I'm surprised to find out in the search engine that there has never been a thread on Johnny Bucyck (at least one that hasn't been deleted..)
But he definitely deserves to be talked about. Just looking at his hockey reference page he has a very interesting career.
6 top 10 points finishes, but 4 of them happened in his 30s.
7 top 10 PPG finishes, 5 of them during his 30s.
Most of this could be attributed to expansion. But I don't know, even the older 30+ year old star players that maintained their production into the expansion era didn't necessarily have their most productive seasons. Bucyck did.
Something else that stood out was his shooting percentage. 10 seasons in the top 10 including 3 times leading the league.
Im not sure what the record is, but that has to be up there right? Craig Simpson (the career shooting% leader) led the league 3 times, but "only" 2 other times in the top 10.
And once again, most of this in his 30s.
So, did he actually improve as a player, or was this all circumstantial, due to the expansion and being on much better teams later in his career?
Beyond the stats though.. what was he like as a player? What was his reputation like back then? Feel free to share anything else interesting related to the man. Consider this the all encompassing Bucyck thread..
