Obscure hockey facts/stats (Part 2)

[Retire91]

Although Bob Probert did not hit the top 5 for penalty minutes in one season, he almost set the record for most individual penalties called on a player in one season at 123. Steve Durbano still holds that record at 124 penalties committed in one season. 1.79 penalties per game lol

 

[Big Phil]

I may have written this before, but Howe, Lemieux, Messier and Ovechkin have a combined zero playoff overtime goals in their careers.

 

[Megahab]

I may have written this before, but Howe, Lemieux, Messier and Ovechkin have a combined zero playoff overtime goals in their careers.

Interestingly, Backstrom is tied for 6th all time with 4 such goals.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Joe Malone owns record for most goals (7) in a game.

 

[Nordekes]

Has Crosby ever scored a playoff OT winner?

Game 2 vs Tampa, 2016 ECF

 

[Hockeyholic]

Game 2 vs Tampa, 2016 ECF

Thx.

In retrospect, that was a humongous goal. TB winning would've been tough for Pittsburgh to overcome.

 

[Retire91]

If I didn't screw this up lol

The 50 goal season mark has been reached 200 times by 95 players
The 60 goal season mark has been reached 60 times by 21 players
The 70 goal season mark has been reached 14 times by 8 players
The 80 goal season mark has been reached 4 times by 3 players
The 90 goal season mark has been reached 1 time by 1 player

 

[chrispw1]

The Penguins in their history are 6-0 in Game 7s, on the road. By far the best record in NHL history. It isn't even close otherwise. Yet they are 4-7 at home in Game 7s.

I believe three of those were in Washington 1992, 1995, 2009
Edit,1995 game 7 was at home

 

[spiny norman]

An example of how the NHL game has evolved in recent years ... no one since Sidney Crosby in his rookie year of 2005-06 with 102 points and 110 penalty minutes has a player joined the both 100 points and 100 penalty minutes in a season club.

Though Brad Marchand did come close in 2018-19 with 100 points and 96 penalty minutes.

 

[Super Fadio Bro]

I believe three of those were in Washington 1992, 1995, 2009
Edit,1995 game 7 was at home

2017 would be the other one.

 

[Hockeyholic]

NJ won the cup in 2003.

During every home game of the 03 PO, the Devils shot twice at the North End of the Arena.

During every road game of the 03 PO, the Devils shot twice at the opposite end of the arena.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Bernie Nicholls (88-89) scored the most points in a season without ever receiving a Hart trophy nomination.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Bernie Nicholls (88-89) scored the most points in a season without ever receiving a Hart trophy nomination.

I wonder what the top 10 looks like.

 

[Hockeyholic]

I wonder what the top 10 looks like.

Good question.

That's a tough find.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Here are the ten (11 due to ties) players with the most points in a season, and finishing outside of the top three in Hart voting:

Player	Year	GP	G	A	Pts	Hart
Bernie Nicholls	1989	79​	70​	80​	150​	N/A
Jaromir Jagr	1996	82​	62​	87​	149​	4​
Adam Oates	1993	84​	45​	97​	142​	4​
Wayne Gretzky	1990	73​	40​	102​	142​	4​
Peter Stastny	1982	80​	46​	93​	139​	4​
Paul Coffey	1986	79​	48​	90​	138​	4​
Steve Yzerman	1993	84​	58​	79​	137​	8​
Dennis Maruk	1982	80​	60​	76​	136​	6​
Jari Kurri	1985	73​	71​	64​	135​	14​
Pierre Turgeon	1993	83​	58​	74​	132​	5​
Teemu Selanne	1993	84​	76​	56​	132​	6​

If the question is who received no votes whatsoever (like Nicholls):

Player	Year	GP	G	A	Pts
Bernie Nicholls	1989	79​	70​	80​	150​
Jari Kurri	1986	78​	68​	63​	131​
Wayne Gretzky	1994	81​	38​	92​	130​
Phil Esposito	1975	79​	61​	66​	127​
Alexander Mogilny	1993	77​	76​	51​	127​
Luc Robitaille	1993	84​	63​	62​	125​
Mario Lemieux	1990	59​	45​	78​	123​
Mark Recchi	1993	84​	53​	70​	123​
Wayne Gretzky	1992	74​	31​	90​	121​
Ron Francis	1996	77​	27​	92​	119​

 

[jigglysquishy]

What year did the Hart ballot expand? 95?

I'd be curious to see a list with some form of scoring adjustment. 4 of the top 11 are from 93.

Jagr finishing 4th in 96 is interesting. This is pre 4peat of Art Ross, but after he established he was very elite offensively. Was the perception at the time that he was that far down from Lemieux and Lindros?

 

[The Panther]

I realize Gretzky was dominant and voters don't want two guys on the same team, but the disrespect shown Jari Kurri in 1985 and 1986 is big.

 

[alko]

Here are the ten (11 due to ties) players with the most points in a season, and finishing outside of the top three in Hart voting:

Player	Year	GP	G	A	Pts	Hart
Bernie Nicholls	1989	79​	70​	80​	150​	N/A
Jaromir Jagr	1996	82​	62​	87​	149​	4​
Adam Oates	1993	84​	45​	97​	142​	4​
Wayne Gretzky	1990	73​	40​	102​	142​	4​
Peter Stastny	1982	80​	46​	93​	139​	4​
Paul Coffey	1986	79​	48​	90​	138​	4​
Steve Yzerman	1993	84​	58​	79​	137​	8​
Dennis Maruk	1982	80​	60​	76​	136​	6​
Jari Kurri	1985	73​	71​	64​	135​	14​
Pierre Turgeon	1993	83​	58​	74​	132​	5​
Teemu Selanne	1993	84​	76​	56​	132​	6​

If the question is who received no votes whatsoever (like Nicholls):

Player	Year	GP	G	A	Pts
Bernie Nicholls	1989	79​	70​	80​	150​
Jari Kurri	1986	78​	68​	63​	131​
Wayne Gretzky	1994	81​	38​	92​	130​
Phil Esposito	1975	79​	61​	66​	127​
Alexander Mogilny	1993	77​	76​	51​	127​
Luc Robitaille	1993	84​	63​	62​	125​
Mario Lemieux	1990	59​	45​	78​	123​
Mark Recchi	1993	84​	53​	70​	123​
Wayne Gretzky	1992	74​	31​	90​	121​
Ron Francis	1996	77​	27​	92​	119​

No votes table: Gretzky, Lemieux and mogilny surprised me a lot.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

No votes table: Gretzky, Lemieux and mogilny surprised me a lot.

76 goals in 77 games and not one hart vote. Imagine Leafs fans if Matthews wasn't a finalist after 60 goals this season.

 

[The Panther]

No votes table: Gretzky, Lemieux and mogilny surprised me a lot.

Gretzky is the only player to win the scoring title and not receive a single Hart vote.

(Conversely, in 1985, Brent Sutter got one vote for the Hart trophy and Brian Sutter got five.)

76 goals in 77 games and not one hart vote. Imagine Leafs fans if Matthews wasn't a finalist after 60 goals this season.

Lafontaine got a few votes, right? But it's a sharp contrast to Hull - Oates in 1991, when Hull was more so the Mogilny role and Lafontaine a bit more like Oates. In that case, Hull won the Hart.

In retrospect, the 1991 Hart would have been interesting if Oates hadn't missed any games to injury. He almost certainly outscores Hull on that Blues team, so I wonder if that would have split votes?

 

[Big Phil]

Luc Robitaille never received a Hart vote in his entire career. Not one. How is that even possible?

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Luc Robitaille never received a Hart vote in his entire career. Not one. How is that even possible?

I've made the comment (in other threads) that Robitaille is probably the best player who spent most/all of his career in the NHL (so that excludes Fetisov, Makarov etc) with zero Hart votes.

Why? As a starting point, fairly or not, the Hart trophy is strongly correlated with points finishes. Lucky Luc placed higher than 9th in scoring only twice in his career, and he was at best an indifferent defensive player (so there's not a lot of value that he brought, that isn't already captured in scoring stats). Plus, Robitaille spent most of his career playing through an era where there were only three spots on each Hart ballot.

Putting that all together (and not to disparage Robitaille) - but he was a one-dimensional forward who placed higher than 9th in scoring twice. And there are only three spots to go around each year. Maybe there's some bad luck, but it's not shocking that he never got a vote.

The two years where he placed higher than 9th were 1988 and 1992, where he was 5th both years. In 1992, his linemate Gretzky outscored him by 14 points, despite missing six games, and even Gretzky didn't get any Hart votes - so it's not surprising Robitaille didn't either.

In 1988, Robitaille was tied for 5th in scoring. Gretzky was injured, and Lemieux decisively won the Hart. Grant Fuhr finished runner-up (it's rare for any non-forward to be a Hart finalist). Then you had other "franchise scoring centres" like Hawerchuk and Savard, who both outscored Robitaille, and led their teams in scoring by huge margins (42 points for Hawerchuk, also 42 points for Savard vs only 4 for Robitaille - even Yzerman led his team in scoring by 29 points despite missing almost a quarter of the season). Add in Gretzky (injured or not, he scored 149 points), a very strong season from Ray Bourque, and it's easy to see how there's no room for Robitaille, if you only get three votes.

Robitaille's best year, in terms of unadjusted stats, was 1993 (63 goals and 125 points). But that was a freakishly high-scoring season (for reasons discussed in other threads). He was only 9th in scoring, there were only three votes to go around, and Mario Lemieux was virtually unanimous (49 first place votes and 1 second place vote). It's not surprising that Lafontaine (who outscored him by 23 points) and Gilmour (who outscored him by 2 points but was vastly superior defensively) took most of the remaining spots. Maybe Robitaille could have taken a vote that went to Oates or Turgeon or Selanne, but they all outscored him (at least by a bit), and none were any worse defensively.

During his late-career resurgence (1999, 2000 and 2001), the Hart ballot had expanded to five spots. But he finished T-16th, 16th, and 11th in scoring (and he didn't lead his team in scoring the latter year). So there were more spots on the ballot, but he was too far down the scoring race.

Overall - it's surprising Robitaille never got a single throwaway vote, but I think it can be explained.

 

[The Panther]

Yeah, I'm a little surprised that Robitaille didn't get one 'homer' throwaway third-place vote in 1988 or in 1993.

 

[The Panther]

Adam Oates is almost another 'Robitaille'. In Oates's case, he received two third-place Hart votes in 1994... and never received any others his entire career.

So, try to figure this out: In 1991, when Oates was 2nd to Gretzky in PPG, 2nd in the NHL in assists, and was a 2nd-team All Star for the only time in his career, he didn't receive a single Hart vote. But John MacLean -- 30th in scoring, for a sub-.500 team -- did.

 

[FerrisRox]

Luc Robitaille never received a Hart vote in his entire career. Not one. How is that even possible?

Because he was never in the conversation for being the best player in the league?