]

Indeed!