Obscure hockey facts/stats (Part 2)

frisco · Dec 2, 2023

There have been 14 70-goal seasons in NHL history. In two of them, the player received no Hart votes at all (Bernie Nicholls 1988-89, Alexander Mogilny 92-93).

Maybe another thread had this covererd, but I wonder what the best season is without getting any Hart votes. Other than the ones mentioned above, I know Robitaille had a 63-goal year without any Hart votes (also 92-93). Kurri had 68 goals and 131 points and no Hart love in the mid-80's. Probably more common in the 1-2-3 era of voting.

An obscure one was Ron Francis who led the league in assists, +/-, won the Byng and the Selke and didn't get a Hart vote in the shortened 94-95 season. And Mario wasn't even around to siphon votes away. Francis followed up with a 119-point year and no Hart votes in 95-96.

Reggie Leach put up the highest goal scoring season of the 70's outside of Phil Esposito (61 in 75-76) and was plus 72, but didn't get any Hart votes.

My Best-Carey

TheStatican · Dec 2, 2023

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

That's quite impressive indeed.

Just went though the list of monthly point leaders and it turns out that two teammates have only ever scored 30 points or more points in the same month a dozen times:

March 1975 - Clarke(35) & MacLeish(30) in 15gms
-----
February 1982 - Bossy(34) & Trottier(32) in 14gms
-----
November 1983 - Gretzky(49) & Kurri(36) in 14gms
March 1983 - Smyl(31) & Rota(30) in 16gms
-----
December 1984 - Gretzky(40) & Kurri(30) in 12gms
-----
November 1988 - Gretzky(31) & Nicholls(30) in 14gms
December 1988 - Gretzky(31) in 13 & Nicholls(30) in 14gms
-----
February 1991 - Oates(30) in 13 & Hull(30) in 14gms
-----
February 1992 - Robitaille(31) in 15 & Gretzky(30) in 14gms
-----
November 1995 - Lemieux(32) in 11 & Jagr(30) in 14gms
December 1995 - Lemieux(34) & Jagr(32) in 14gms
-----
April 2023 - Stamkos(33) & Kucherov(31) in 16gms

Even more insane that that, Thomas Gradin had 27 points. If the month started and end just one game sooner he'd have 30, narrowly missing out on a record of sorts - No three teammates have ever had 30 points or more within the same month and only one trio of teammates has ever had more than Smyl, Rota & Gradin had in that month, though it does appear they have the most by three forwards.

three with 29+
December 1985 - Gretzky(44) Coffey(29) Kurri(29)

three with 27+
March 1983 - Smyl(31) Rota(30) Gradin(27)

three with 26+
November 1995 - 32 Lemieux(32) Jagr(30) Francis(26)

three with 25+
March 1985 - Gretzky(37) Coffey(27) Kurri(25)
January 1992 - LaFontaine(36) Andreychuk(29) Hawerchuk(25)
March 1992 - Lemieux(36) Stevens(27) Tochet(25)
December 1995- Lemieux(34) Jagr(32) Francis(25)

Granted all of the others above were done in 14 team games, 2 less than the Canucks players had to work with.

Poor Canucks fans though... First the team surprisingly reach the finals in '82 and then have this massive end of the season scoring binge in '83 finishing the year very strongly. They must had thought the future was looking fairly promising at the time, only to then have to suffer through a decade of mediocrity before the team got exciting again. It seems the team had a decent amount of forward talent during that time. I see Rota was done soon thereafter but they had Smyl and Gradin plus other good scoring forwards like Sundström, Tanti and Skriko for a while. Yet only a single one of them managed to break the 90+ point barrier and only once in the entirety of the 80's - Sundström with 91 in 83-84. That was the lowest top point total of any team in the entire decade. Why couldn't any of these players step it up and take their games to the next level?

Yozhik v tumane · Dec 2, 2023

TheStatican said:
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.

Yeah I knew, I just saw my opportunity to be a jackass and lunged at it.

It grazed my mind that regular season games still had (5 min?) OT prior to the shootout, but I prioritized the expedient delivery of my dick move over ironing it out with technicalities.

I hope it only came across as a lighthearted attempt at a joke though. I earnestly think alko brought an interesting topic into the thread, and thank you for expanding on it.

TheStatican · Dec 2, 2023

Yozhik v tumane said:
Yeah I knew, I just saw my opportunity to be a jackass and lunged at it.

It grazed my mind that regular season games still had (5 min?) OT prior to the shootout, but I prioritized the expedient delivery of my dick move over ironing it out with technicalities.

I hope it only came across as a lighthearted attempt at a joke though. I earnestly think alko brought an interesting topic into the thread, and thank you for expanding on it.

Yeah I can see that. Wasn't really putting you too much on the spot for it, did get a little bit of a laugh out of it too

The Panther · Dec 2, 2023

TheStatican said:
Poor Canucks fans though...

TheStatican said:
I see Rota was done soon thereafter but they had Smyl and Gradin plus other good scoring forwards like Sundström, Tanti and Skriko for a while. Yet only a single one of them managed to break the 90+ point barrier and only once in the entirety of the 80's - Sundström with 91 in 83-84. That was the lowest top point total of any team in the entire decade. Why couldn't any of these players step it up and take their games to the next level?

In the 22 years framed by 1970-71 to 1991-92, the Canucks had one 45-or-more goal player seasons (and that at exactly 45).

In the 11 years framed by 1979-80 to 1989-90, the Oilers had twenty-two.

TheStatican · Dec 2, 2023

And here I thought the Devils were the only ones who lacked big time scorers. Goes a long way to explain why there was so much damn hype over Bure's arrival

I still remember how Canucks fans were acting like he was the second coming of Gretzky back then. Yeah he was an electric scorer and all that but there was never a time when he was the best player in the game. But then again when you've been THAT deprived of big stars I guess it only makes sense to lose your **** once you finally get one of your own.

Hockey Outsider · Dec 3, 2023

frisco said:
Maybe another thread had this covererd, but I wonder what the best season is without getting any Hart votes. Other than the ones mentioned above, I know Robitaille had a 63-goal year without any Hart votes (also 92-93). Kurri had 68 goals and 131 points and no Hart love in the mid-80's. Probably more common in the 1-2-3 era of voting.

An obscure one was Ron Francis who led the league in assists, +/-, won the Byng and the Selke and didn't get a Hart vote in the shortened 94-95 season. And Mario wasn't even around to siphon votes away. Francis followed up with a 119-point year and no Hart votes in 95-96.

Reggie Leach put up the highest goal scoring season of the 70's outside of Phil Esposito (61 in 75-76) and was plus 72, but didn't get any Hart votes.

These reports are pulling from two databases, so there might be some errors. Let me know if anything looks off. Results are from 1968 to 2020 (nothing is adjusted for era - which could significantly affect how relevant/meaningful the results are):

Most goals with zero Hart votes

Player	Year	Goals
Alexander Mogilny	1993	76
Bernie Nicholls	1989	70
Jari Kurri	1986	68
Luc Robitaille	1993	63
Phil Esposito	1975	61
Reggie Leach	1976	61
Steve Shutt	1977	60
Pavel Bure	1993	60

Most assists with zero Hart votes

Player	Year	A
Wayne Gretzky	1994	92
Ron Francis	1996	92
Wayne Gretzky	1992	90
Adam Oates	1991	90
Paul Coffey	1989	83
Pete Mahovlich	1975	82
Craig Janney	1993	82
Bernie Nicholls	1989	80
Dale Hawerchuk	1993	80

Most points with zero Hart votes

Player	Year	Pts
Bernie Nicholls	1989	150
Jari Kurri	1986	131
Wayne Gretzky	1994	130
Phil Esposito	1975	127
Alexander Mogilny	1993	127
Luc Robitaille	1993	125
Mario Lemieux	1990	123
Mark Recchi	1993	123
Wayne Gretzky	1992	121
Ron Francis	1996	119
Pete Mahovlich	1975	117
Marcel Dionne	1982	117
Denis Savard	1986	116
John Bucyk	1971	116
Adam Oates	1991	115
Rob Brown	1989	115
Mats Sundin	1993	114
Paul Coffey	1989	113
Jari Kurri	1984	113
Bernie Nicholls	1990	112
Dave Taylor	1981	112
Bill Barber	1976	112
Mark Messier	1988	111
Peter Stastny	1988	111
Luc Robitaille	1988	111
Kevin Stevens	1993	111
John Cullen	1991	110
Mats Naslund	1986	110
Pavel Bure	1993	110

Not surprisingly, almost all of these results are from the 1980's to mid 1990's when leaguewide scoring was higher, and each voter had three votes (rather than the current five).

Hockey Outsider · Dec 3, 2023

Same idea, except looking at it on a relative basis (still 1968 to 2020):

Highest rank in goals with zero Hart votes

Player	Year	GOALS
Phil Esposito	1975	1
Jari Kurri	1986	1
Alexander Mogilny	1993	1
Steve Shutt	1977	1
Charlie Simmer	1980	1
Blaine Stoughton	1980	1
Reggie Leach	1976	1
Peter Bondra	1995	1
Bernie Nicholls	1989	2
John Bucyk	1971	2
Steve Yzerman	1991	2
Leon Draisaitl	2019	2
Brett Hull	1994	2
Cam Neely	1991	2
Tim Kerr	1987	2
Craig Simpson	1988	2
Tony Amonte	1999	2
Glen Murray	2002	2
Frank Mahovlich	1969	2
Patrik Laine	2018	2
Bill Guerin	2002	2
Garry Unger	1970	2

Highest rank in assists with zero Hart votes

Player	Year	ASSISTS
Wayne Gretzky	1994	1
Wayne Gretzky	1992	1
Ron Francis	1996	1
Nicklas Backstrom	2015	1
Ron Francis	1995	1
Scott Gomez	2004	1
Adam Oates	2002	1
Adam Oates	2001	1
Stan Mikita	1969	2
Alex Delvecchio	1968	2
Adam Oates	1991	2
Jakub Voracek	2015	2
Jason Allison	2002	2
Jason Spezza	2006	2

Highest rank in points with zero Hart votes

Player	Year	POINTS
Wayne Gretzky	1994	1
Phil Esposito	1975	2
Jari Kurri	1987	2
Wayne Gretzky	1992	3
Adam Oates	1991	3
John Bucyk	1971	3
Todd Bertuzzi	2002	3
Alex Zhamnov	1995	3
Steve Shutt	1977	3
Pavel Bure	1998	3
Ron Francis	1996	4
Stan Mikita	1969	4
Jakub Voracek	2015	4
Joe Sakic	1995	4
Martin Straka	2001	4
Ken Hodge	1971	4
Mario Lemieux	1990	4
Bernie Nicholls	1989	4
Jacques Lemaire	1978	4
Jari Kurri	1986	4
Bill Barber	1976	4
Leon Draisaitl	2019	4
Rick MacLeish	1977	4
Paul Kariya	2000	4
Ron Francis	1995	5
Bob MacMillan	1979	5
Pete Mahovlich	1975	5
Tim Young	1977	5
Walt Tkaczuk	1970	5
Mark Messier	1988	5
Rob Brown	1989	5
Rod Gilbert	1972	5
Barry Pederson	1983	5
Mike Rogers	1980	5
Teemu Selanne	2000	5
Mark Recchi	1994	5
John Cullen	1991	5
Dave Taylor	1981	5
Peter Stastny	1988	5
Jaromir Jagr	2002	5
Luc Robitaille	1992	5
Ken Hodge	1969	5
Luc Robitaille	1988	5
Ziggy Palffy	1998	5
Marcel Dionne	1983	5

Interesting to consider the top ten (players who finished top three in scoring and got zero Hart votes):

- Twice it was Gretzky, likely due to voter fatigue (1992 and 1994 - he missed the playoffs the latter year)
- Kurri (Gretzky won the Hart)
- Bucyk (Orr won the Hart)
- Shutt (Lafleur won the Hart)
- Oates (Hull won the Hart - and Oates missed a quarter of the season)
- Esposito (voter fatigue and Orr won the Art Ross)
- Zhamnov (clearly a fluke in a shortened season & missed the playoffs)
- Bertuzzi (missed some time, and Naslund was arguably better)
- Bure (missed the playoffs, awful defensively, and not much separating 2nd through 8th in scoring race - but he led the team in scoring by 30 points - I'm surprised nobody gave him a 5th place vote)

Bear of Bad News · Dec 3, 2023

Third table (second post) there must be points although you had me check Wayne Gretzky's goal totals in 1993-94, you rascal.

Hockey Outsider · Dec 3, 2023

Haha, fixed.

frisco · Dec 3, 2023

Hockey Outsider said:
Same idea, except looking at it on a relative basis (still 1968 to 2020):

Highest rank in goals with zero Hart votes

Player Year GOALS
Phil Esposito 1975
1
Jari Kurri 1986
1
Alexander Mogilny 1993
1
Steve Shutt 1977
1
Charlie Simmer 1980
1
Blaine Stoughton 1980
1
Reggie Leach 1976
1
Peter Bondra 1995
1
Bernie Nicholls 1989
2
John Bucyk 1971
2
Steve Yzerman 1991
2
Leon Draisaitl 2019
2
Brett Hull 1994
2
Cam Neely 1991
2
Tim Kerr 1987
2
Craig Simpson 1988
2
Tony Amonte 1999
2
Glen Murray 2002
2
Frank Mahovlich 1969
2
Patrik Laine 2018
2
Bill Guerin 2002
2
Garry Unger 1970
2

Highest rank in assists with zero Hart votes

Player Year ASSISTS
Wayne Gretzky 1994
1
Wayne Gretzky 1992
1
Ron Francis 1996
1
Nicklas Backstrom 2015
1
Ron Francis 1995
1
Scott Gomez 2004
1
Adam Oates 2002
1
Adam Oates 2001
1
Stan Mikita 1969
2
Alex Delvecchio 1968
2
Adam Oates 1991
2
Jakub Voracek 2015
2
Jason Allison 2002
2
Jason Spezza 2006
2

Highest rank in points with zero Hart votes

Player Year POINTS
Wayne Gretzky 1994
1
Phil Esposito 1975
2
Jari Kurri 1987
2
Wayne Gretzky 1992
3
Adam Oates 1991
3
John Bucyk 1971
3
Todd Bertuzzi 2002
3
Alex Zhamnov 1995
3
Steve Shutt 1977
3
Pavel Bure 1998
3
Ron Francis 1996
4
Stan Mikita 1969
4
Jakub Voracek 2015
4
Joe Sakic 1995
4
Martin Straka 2001
4
Ken Hodge 1971
4
Mario Lemieux 1990
4
Bernie Nicholls 1989
4
Jacques Lemaire 1978
4
Jari Kurri 1986
4
Bill Barber 1976
4
Leon Draisaitl 2019
4
Rick MacLeish 1977
4
Paul Kariya 2000
4
Ron Francis 1995
5
Bob MacMillan 1979
5
Pete Mahovlich 1975
5
Tim Young 1977
5
Walt Tkaczuk 1970
5
Mark Messier 1988
5
Rob Brown 1989
5
Rod Gilbert 1972
5
Barry Pederson 1983
5
Mike Rogers 1980
5
Teemu Selanne 2000
5
Mark Recchi 1994
5
John Cullen 1991
5
Dave Taylor 1981
5
Peter Stastny 1988
5
Jaromir Jagr 2002
5
Luc Robitaille 1992
5
Ken Hodge 1969
5
Luc Robitaille 1988
5
Ziggy Palffy 1998
5
Marcel Dionne 1983
5

Interesting to consider the top ten (players who finished top three in scoring and got zero Hart votes):

- Twice it was Gretzky, likely due to voter fatigue (1992 and 1994 - he missed the playoffs the latter year)
- Kurri (Gretzky won the Hart)
- Bucyk (Orr won the Hart)
- Shutt (Lafleur won the Hart)
- Oates (Hull won the Hart - and Oates missed a quarter of the season)
- Esposito (voter fatigue and Orr won the Art Ross)
- Zhamnov (clearly a fluke in a shortened season & missed the playoffs)
- Bertuzzi (missed some time, and Naslund was arguably better)
- Bure (missed the playoffs, awful defensively, and not much separating 2nd through 8th in scoring race - but he led the team in scoring by 30 points - I'm surprised nobody gave him a 5th place vote)

Does anyone know why Hockey Reference sometimes doesn't have the full voting listed for some years like 79-80?

For forever, I thought Gilbert Perreault, although he was 4th in scoring in 79-80, didn't get any Hart votes. But, the full voting on found here on HF boards has him with some decent support.

It was a great year for Perreault but overshadowed completely by the Gretzky/Dionne duel.

I'll sleep better tonight knowing Perreault did get some due in Hart voting despite what Hockey Reference has omitted. I do have all The Hockey News Yearbooks (with voting) going back to 1977 or so but have been relying on Hockey Reference lately.

My Best-Carey

The Panther · Dec 3, 2023

So, what happened with Kurri in 1985? Does his receiving a Hart vote mean that someone voted him and not Gretzky? Or did someone vote two players on the same team as the most valuable to his team?

Crosby2010 · Dec 4, 2023

frisco said:
There have been 14 70-goal seasons in NHL history. In two of them, the player received no Hart votes at all (Bernie Nicholls 1988-89, Alexander Mogilny 92-93).

Maybe another thread had this covererd, but I wonder what the best season is without getting any Hart votes. Other than the ones mentioned above, I know Robitaille had a 63-goal year without any Hart votes (also 92-93). Kurri had 68 goals and 131 points and no Hart love in the mid-80's. Probably more common in the 1-2-3 era of voting.

An obscure one was Ron Francis who led the league in assists, +/-, won the Byng and the Selke and didn't get a Hart vote in the shortened 94-95 season. And Mario wasn't even around to siphon votes away. Francis followed up with a 119-point year and no Hart votes in 95-96.

Reggie Leach put up the highest goal scoring season of the 70's outside of Phil Esposito (61 in 75-76) and was plus 72, but didn't get any Hart votes.

My Best-Carey

How did Gretzky not get any Hart votes in 1992 and 1994? I get some of the reasoning as to why he wasn't in the running, but even in 1992 he was on a playoff team and had 121 points. It was his worst season at that time and I realize there were some other storylines but he still could have had something. 1994 he is the Art Ross winner. Non-playoff team sure, but leading the NHL in points has to give you something doesn't it?

Anyway, how is this for a strange and obscure stat? In my lifetime, of all the zambonis I have seen drive on the ice, whether it was at a kids' game, NHL game or junior game or whatever, I have never seen one of them crash into the boards, or even really bump into the boards. Never heard of this happening either. Is it just me?

Bear of Bad News · Dec 4, 2023

frisco said:
Does anyone know why Hockey Reference sometimes doesn't have the full voting listed for some years like 79-80?

For forever, I thought Gilbert Perreault, although he was 4th in scoring in 79-80, didn't get any Hart votes. But, the full voting on found here on HF boards has him with some decent support.

It was a great year for Perreault but overshadowed completely by the Gretzky/Dionne duel.

I'll sleep better tonight knowing Perreault did get some due in Hart voting despite what Hockey Reference has omitted. I do have all The Hockey News Yearbooks (with voting) going back to 1977 or so but have been relying on Hockey Reference lately.

My Best-Carey

We believe that they used the HFBoards threads to get the information that they do have.

Hockey Outsider · Dec 4, 2023

Bear of Bad News said:
We believe that they used the HFBoards threads to get the information that they do have.

Yes, that's my recollection as well. There were a few typographical errors that, as far as I'm aware, existed only on HFBoards, which then appeared on HR.com many years later. (That means someone here - and that could have been me - made transcription errors when typing in the results. To the best of my knowledge, it wasn't an instance of a newspaper or magazine having the error, which both websites copied - the errors existed only on HFBoards, until HR.com copied them).

Over time, @reckoning, @BM67 and several other posts went back and got more complete information. So our results are more complete than HR.com's.

The Panther · Dec 14, 2023

Here's one that will surprise some (and infuriate Canucks' fans):

From November 1997 through December 1998 (over 100 GP), Mark Messier of the Canucks was a top-15 NHL scorer.

The Panther · Dec 14, 2023

Because you can never have enough crazy Gretzky stats:

In the three calendar months of November 1983 through January 1984, Gretzky's stat-line:

40 GP (i..e, half a season): 48 G + 78 A = 126 PTS (+62)

The Panther · Dec 16, 2023

As some will know, Oilers' defenceman Evan Bouchard was recently riding a 13-game point-scoring streak.

Prior to Bouchard, NO OILERS' DEFENCEMAN in almost 44 years had ever posted a 10+ game point-streak... with the notable exception of Hall of Famer Paul Coffey (who did it most recently, as an Oiler, in 1986-87).

Now, here's the fun part: After the intervening 36 years of nobody doing it, Coffy had taken over as Olers' Assistant Coach for ONE GAME when Bouchard's recent streak began.

The Panther · Dec 19, 2023

Some Maurice Richard stats of interest:

-- In Maurice's first big season (1943-44), his goal scoring went like this: First 15 games, two goals. Last 10 games, thirteen goals.

-- In Maurice's "50-in-50" season of 1944-45, he had 10 games against each NHL club. Against Detroit (the second-best team), he scored 16 times, by far the most against any opponent.

-- In another thread, Maurice's 1948-49 was mentioned as a relatively poor season in the middle of his prime years. Looking at his splits, he scored well enough in November, December, and January---17 goals in 34 games, or 1 goal every two games---but the sum of his October, February, and March is terrible: seven goals in 26 games. What happened there?

Some further interesting or odd Wayne Gretzky stats to chew on:

-- In March 1980, late in his rookie year (aged 19), Wayne scored 13 even strength goals in the month (14 overall). Only twice more in his entire career would he score that many ES goals in one month---those months being 14 ES goals in November 1981 and 15 ES goals in January 1984.

-- In Wayne's first year in L.A. (1988-89), he had very skewed home/road scoring. At the old Forum in Inglewood, Wayne put up 103 points in 40 games (a 206-point pace), whereas on the road he scored 65 points in 38 games (a 137-point pace).

Another obvious statistical outlier, Paul Coffey, has some odd stats from his salad years:

-- In his 2nd season (1981-82), Coffey scored 72 points in only 55 games played. Then, he for some reason scored only 17 points in his final 25 games.

-- Conversely, in the 1983-84 season, Coffey scored a healthy 50 points in the first three months of the season (39GP), but then scored a whopping 76 points in the last three months (41 GP).

-- In his record-setting 1985-86 season, Coffey scored a staggering 84 points on home-ice (!), and a less staggering (but still impressive) 54 points on the road. Coffey also scored 30 goals (what?) in the last half of the regular season.

-- In Coffey's first (partial) season with Pittsburgh, he put up 30 points in his final 17 games played... but it wasn't enough to get the Pens into the playoffs.

-- Coffey's home/road scoring is highly skewed in the 1989-90 season: 65 points at home; 35 on the road.

-- More skewed home/road scoring: Coffey with Detroit in1993-94. Scores 51 points at home and just 26 (in more games played) on the road.

Kahvi · Dec 19, 2023

After 32 games this season, the Flames best PP goal scorer has more SH goals than PP goals.

Yegor Sharangovich has 1 PP goal, and is tied with 10 other Flames for PP goal scoring. He has 2 SH goals.

The Panther · Dec 20, 2023

Kahvi said:
After 32 games this season, the Flames best PP goal scorer has more SH goals than PP goals.

Yegor Sharangovich has 1 PP goal, and is tied with 10 other Flames for PP goal scoring. He has 2 SH goals.

It's a bit like Holmström with the Islanders this season: 5 short-handed goals, and the Islander with the most PP goals (Horvat) has... 5.

overpass · Dec 20, 2023

The Panther said:
Some Maurice Richard stats of interest:

-- In Maurice's first big season (1943-44), his goal scoring went like this: First 15 games, two goals. Last 10 games, thirteen goals.

-- In Maurice's "50-in-50" season of 1944-45, he had 10 games against each NHL club. Against Detroit (the second-best team), he scored 16 times, by far the most against any opponent.

-- In another thread, Maurice's 1948-49 was mentioned as a relatively poor season in the middle of his prime years. Looking at his splits, he scored well enough in November, December, and January---17 goals in 34 games, or 1 goal every two games---but the sum of his October, February, and March is terrible: seven goals in 26 games. What happened there?

Some further interesting or odd Wayne Gretzky stats to chew on:

-- In March 1980, late in his rookie year (aged 19), Wayne scored 13 even strength goals in the month (14 overall). Only twice more in his entire career would he score that many ES goals in one month---those months being 14 ES goals in November 1981 and 15 ES goals in January 1984.

-- In Wayne's first year in L.A. (1988-89), he had very skewed home/road scoring. At the old Forum in Inglewood, Wayne put up 103 points in 40 games (a 206-point pace), whereas on the road he scored 65 points in 38 games (a 137-point pace).

Another obvious statistical outlier, Paul Coffey, has some odd stats from his salad years:

-- In his 2nd season (1981-82), Coffey scored 72 points in only 55 games played. Then, he for some reason scored only 17 points in his final 25 games.

-- Conversely, in the 1983-84 season, Coffey scored a healthy 50 points in the first three months of the season (39GP), but then scored a whopping 76 points in the last three months (41 GP).

-- In his record-setting 1985-86 season, Coffey scored a staggering 84 points on home-ice (!), and a less staggering (but still impressive) 54 points on the road. Coffey also scored 30 goals (what?) in the last half of the regular season.

-- In Coffey's first (partial) season with Pittsburgh, he put up 30 points in his final 17 games played... but it wasn't enough to get the Pens into the playoffs.

-- Coffey's home/road scoring is highly skewed in the 1989-90 season: 65 points at home; 35 on the road.

-- More skewed home/road scoring: Coffey with Detroit in1993-94. Scores 51 points at home and just 26 (in more games played) on the road.

Coffey's home/road splits over his career aren't out of the ordinary. He had 813 regular season points at home, and 718 regular season points on the road. Even in Edmonton, he scored more points on the road than at home in the 1984-85 regular season, for example.

I think Coffey's really interesting home/road splits were from his playoff career. In Edmonton, he had 77 points in 53 home playoff games, and only 26 points in 41 road playoff games. I don't know if I've seen such a large home/road split in a sample this large, he scored 2.3 times more per home game in more than one regular seasons worth of games. Post-Edmonton he had 59 points in 56 home playoff games, and 34 points in 44 road playoff games. Better at home, but I think that's a pretty normal home/road split.

Coffey's biggest home/road split may be from his signature playoff run in 1985. 1 goal and 6 points in 8 road games, and 11 goals and 31 points in 10 home games. If you remove that playoff run and look at the rest of his Oilers playoff career, he still had a sizeable split with 46 points in 43 home playoff games, and 20 points in 33 road playoff games.

Ice quality may have been a factor. Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton had a reputation for having the fastest ice in the league, which could only help Coffey's speed game. Ice quality became a story in the 1985 Finals, as the Spectrum in Philadelphia had a reputation for having the worst ice in the league, and Glen Sather complained to the media about the poor ice. Did the ice conditions outside of Edmonton tend to get worse as the weather got warmer, and did this affect Coffey's scoring?

If you look at Edmonton Coffey's road playoff scoring against 3 cities in similar climates - Calgary, Winnipeg, Minnesota: 16 GP, 6 G, 13 P, 0.81 p/GP. Not too bad.

And against his 3 warmest playoff opponents (PHI, NYI, LAK): 15 GP, 1 G, 5 A, 0.33 P/GP. Coffey scored very little in their arenas. But to be fair, PHI and NYI were the strongest playoff opponents the Oilers faced, and these were mostly Finals games.

This is pretty speculative as I don't actually know how much the temperature in the city interacts with the ice quality.

Edit: Coffey's partner Charlie Huddy also had a huge home/road split. 38 points in 48 home playoff games, 12 points in 33 road playoff games. While Huddy's points were somewhat tied to Coffey's effectiveness, I think the fact that Huddy also had a large home/road split supports the idea that Coffey/Huddy were deployed in a way that gave them more offensive freedom at home.

In contrast to Coffey and Huddy's huge playoff home/road splits, Kevin Lowe had no playoff home/road split at all during those years. He scored 18 points in 44 road playoff games, and 22 points in 52 home playoff games.

LightningStorm · Dec 22, 2023

Steven Stamkos, not Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, or even Kane, is the only player of his generation to have both a 60+ goal (11/12) and 60+ assist (21/22) season, which as you see happened 10 seasons apart. The following season McDavid reached both in his historical 22/23 season, while before Stamkos the most recent players to achieve both were Lemieux and Jagr, both of him had their last 60+ goal season (and only one in Jagr's case) in 95/96.

The Panther · Dec 24, 2023

In the past 100 years of the NHL, only SIX players have ever led a season in goals and assists simultaneously. They are (with seasons in parenthesis):

Howie Morenz (1928)
Gordie Howe (1951, 1953)
Phil Esposito (1973)
Wayne Gretzky (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
Mario Lemieux (1989, 1996)
Connor McDavid (2023)

Nick Hansen · Jan 5, 2024

What defenseman had the highest percentage of goals out of his points? I'm not sure I'm making myself clear, so I'll just take an example (which I also suspect is very high on this list):

Shea Weber scored 589 points, out of those 224 were goals. Thus goals make up 38% of his accumulated points.

Does any other defenseman beat this, so to speak?

Obscure hockey facts/stats (Part 2)

Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

"The Worst Guy on the Site" - user feedback

Registered User

Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...

Registered User

Registered User

"The Worst Guy on the Site" - user feedback

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

HFBoards Sponsor

Registered User

Registered User

Lightning/Mets/Vikings

Registered User

Registered User

Ad

Ad

Ad