Obscure hockey facts/stats (Part 2)

[TheStatican]

Espo's 2 goals in the final 5 in 70-71 seem more like a statistical anomaly(just as how the 10 goals he scored in the final 5 of 73-74 likely was) rather than conclusive evidence of him playing less minutes on average during that time given that he also had 12 assists and his overall scoring rate was higher then during the first 55:

Espo​	G​	A​	Pts​	Final 5 pace​	1st 55 pace​	​
70-71​	2​	12​	14​	2.15​	1.93​	12%​
71-72​	6​	5​	11​	1.74​	1.75​	-1%​
72-73​	4​	5​	9​	1.38​	1.69​	-18%​
73-74​	10​	3​	13​	2.00​	1.85​	8%​
74-75​	6​	5​	11​	1.67​	1.60​	4%​
​	28​	30​	58​	1.79​	1.76​	1%​

Taking that 5-year period together as a whole his scoring rates in the final 5 were essentially equal to his first 55, as was his ratio of goals to assists.


Hull is an entirely different story given the massive drop in his scoring rates in the final 5 and not just in his 90-91 season but in all three of his top years:

Hull​	G​	A​	Pts​	Final 5 pace​	1st 55 pace​	​
88-90​	3​	2​	5​	0.75​	1.47​	-49%​
90-91​	1​	1​	2​	0.31​	1.80​	-83%​
91-92​	2​	3​	5​	0.82​	1.55​	-47%​
​	6​	6​	12​	0.62​	1.61​	-61%​

 

[The Panther]

Hm, interesting. I guess to score a lot of goals in the final 5 minutes, you have to (a) be on a good team that's already up (so the other team is taking risks at the end, plus sometimes you get empty-netters), and (b) have a coach who trusts/wants you out there at the end, either when down in score or when up.

Maybe these don't apply as much to Hull in the early-90s? Brian Sutter likely didn't have the philosophy of having a top sniping winger (who, at the time, basically didn't defend at all) out on the ice when protecting a lead. So, there's that. But the Blues were a notably 'good' team in only one of Hull's three peak seasons, 1990-91. The other two seasons they were just barely above .500.

So, it's odd, because you would think a club that tied or lost 43 and 44 games, respectively (in 1990 and in 1992), would always have Hull out there in the final few minutes.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

This might have been posted in this thread before, but was news to me.

I noticed while reading about Harry Lumley, that he’d appeared in at least one game for every “Original 6” franchise save for one (the Canadiens), which made me curious if there ever was one who’d played for every O6 team, during the O6 era.

And yes, according to his Wikipedia, Vic Lynn is the only player with at least one game played for every Original 6 team.

Of note: Lynn played for 100% of the existing NHL teams since his debut for the Rangers in 1942-43, as an 18 year old. The season prior was the final NHL season of the Americans franchise, it folding marking the beginning of the “Original 6” era.

Lynn appeared in 1, 3 and 2 games respectively for the Rangers, Red Wings and Canadiens, before finding a home in Toronto over the next four seasons where Lynn became a three time Cup champ and a decent contributor to boot (simply stat watching). His first and last seasons in Toronto he’s listed as a defenseman, and otherwise as an LW.

After his Leaf years, Lynn spent parts of a couple of seasons each playing out his NHL career with the Bruins and the Blackhawks. His most productive year was in Toronto (1947-48: 12-22-34), but his goal scoring peak happened in Boston in 1950-51 when he tallied 14 goals in just 56 games. He’s listed behind only Red Kelly (17) for most goals by a defenseman on the season.

 

[overpass]

Espo's 2 goals in the final 5 in 70-71 seem more like a statistical anomaly(just as how the 10 goals he scored in the final 5 of 73-74 likely was) rather than conclusive evidence of him playing less minutes on average during that time given that he also had 12 assists and his overall scoring rate was higher then during the first 55:

Espo​	G​	A​	Pts​	Final 5 pace​	1st 55 pace​	​
70-71​	2​	12​	14​	2.15​	1.93​	12%​
71-72​	6​	5​	11​	1.74​	1.75​	-1%​
72-73​	4​	5​	9​	1.38​	1.69​	-18%​
73-74​	10​	3​	13​	2.00​	1.85​	8%​
74-75​	6​	5​	11​	1.67​	1.60​	4%​
​	28​	30​	58​	1.79​	1.76​	1%​

Taking that 5-year period together as a whole his scoring rates in the final 5 were essentially equal to his first 55, as was his ratio of goals to assists.


Hull is an entirely different story given the massive drop in his scoring rates in the final 5 and not just in his 90-91 season but in all three of his top years:

Hull​	G​	A​	Pts​	Final 5 pace​	1st 55 pace​	​
88-90​	3​	2​	5​	0.75​	1.47​	-49%​
90-91​	1​	1​	2​	0.31​	1.80​	-83%​
91-92​	2​	3​	5​	0.82​	1.55​	-47%​
​	6​	6​	12​	0.62​	1.61​	-61%​

Good point about Esposito and the bigger picture with assists, others years, etc.

So Esposito's late game scoring pattern was different from Hull's in that it remained steady and didn't drop off, but he also didn't have Gretzky and Lemieux's late-game spike in scoring. Much of that was empty net/defending a lead scoring from Gretzky and Lemieux. Blowout scoring was also a difference.

The 1970-71 Bruins scored 44 goals that put their team up by 5 or more. Esposito only had a point on 7 of those goals, or 16%. The team point scoring leaders on these 44 goals were:

John Bucyk 13
Bobby Orr 13
Wayne Carleton 10
Derek Sanderson 10
John McKenzie 10
Ed Westfall 9
Fred Stanfield 9
Phil Esposito 7
Ken Hodge 6
(Wayne Cashman 3)

The Bruins top line, Esposito, Hodge, and Cashman, rarely scored with a big lead. Their second and third lines (Bucyk-Stanfield-McKenzie and Carleton-Sanderson-Westfall) were more likely to score in these situations.

Compare to Wayne Gretzky in 1981-82, who scored frequently in blowout situations. The Oilers that season scored 37 goals that put their team up by 5 or more. Gretzky had points on 22 of those goals, or 60%. Edmonton scoring leaders on blowout goals were:

Wayne Gretzky 22
Dave Lumley 10
Paul Coffey 7
Mark Messier 7
Glenn Anderson 6

Of course Gretzky still had a more impressive point scoring season any way you count it, but Esposito probably could have had 10 more points if Tom Johnson gave him the green light with a big lead.

 

[reckoning]

In 1979, Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec and Winnipeg joined the NHL. The only player to play on all four of these teams in the NHL was Bryan Marchment. The Nordiques had already moved to Colorado when he played there, but it still kind of counts

 

[alko]

This might have been posted in this thread before, but was news to me.

I noticed while reading about Harry Lumley, that he’d appeared in at least one game for every “Original 6” franchise save for one (the Canadiens), which made me curious if there ever was one who’d played for every O6 team, during the O6 era.

And yes, according to his Wikipedia, Vic Lynn is the only player with at least one game played for every Original 6 team.

Of note: Lynn played for 100% of the existing NHL teams since his debut for the Rangers in 1942-43, as an 18 year old. The season prior was the final NHL season of the Americans franchise, it folding marking the beginning of the “Original 6” era.

Lynn appeared in 1, 3 and 2 games respectively for the Rangers, Red Wings and Canadiens, before finding a home in Toronto over the next four seasons where Lynn became a three time Cup champ and a decent contributor to boot (simply stat watching). His first and last seasons in Toronto he’s listed as a defenseman, and otherwise as an LW.

After his Leaf years, Lynn spent parts of a couple of seasons each playing out his NHL career with the Bruins and the Blackhawks. His most productive year was in Toronto (1947-48: 12-22-34), but his goal scoring peak happened in Boston in 1950-51 when he tallied 14 goals in just 56 games. He’s listed behind only Red Kelly (17) for most goals by a defenseman on the season.

Is there any player in modern history, who is somehow close to this?

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Is there any player in modern history, who is somehow close to this?

I couldn’t find any modern player who has played for more than four O6 franchises, which has been done by a bunch, including Mathieu Schneider, Robert Lang, Anders Eriksson and P.A. Parenteau.

Found this 10 year old forum post:

I believe this is a full list of players who have played at least one NHL game with at least four different O6 teams:

Player | No.
Vic Lynn | 6
Leroy Goldsworthy | 5
Bronco Horvath | 5
Harry Lumley | 5
Bud Poile | 5
Gaye Stewart | 5
Pete Babando | 4
Bryan Berard | 4
Paul Bibeault | 4
John Brenneman | 4
Jeff Brubaker | 4
Lorne Chabot | 4
Dave Creighton | 4
Wilf Cude | 4
Ian Cushenan | 4
Lorne Davis | 4
Ab DeMarco | 4
Aaron Downey | 4
Anders Eriksson | 4
Reggie Fleming | 4
Bert Gardiner | 4
Cal Gardner | 4
Howie Glover | 4
Bob Gracie | 4
Dutch Hiller | 4
Larry Hillman | 4
Roger Jenkins | 4
Forbes Kennedy | 4
Kris King | 4
Robert Lang | 4
Albert Langlois | 4
Ed Litzenberger | 4
Parker MacDonald | 4
Al MacNeil | 4
Clare Martin | 4
Ab McDonald | 4
Don McKenney | 4
John McKenzie | 4
Larry Mickey | 4
Nick Mickoski | 4
Jim Morrison | 4
Ron Murphy | 4
George Patterson | 4
Jimmy Peters | 4
Jacques Plante | 4
Noel Price | 4
Stephane Quintal | 4
Eddie Rodden | 4
Charlie Sands | 4
Terry Sawchuk | 4
Mathieu Schneider | 4
Bobby Sheehan | 4
Floyd Smith | 4
Allan Stanley | 4
Billy Taylor | 4
Carl Voss | 4
Johnny Wilson | 4

Bronco Horvath would be the youngest player to play for five Original 6 franchises, having been born March 12, 1930. Horvath played for every O6 team except the Red Wings, and also made a brief NHL comeback for the expansion North Stars in 1967-68.

 

[TheStatican]

Good point about Esposito and the bigger picture with assists, others years, etc.

So Esposito's late game scoring pattern was different from Hull's in that it remained steady and didn't drop off, but he also didn't have Gretzky and Lemieux's late-game spike in scoring. Much of that was empty net/defending a lead scoring from Gretzky and Lemieux. Blowout scoring was also a difference.

The 1970-71 Bruins scored 44 goals that put their team up by 5 or more. Esposito only had a point on 7 of those goals, or 16%. The team point scoring leaders on these 44 goals were:

John Bucyk 13
Bobby Orr 13
Wayne Carleton 10
Derek Sanderson 10
John McKenzie 10
Ed Westfall 9
Fred Stanfield 9
Phil Esposito 7
Ken Hodge 6
(Wayne Cashman 3)

The Bruins top line, Esposito, Hodge, and Cashman, rarely scored with a big lead. Their second and third lines (Bucyk-Stanfield-McKenzie and Carleton-Sanderson-Westfall) were more likely to score in these situations.

Compare to Wayne Gretzky in 1981-82, who scored frequently in blowout situations. The Oilers that season scored 37 goals that put their team up by 5 or more. Gretzky had points on 22 of those goals, or 60%. Edmonton scoring leaders on blowout goals were:

Wayne Gretzky 22
Dave Lumley 10
Paul Coffey 7
Mark Messier 7
Glenn Anderson 6

Of course Gretzky still had a more impressive point scoring season any way you count it, but Esposito probably could have had 10 more points if Tom Johnson gave him the green light with a big lead.

Well when you put it that way, that certainly provides strong evidence of reduced usage in blowout situations, which was not readily apparent when just looking at the final 5 minutes of games.

The numbers I got are a little off from yours though, were you perhaps not including goals in the second period or am I missing something?

Gm# / Team / Espo / Orr
8 2 0 0
9 1 0 0
12 1 0 0
13 1 1 0 < in the 2nd
16 1 0 0
27 2 1 0
31 3 1 0 < in the 2nd
32 1 1 0
37 2 0 0
38 1 0 1
42 3 3 1 < one of those in the 2nd
44 4 0 1
49 2 0 1
50 2 0 1
57 1 0 1
60 1 0 0
62 2 0 0
63 3 0 1
66 3 0 1
67 2 0 2
69 3 1 0
77 2 1 1
78 2 1 1

That gives a team total of 45 goals that put them up by 5 or more, with Esposito having a hand in 10(Orr 12).

Either way your point still stands. 10 of 45 is just 22%, much lower than his full season rate of 38%, which had he maintained would have given him 17. Give or take a few due to naturally expected variances, but to have only a little more than half his expected total is quite unlikely to be the result of 'random chance'. He was almost certainly being used less in those situations as opposed to say Gretzky whos scoring never declined in blowouts. Before anyone gets up in arms about that - obviously as overpass noted, that doesn't change anything in a comparison with Gretzky. BUT it may change his legacy compared to other players who rank in the same tier as Phil as he almost certainly would have averaged over 2 points a game with a good chance of hitting the legendary 160 point mark(and 80 goals) if he was out there more during big wins.

I also delved a little deeper into those 14 points in the final 5. Turns out the evidence was also there as well, as fewer than expected of his points in the final 5 came in blowouts. But using the any time totals gives a larger(better) sample size.

Date​	Score​	Time​	​
1970-10-14​	7 to 4​	18:56​	assists on goal(ES) by Cashman​
1970-11-14​	1 to 3​	17:35​	assists on goal(ES) by Cashman​
1970-12-03​	3 to 4​	18:51​	assists on goal(ES) by Hodge to tie game​
1970-12-05​	3 to 2​	19:27​	assists on Empty Net goal(ES) by Hodge​
1970-12-20​	6 to 2​	19:22​	assists on goal(ES) by Green​
1970-12-30​	5 to 2​	19:18​	scores(ES)​
1971-01-10​	5 to 4​	17:47​	assists on goal(ES) by Hodge​
1971-01-23​	5 to 2​	17:35​	assists on goal(ES) by Cashman de ja vu​
1971-02-09​	4 to 3​	19:31​	assists on Empty Net goal(ES) by Cashman​
1971-02-09​	5 to 3​	19:48​	assists on goal(ES) by Orr​
1971-02-16​	3 to 4​	16:10​	assists on goal(PP) by Orr to tie game​
1971-03-07​	3 to 1​	15:23​	scores(ES)​
1971-03-16​	10 to 4​	19:01​	assists on goal(ES) by Hodge​
1971-04-04​	6 to 2​	18:15​	assists on goal(PP) by McKenzie​

1 - down by 2
2 - down by 1
0 - tied
3 - up by 1
2 - up by 2
3 - up by 3
2 - up by 4
1 - up by 5 or more
and just 2 empty net points

The Bruins scored 12 goals when up by 4 goals and 6 goals when up by 5 goals, while Espo's totals were just 3 and 1. He also scored a little less than expected overall in the final 5 minutes vs. the team average. The Bruins scored 41 goals from the 55th to 60th minute +23% over their whole game rate and +26% over their first 55 minute rate, while Espo's numbers were +10.5% & 12%

 

[The Panther]

It must have been mentioned on here somewhere (and not quite 'obscure' as it happened three days ago), but in Tampa Bay's 8-2 butt-kicking of Carolina the other day, Hurricanes' goalie Antti Raanta became the first NHL goalie in the entire history of save percentage (since 1955?) to play an entire game and allow more than half of the shots faced to go in the net.

For the entire game, Raanta faced 14 shots and managed six total saves.

 

[The Panther]

If you go by points-per-game total (min. 240 games played, about half), from 1995-96 through 2000-01 (six seasons), Jaromír Jágr scored 17 more points-per-82-game season than any other NHL player. (Of course, if you count Mario's' 189 games, he's far ahead of Jágr, but Mario was well short of 50% of the games played and was actually retired in between.)

How many players, then, I wonder, have managed to out-score every other player by 17 points-per-82-games over a six-season span (with a min. of 50% of the games played)? Gretzky is a given, Lemieux too, probably Esposito, but who else? Here's what I got (and for historically shorter seasons I reduce the games played mininum to 50% of whatever the total games available was; notes in light-color detail cases where the "winner" appeared in an unusually low number of games played):


Wayne Gretzky 1982-1987
-- 83 points ahead of #2 (Bossy)

Wayne Gretzky 1981-1986
-- 75 points ahead of #2 (Bossy)

Wayne Gretzky 1980-1985
-- 66 points ahead of #2 (Bossy)

Wayne Gretzky 1979-1984
-- 62 points ahead of #2 (Stastny)

Wayne Gretzky 1983-1988
-- 62 points ahead of #2 (Lemieux)

Wayne Gretzky 1978-1983 [Gretzky appeared in about 66% of the total games]
-- 58 points ahead of #2 (Dionne)

Mario Lemieux 1991-1996
-- 54 points ahead of #2 (Gretzky) [Lemieux appeared in about 55% of the total games]

Mario Lemieux 1992-1997
-- 51 points ahead of #2 (Lindros) [Lemieux and Lindros each appeared in about 64% of the total games]

Wayne Gretzky 1984-1989
-- 44 points ahead of #2 (Lemieux)

Mario Lemieux 1990-1995
-- 39 points ahead of #2 (Gretzky) [Lemieux appeared in about 52% of the total games]

(From 1971 to 1976, Orr and Esposito tied at #1, placing them 36 points ahead of #2, Clarke.)

Mario Lemieux 1989-1994
-- 34 points ahead of #2 (Gretzky) [Lemieux appeared in about 63% of the total games]

Wayne Gretzky 1985-1990
-- 32 points ahead of #2 (Lemieux)

Mario Lemieux 1988-1994
-- 26 points ahead of #2 (Gretzky)

Newsy Lalonde 1919-1924
-- 21 points ahead of #2 (Denneny) [Lalonde appeared in 61% of the total games]

Bobby Orr 1973-1978 [Orr appeared in about 52% of the total games]
-- 20 points ahead of #2 (Lafleur; Esposito)

Bill Cowley 1939-1944
-- 19 points ahead of #2 (Apps)

Guy Lafleur 1975-1980
-- 17 points ahead of #2 (Dionne)
Jaromír Jágr 1996-2001
-- 17 points ahead of #2 (Lindros)
Sidney Crosby 2007-2012
-- 17 points ahead of #2 (Malkin)
Connor McDavid 2018-2023
-- 17 points ahead of #2 (Kucherov)

Gordie Howe 1951-1956
--16 points ahead of #2 (Richard)
Phil Esposito 1967-1972
-- 16 points ahead of #2 (Orr)
Wayne Gretzky 1986-1991
-- 16 points ahead of #2 (Lemieux)
Sidney Crosby 2010-2015
-- 16 points ahead of #2 (Malkin)

(Charlie Conacher came close to making the 16-point cut-off between 1931 and 1936, but fell just short.)

____________________________________________________________

So, Gretzky and Lemieux have done this in crazy statistical domination terms (as you'd expect), but deleting them from existence the historical list looks like this:

(Thirteen highest are by Gretzky / Lemieux, and then...)
21 points: Newsy Lalonde
20 points: Bobby Orr
19 points: Bill Cowley
17 points: Lafleur, Jágr, Crosby, McDavid
16 points: Howe, Esposito, Crosby

That's it in all of NHL history (I think). And Lalonde and Orr come with asterisks, I guess, since they played only 52-61% of the games available in the six-year span.

It just goes to show how incredibly rare it is to see any individual player dominate scoring for a six-year span to the tune of only 16+ points higher than competition.

 

[Crosby2010]

Paul Gardner scored 36 goals in 1982 and led the NHL in power play goals with 21 and did the same thing the following years but with 28 goals and 20 on the power play. Gretzky had 92 and 71 goals respectively those years and had 18 power play goals both years.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Only 24 players in NHL history have recorded 700+ primary points at ES:

Player	Position	Games	ES PRIM	Per game
Wayne Gretzky	C	1,487	1,454​	0.98
Gordie Howe	R	1,767	1,052​	0.60
Jaromir Jagr	R	1,733	1,015​	0.59
Mark Messier	C	1,756	922​	0.53
Marcel Dionne	C	1,348	899​	0.67
Steve Yzerman	C	1,514	860​	0.57
Ron Francis	C	1,731	815​	0.47
Phil Esposito	C	1,282	802​	0.63
Alex Ovechkin	L	1,365	792​	0.58
Sidney Crosby	C	1,210	780​	0.64
Stan Mikita	C	1,396	765​	0.55
Mario Lemieux	C	915​	763​	0.83
Guy Lafleur	R	1,126	749​	0.67
Joe Sakic	C	1,378	749​	0.54
Norm Ullman	C	1,410	737​	0.52
Mike Gartner	R	1,432	736​	0.51
Johnny Bucyk	L	1,540	736​	0.48
Joe Thornton	C	1,714	735​	0.43
Bryan Trottier	C	1,279	727​	0.57
Jari Kurri	R	1,251	716​	0.57
Teemu Selanne	R	1,451	715​	0.49
Luc Robitaille	L	1,431	712​	0.50
Gilbert Perreault	C	1,191	708​	0.59
Henri Richard	C	1,258	702​	0.56

These are raw numbers, not adjusted for era. Gretzky's lead over everyone else is comical. Gretzky has more primary assists at ES (837) than anyone else has total assists at ES (Jagr is closest at 758).

Ovechkin and Crosby rank 9th and 10th all-time. Ovechkin will likely reach 800 first, but it should be close.

Howe is only 11th on a per game basis (among all 97 players who scored 1,000 points). But he played in a lower scoring era than everyone ahead of him (except possibly Crosby). And, of course, he played longer than anyone on the list. During his prime (1951 to 1963), he averaged 0.65 per game, which is incredible given how low-scoring an era it was.

Henri Richard looks great by this metric (especially since his era had shorter seasons and was relatively low scoring).

No defensemen are on this list. Coffey ranks first at 559 (ES primary points). Bourque is a distant second at 497. Lidstrom has a surprisingly paltry 288.

McDavid is already up to 451 (0.77 per game). There's a chance - and I wouldn't bet money on it today, but it's conceivable - that he ends up as the 4th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 ES primary points. There's also a chance Crosby gets there, but I also wouldn't bet on it.

Next closest among active players are Kane (662) and Malkin (608).

In a neat coincidence, Bobby and Brett Hull both end up at exactly 687.

 

[LightningStorm]

Team Canada at the 2002 Olympics had less players - at that time anyway - who had won a Stanley Cup (12) compared to the Americans (15).

This one actually doesn't surprise me a single bit. 2002 Team USA was an old team due to the American talent in the draft dropping off in the early 90's and not recovering for the rest of the decade. This was the final real chance the core of players who won the 1996 WCH had to win a best on best tournament, as they still had the carry the load with no young talent to fill in. It's how you had Gary Suter and Phil Housley still making a national team in 2002, when in most scenarios you'd think it would've been the late 90's at the latest for when they'd be selected for their country. Mike Richter was even the starting goalie in his penultimate season (plus the following year he only played 13 games in his final season). But the fact that this team had played together a lot really helped them get off to the best start of the Olympics, and was a big reason why they were undefeated going into the Gold Medal game. Canada had more of a sluggish start since their core still had to mesh since they didn't have the same experience of playing together.

But after 2002, the window for this core winning a tournament was shut. Because of the lack of suitable young talent, they tried running it back with the same core at the 2004 WCH, but were just average since they were past their expiration date. Then when a lot of those players had retired, the thin depth of Team USA really reared it's ugly end at the 2006 Olympics, which were a complete flop. But the 2000's drafts finally replenished the American talent, as shown at the 2010 Olympics.

 

[seventieslord]

Only 24 players in NHL history have recorded 700+ primary points at ES:

Player	Position	Games	ES PRIM	Per game
Wayne Gretzky	C	1,487	1,454​	0.98
Gordie Howe	R	1,767	1,052​	0.60
Jaromir Jagr	R	1,733	1,015​	0.59
Mark Messier	C	1,756	922​	0.53
Marcel Dionne	C	1,348	899​	0.67
Steve Yzerman	C	1,514	860​	0.57
Ron Francis	C	1,731	815​	0.47
Phil Esposito	C	1,282	802​	0.63
Alex Ovechkin	L	1,365	792​	0.58
Sidney Crosby	C	1,210	780​	0.64
Stan Mikita	C	1,396	765​	0.55
Mario Lemieux	C	915​	763​	0.83
Guy Lafleur	R	1,126	749​	0.67
Joe Sakic	C	1,378	749​	0.54
Norm Ullman	C	1,410	737​	0.52
Mike Gartner	R	1,432	736​	0.51
Johnny Bucyk	L	1,540	736​	0.48
Joe Thornton	C	1,714	735​	0.43
Bryan Trottier	C	1,279	727​	0.57
Jari Kurri	R	1,251	716​	0.57
Teemu Selanne	R	1,451	715​	0.49
Luc Robitaille	L	1,431	712​	0.50
Gilbert Perreault	C	1,191	708​	0.59
Henri Richard	C	1,258	702​	0.56

These are raw numbers, not adjusted for era. Gretzky's lead over everyone else is comical. Gretzky has more primary assists at ES (837) than anyone else has total assists at ES (Jagr is closest at 758).

Ovechkin and Crosby rank 9th and 10th all-time. Ovechkin will likely reach 800 first, but it should be close.

Howe is only 11th on a per game basis (among all 97 players who scored 1,000 points). But he played in a lower scoring era than everyone ahead of him (except possibly Crosby). And, of course, he played longer than anyone on the list. During his prime (1951 to 1963), he averaged 0.65 per game, which is incredible given how low-scoring an era it was.

Henri Richard looks great by this metric (especially since his era had shorter seasons and was relatively low scoring).

No defensemen are on this list. Coffey ranks first at 559 (ES primary points). Bourque is a distant second at 497. Lidstrom has a surprisingly paltry 288.

McDavid is already up to 451 (0.77 per game). There's a chance - and I wouldn't bet money on it today, but it's conceivable - that he ends up as the 4th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 ES primary points. There's also a chance Crosby gets there, but I also wouldn't bet on it.

Next closest among active players are Kane (662) and Malkin (608).

In a neat coincidence, Bobby and Brett Hull both end up at exactly 687.

This is a rough and dirty, half-hour effort at the above table updated to adjusted points:

Player	Position	Games	ES PRIM	Per game	Pts	AdjGP	AdjP	AdjESPrim	AdjESPrim/AdjGP
Wayne Gretzky	C	1,487​	1454​	0.98​	2857​	1546​	2475​	1260​	0.81​
Gordie Howe	R	1,767​	1052​	0.6​	1850​	2071​	2190​	1245​	0.60​
Jaromir Jagr	R	1,733​	1015​	0.59​	1921​	1808​	2080​	1099​	0.61​
Mark Messier	C	1,756​	922​	0.53​	1887​	1809​	1732​	846​	0.47​
Marcel Dionne	C	1,348​	899​	0.67​	1771​	1393​	1493​	758​	0.54​
Steve Yzerman	C	1,514​	860​	0.57​	1755​	1561​	1650​	809​	0.52​
Ron Francis	C	1,731​	815​	0.47​	1798​	1779​	1711​	776​	0.44​
Phil Esposito	C	1,282​	802​	0.63​	1590​	1375​	1508​	761​	0.55​
Alex Ovechkin	L	1,365​	792​	0.58​	1497​	1410​	1640​	868​	0.62​
Sidney Crosby	C	1,210​	780​	0.64​	1526​	1242​	1653​	845​	0.68​
Stan Mikita	C	1,396​	765​	0.55​	1467​	1537​	1478​	771​	0.50​
Mario Lemieux	C	915​	763​	0.83​	1723​	927​	1540​	682​	0.74​
Guy Lafleur	R	1,126​	749​	0.67​	1353​	1161​	1171​	648​	0.56​
Joe Sakic	C	1,378​	749​	0.54​	1641​	1415​	1679​	766​	0.54​
Norm Ullman	C	1,410​	737​	0.52​	1229​	1584​	1300​	780​	0.49​
Mike Gartner	R	1,432​	736​	0.51​	1335​	1484​	1142​	630​	0.42​
Johnny Bucyk	L	1,540​	736​	0.48​	1369​	1704​	1391​	748​	0.44​
Joe Thornton	C	1,714​	735​	0.43​	1539​	1776​	1692​	808​	0.45​
Bryan Trottier	C	1,279​	727​	0.57​	1425​	1310​	1177​	600​	0.46​
Jari Kurri	R	1,251​	716​	0.57​	1398​	1299​	1185​	607​	0.47​
Teemu Selanne	R	1,451​	715​	0.49​	1457​	1511​	1565​	768​	0.51​
Luc Robitaille	L	1,431​	712​	0.5​	1394​	1471​	1354​	692​	0.47​
Gilbert Perreault	C	1,191​	708​	0.59​	1326​	1229​	1134​	605​	0.49​
Henri Richard	C	1,258​	702​	0.56​	1046​	1423​	1131​	759​	0.53​

Don't forget that adjusted points also need to be taken over adjusted games, not raw games. That means that all seasons are adjusted to 82 games. I did this all in my head so there may be minor errors. For the most part, aside from extra care given to 1995, 2013, 2020 and 2021, this included adding 12 games for any full (or almost full) seasons up to 1967, 4-8 for seasons from 1968-1974, 2 for 1975-1992, and subtracting 2 from 1993 and 1994. If a player played only 3/4 of a season, or half a season, then just 3/4 or half of the adjustment was applied. It is NOT meant to be 100% accurate; at the same time I doubt that an exhaustive redo would cause any of the career averages to change.

Adjusted ES Primary points is simply calculated by comparing the player's career total points to their career adjusted points to determine a ratio, then applying that to their "ES Prim" as provided by Hockey Outsider.

Crosby and OV have this season completely omitted as HR gives adjusted points for them as though this season is already complete.

Sorted by career average:

Player	Position	Games	ES PRIM	Per game	Pts	AdjGP	AdjP	AdjESPrim	AdjESPrim/AdjGP
Wayne Gretzky	C	1,487​	1454​	0.98​	2857​	1546​	2475​	1260​	0.81​
Mario Lemieux	C	915​	763​	0.83​	1723​	927​	1540​	682​	0.74​
Sidney Crosby	C	1,210​	780​	0.64​	1526​	1242​	1653​	845​	0.68​
Alex Ovechkin	L	1,365​	792​	0.58​	1497​	1410​	1640​	868​	0.62​
Jaromir Jagr	R	1,733​	1015​	0.59​	1921​	1808​	2080​	1099​	0.61​
Gordie Howe	R	1,767​	1052​	0.6​	1850​	2071​	2190​	1245​	0.60​
Guy Lafleur	R	1,126​	749​	0.67​	1353​	1161​	1171​	648​	0.56​
Phil Esposito	C	1,282​	802​	0.63​	1590​	1375​	1508​	761​	0.55​
Marcel Dionne	C	1,348​	899​	0.67​	1771​	1393​	1493​	758​	0.54​
Joe Sakic	C	1,378​	749​	0.54​	1641​	1415​	1679​	766​	0.54​
Henri Richard	C	1,258​	702​	0.56​	1046​	1423​	1131​	759​	0.53​
Steve Yzerman	C	1,514​	860​	0.57​	1755​	1561​	1650​	809​	0.52​
Teemu Selanne	R	1,451​	715​	0.49​	1457​	1511​	1565​	768​	0.51​
Stan Mikita	C	1,396​	765​	0.55​	1467​	1537​	1478​	771​	0.50​
Gilbert Perreault	C	1,191​	708​	0.59​	1326​	1229​	1134​	605​	0.49​
Norm Ullman	C	1,410​	737​	0.52​	1229​	1584​	1300​	780​	0.49​
Luc Robitaille	L	1,431​	712​	0.5​	1394​	1471​	1354​	692​	0.47​
Mark Messier	C	1,756​	922​	0.53​	1887​	1809​	1732​	846​	0.47​
Jari Kurri	R	1,251​	716​	0.57​	1398​	1299​	1185​	607​	0.47​
Bryan Trottier	C	1,279​	727​	0.57​	1425​	1310​	1177​	600​	0.46​
Joe Thornton	C	1,714​	735​	0.43​	1539​	1776​	1692​	808​	0.45​
Johnny Bucyk	L	1,540​	736​	0.48​	1369​	1704​	1391​	748​	0.44​
Ron Francis	C	1,731​	815​	0.47​	1798​	1779​	1711​	776​	0.44​
Mike Gartner	R	1,432​	736​	0.51​	1335​	1484​	1142​	630​	0.42​

To no one's surprise, here's yet another metric that Gretzky finishes first in and Lemieux 2nd. I'd sure be interested in "best 10 seasons" or something, to compare the primes of Lemieux to higher-GP players like Howe and Jagr. They are 5th & 6th in career averages which is incredible considering they are 1st and 3rd in adjusted GP. Let's see what Crosby and OV's career averages are when they reach 2071 adjusted games (of course, they can't and won't).

Richard is one player who really punches above his weight class. Ullman is another player who no one but me and a few others would have expected to show up so well here. His results are equally impressive as Selanne and Mikita given the differences in GP, and significantly more impressive than Perreault, who'd drop considerably in 355 more games. Similarly, Messier's slightly lower average is more impressive in light of his 225 additional games over Ullman.

Lafleur burned so brightly and faded so quickly that his career average overrates him; what Esposito, Sakic and Dionne did over a larger sample has to be considered more impressive. Lafleur has the 2nd fewest adjusted GP on this list, with only Perreault remotely close.

Bucyk probably shouldn't be 50-60 spots behind Thornton on the HOH list.

Gaps: following Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, then the OV/Jagr/Howe group. Then the pack starts. Sounds about right.

 

[Crosby2010]

This one actually doesn't surprise me a single bit. 2002 Team USA was an old team due to the American talent in the draft dropping off in the early 90's and not recovering for the rest of the decade. This was the final real chance the core of players who won the 1996 WCH had to win a best on best tournament, as they still had the carry the load with no young talent to fill in. It's how you had Gary Suter and Phil Housley still making a national team in 2002, when in most scenarios you'd think it would've been the late 90's at the latest for when they'd be selected for their country. Mike Richter was even the starting goalie in his penultimate season (plus the following year he only played 13 games in his final season). But the fact that this team had played together a lot really helped them get off to the best start of the Olympics, and was a big reason why they were undefeated going into the Gold Medal game. Canada had more of a sluggish start since their core still had to mesh since they didn't have the same experience of playing together.

But after 2002, the window for this core winning a tournament was shut. Because of the lack of suitable young talent, they tried running it back with the same core at the 2004 WCH, but were just average since they were past their expiration date. Then when a lot of those players had retired, the thin depth of Team USA really reared it's ugly end at the 2006 Olympics, which were a complete flop. But the 2000's drafts finally replenished the American talent, as shown at the 2010 Olympics.

Even in the 2010 Olympics if you look at the two teams on paper Canada is miles ahead of the Americans. The Americans had some scrappy players, but were lacking stars. Canada had tons of stars and plenty they had to leave at home too. This was a result of that 1996 core for the Americans being gone and no one replacing them. It really has only been in the last few years that American players have skyrocketed.

 

[The Panther]

In the 1990-91 season, Brett Hull scored a goal (or more than one goal) in 56 different games.

No NHL player has ever scored in more regular season games than Hull that season.

 

[The Panther]

In the seasons 1983-84, 1984-85, and 1985-86, Wayne Gretzky scored 3 points or more in exactly 50% of the games, each season.

1983-84
37 of 74 games
Oilers: 35-1-1

1984-85
40 of 80 games
Oilers: 34-5-1

1985-86
40 of 80 games
Oilers: 32-4-4

 

[alko]

In the 1990-91 season, Brett Hull scored a goal (or more than one goal) in 56 different games.

No NHL player has ever scored in more regular season games than Hull that season.

Not even Gretzky?

 

[TheStatican]

In the 1990-91 season, Brett Hull scored a goal (or more than one goal) in 56 different games.

No NHL player has ever scored in more regular season games than Hull that season.

Probably the greatest goal scoring season of all time, working a on thread about it right now.

Not even Gretzky?

One of the very few broken Gretzky records, he had 55 in 81-82. Previous to that Esposito held the record scoring in 50 games in 70-71.

Hull's goal scoring consistency in 90-91 (56 of 78 = 71.8%) was actually beaten once though; Lemieux scored in 44 of 60(73.3%) games in 92-93 and he played only a periods worth of ice time or less in two of those games.

 

[TheStatican]

Meanwhile... on the entire opposite end of the spectrum you have a player like Tobias Rieder, who just a few years ago set the record for the most shots in an NHL season by a forward without scoring a goal, registering 92 shots in 67 games in over 847 minutes of ice time in 2018-19. Though that's still well short of the all-time single-season record of 154 shots with no goals in a season set by Gilles Marotte 56 years. Although to be fair to Gilles he was a defenseman.

Just one year prior to Rieder's impressive achievement, Riley Sheahan was having a 'season for the record books'. He had gone 79 games and played over one thousand minutes of ice time; 1101:45 to be exact, without scoring. Entering into the final game of the year all eyes were on him to see if he could set the all-time record for futility by a forward, but almost disappointingly he scored on his first shot of the game, his 107th shot of that season. Stunningly enough he added a second marker late in the 3rd but in hindsight we should have known that would happen - Sheahan has(had?) a real knack for saving his best for last, having scored in the final game of the year in 4 of the 9 seasons he played more than 2 games in.

And who can forget 7.35 million dollar man Scott Gomez? Who once famously went an entire year without scoring a goal. The stats on that; 0 goals in 60 games, 122 shots and 1043 of ice time minutes and unlike Rieder or Sheahan, Gomez was no defensive forward - he was explicitly paid to score and score he DID NOT.

Finally, almost mercifully there's Steven Halko(who??) I have no idea who Steven is but he apparently holds the all-time record for playing the most games without a scoring a single goal in his entire career, going 155 games in total without one. Somebody ended that poor mans whole career before it even started.

 

[alko]

St. Louis Blues have now a 20 games run without any Overtime.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

St. Louis Blues have now a 20 games run without any Overtime.

I believe the single season record to be 84 games, held by multiple teams.

 

[TheStatican]

In memory of the Canucks recent domination of the leaderboards - up until just a little over a week ago they had the top 3 scorers in the league, we all knew that would last right?

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

*edit got the date wrong, it was up until Nov 19th they were leading. Correct link now

40 years ago another trio of Canucks also took the league by storm. Back then it was the mighty threesome of Stan Smyl, Thomas Gradin and Darcy Rota who dominated league scoring and helped their team out to a 10-3-2 record. Though it was at the end of a season not the beginning of one:
View attachment 776299

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

If not for some lone pesky forward playing out in Edmonton at the time they would have been 1, 2 and 3 in scoring for a month long period of time.

 

[TheStatican]

I believe the single season record to be 84 games, held by multiple teams.

Lol, c'mon I'm sure you knew he meant since overtime was incorporated. And if we're getting technical the record would be 80 not 84. Since overtime was incorporated no team has ever gone an entire season without having an overtime game.

It looked like the record was 1:

NHL Team Overtime Records Least Games In A Season 1982-83 To 2022-23 | StatMuse

The Pittsburgh Penguins had a 0-0-1 record in overtime games in 1994-95.

www.statmuse.com

But that site is wrong - the Pens had 5 OT games in 94-95, the Wings 4. But the Rangers did have just the 3 that year - going 28 games without one to end their year, so that would appear to be the record.

For a full 80 or more game season it seems the 86-87 Flames have the record with just 4. They didn't get to overtime in their first 24 games, only once in their first 49 before having back to back OT games and lastly had another long stretch of 27 games with no OT towards the end of the season.

 

[The Panther]

In memory of the Canucks recent domination of the leaderboards - up until just a little over a week ago they had the top 3 scorers in the league, we all knew that would last right?

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

*edit got the date wrong, it was up until Nov 19th they were leading. Correct link now

40 years ago another trio of Canucks also took the league by storm. Back then it was the mighty threesome of Stan Smyl, Thomas Gradin and Darcy Rota who dominated league scoring and helped their team out to a 10-3-2 record. Though it was at the end of a season not the beginning of one:
View attachment 776299

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

If not for some lone pesky forward playing out in Edmonton at the time they would have been 1, 2 and 3 in scoring for a month long period of time.

Good one! Yes, Rota and Smyl are two of a select group of players in history to have a 30-point calendar month.