Mike Bossy vs Pavel Bure who's the better goal scorer all time?

[Michael Farkas]

Or, I'll trade you...you never talk about goal scoring again and neither will I haha

 

[Gorskyontario]

Or, I'll trade you...you never talk about goal scoring again and neither will I haha

What if some of us like you talking about goal scoring?

 

[Michael Farkas]

Haha, I can assure you...they don't.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

TIME FOR A POLL IN THE POLLS SECTION!

Please don't actually do that.

 

[BarnabyJones PI]

This seems like an unnecessarily long post, and at times suspiciously facetious, but I do applaud you for the word schematically, it made me chuckle silently.

Great rebuttal.

 

[sr edler]

Great rebuttal.

You didn't bring anything new or interesting to the table, to rebut. It's the same old tired "I think Bure couldn't play under this coach because style" and "I don't think Bure could have had chemistry with Zhamnov because reasons" hypotheticals.

 

[BarnabyJones PI]

You didn't bring anything new or interesting to the table, to rebut. It's the same old tired "I think Bure couldn't play under this coach because style" and "I don't think Bure could have had chemistry with Zhamnov because reasons" hypotheticals.

Yet here you are, inserting yourself again, as you have in many similar threads (over the years) on the subject of Bure's style of play. I know I don't bother jumping in on discussions/debates over something I find "tiresome".

 

[overpass]

For those who are comparing stats between Bure and Bossy, I brought up the difference in ice time, where Bure played significantly more ice time than Bossy in his peak goal scoring years. I've gone through a game for each of them and actually tracked the ice time. In each of the games I chose, Bure and Bossy scored a hat trick. Bure played 32 minutes in the game, and Bossy played 16 minutes.

Mike Bossy
I chose Game 4 of the 1983 series against the Boston Bruins, which the Islanders won 8-3, scoring 5 goals in the third period to blow out the Bruins. Bossy scored goals to make it 3-2, 4-2, and 6-2.

1982-83 Prince of Wales Conference Finals Game 4, Boston Bruins vs. New York Islanders Box Score: May 3, 1983 | Hockey-Reference.com

Get the latest box score updates on the Boston Bruins vs. New York Islanders game played on May 3, 1983 on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

Here are Bossy's shifts.

Player	Period	Start of shift	End of shift	Shift length	State
Mike Bossy	1​	20:00​	19:17​	0:43​	EV
Mike Bossy	1​	15:39​	14:14​	1:25​	EV
Mike Bossy	1​	11:42​	10:42​	1:00​	EV
Mike Bossy	1​	9:56​	9:10​	0:46​	EV
Mike Bossy	1​	3:53​	3:13​	0:40​	EV
Mike Bossy	1​	2:23​	1:11​	1:12​	PP
Mike Bossy	2​	20:00​	19:00​	1:00​	PP
Mike Bossy	2​	17:01​	15:55​	1:06​	EV
Mike Bossy	2​	13:53​	12:43​	1:10​	EV
Mike Bossy	2​	11:32​	9:52​	1:40​	PP
Mike Bossy	2​	6:48​	6:01​	0:47​	EV
Mike Bossy	2​	4:10​	3:10​	1:00​	EV
Mike Bossy	2​	0:50​	0:00​	0:50​	EV
Mike Bossy	3​	20:00​	19:07​	0:53​	EV
Mike Bossy	3​	17:07​	16:47​	0:20​	EV
Mike Bossy	3​	13:36​	12:32​	1:04​	PP/EV
Mike Bossy	3​	9:36​	9:02​	0:34​	EV

Player	Period	Shifts	TOI
Mike Bossy	1​	6​	5:46​
Mike Bossy	2​	7​	7:33​
Mike Bossy	3​	4​	2:51​
Mike Bossy	Total	17​	16:10

Overall, Bossy played 17 shifts, totalling about 16 minutes of time on ice. He didn't play a shift in the last 9 minutes of the game, when the Islanders already had 8 goals and a 5-6 goal lead. He was fourth in ice time among Islander forwards, behind Bryan Trottier (20:08), Bob Nystrom (17:36), and Bob Bourne (17:31).

And here are Bossy's three goals.

First goal by Bossy, a between-the-legs pass from Anders Kallur on the rush beat both Boston D-men, and Bossy beat Peeters with a quick shot.

Second goal by Bossy shows his absurdly quick release as he skated to the high slot and one-timed a saucer pass from the corner.

Third goal by Bossy. Potvin hit him with a pass for a breakaway on the power play. Bossy tucked it under Peeters while being hooked from behind and turned around. The announcers were just trashing Peeters for his poor lateral movement by this time,

Pavel Bure

I tracked Bure's ice time for a Toronto-Florida regular season game on March 17, 2001. Bure scored all three goals in a 5-3 loss to Toronto.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Florida Panthers Box Score: March 17, 2001 | Hockey-Reference.com

Get the latest box score updates on the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Florida Panthers game played on March 17, 2001 on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

Here are Bure's three goals. First, second, third. On all three goals, he received a pass with speed in the neutral zone, skated over the blue line, and beat Curtis Joseph with a shot taken at speed.

Here are Bure's shifts.

Player​	Period​	Start of shift​	End of shift​	Shift length​	State​
Pavel Bure	1​	20:00​	19:10​	0:50​	EV
Pavel Bure	1​	18:00​	16:30​	1:30​	PP
Pavel Bure	1​	14:45​	14:38​	0:07​	EV
Pavel Bure	1​	12:20​	9:55​	2:25​	EV/PP
Pavel Bure	1​	7:00​	5:20​	1:40​	SH/EV
Pavel Bure	1​	4:25​	3:45​	0:40​	EV
Pavel Bure	1​	2:40​	1:58​	0:42​	EV
Pavel Bure	1​	0:48​	0:00​	0:48​	EV
Pavel Bure	2​	20:00​	19:00​	1:00​	EV
Pavel Bure	2​	17:50​	16:40​	1:10​	EV
Pavel Bure	2​	15:30​	14:03​	1:27​	EV
Pavel Bure	2​	13:17​	11:33​	1:44​	PP
Pavel Bure	2​	10:10​	8:05​	2:05​	EV/PP
Pavel Bure	2​	6:40​	5:23​	1:17​	EV
Pavel Bure	2​	5:10​	4:40​	0:30​	EV
Pavel Bure	2​	3:04​	2:05​	0:59​	EV
Pavel Bure	2​	1:05​	0:00​	1:05​	EV
Pavel Bure	3​	20:00​	18:55​	1:05​	EV
Pavel Bure	3​	18:24​	15:34​	2:50​	EV
Pavel Bure	3​	14:52​	14:20​	0:32​	SH
Pavel Bure	3​	13:05​	11:23​	1:42​	EV
Pavel Bure	3​	10:10​	8:45​	1:25​	EV
Pavel Bure	3​	8:00​	6:55​	1:05​	EV
Pavel Bure	3​	5:41​	2:50​	2:51​	PP/EV
Pavel Bure	3​	1:25​	0:07​	1:18​	EV

Player​	Period​	Shifts​	TOI​
Pavel Bure	1​	8​	8:42​
Pavel Bure	2​	9​	11:17​
Pavel Bure	3​	8​	12:48​
Pavel Bure	Total​	25​	32:47​

Overall, Bure played 25 shifts, totalling about 32 minutes of ice time, which was first on the Panthers. He played his most minutes in the third period, almost 13 of 20 minutes.

So we all know Bossy had some advantages. Better teammates and playmakers to set him up. He played in a higher scoring era against worse goalies. But he also had to play within a team system that was focused on winning. Many other great goal scorers would be out there in the last 10 minutes of the game trying to score more. And in the case of Bossy and Bure specifically, Bure played much more ice time.