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In the meantime, feel free to join our Discord ServerWith Taylor Hall suiting up for the Hurricanes today, he played for his seventh NHL team.
He joins Joe Murphy (DET, EDM, CHI, STL, SJS, BOS, WSH) and Roman Hamrlik (TB, EDM, NYI, CGY, MTL, WSH and NYR) as First overall picks who have played for seven different teams.
(Without looking) Who's the one first overall selection who suited up for eight teams?
I'll admit I had to check to confirm, but my initial thought was Garry Monahan (the first draft pick ever), who only played for 5 teams. Did get it on my third try.
Interestingly, the correct answer started - and ended - his career playing for teams that neither Hall nor Hamrlik ever suited up for.
31 Stan Smyl -- March 1983 (16GP: 10G, 21A, +7)
30 Darcy Rota -- March 1983 (16GP: 15G, 15A, +8)
These were the most random players on the entire list, no?
It's so random to see them both on there.Yeah, a list filled with legends & stars... and bloody Smyl & Rota. Hilarious.
Man, has it gotten that bad? (Checks.) Pettersson has a grand total of 1 shot on goal in his past four games... 3 shots in his past seven games. Hard to score like that.Matt Rempe has more goals in the calendar year of 2025 than Elias Pettersson.
Yeah, that's interesting.There are two players in the top 50 in scoring so far this year in their age-22 season or younger (Lucas Raymond 22nd, Wyatt Johnston 33rd). In 81-82, there were 11.
There are eight players in the top 50 in scoring so far this year in their age-31 season or older. In 81-82, there were zero.
My Best-Carey
you don't even have to go that far back, there were 11 under-22s in the top 50 in 2017-18 and 2018-19, and between 6-11 every year from the 05 lockout until 2020-21 when it abruptly falls to 3. never above 3 since then. (i think, might've missed one or two.) recent drafts have been weak i guess. or maybe covid messed with development?Yeah, that's interesting.
Most of this is due to the relative strengths of the generations. The Gretzky generation was much stronger and deeper than the previous generations (going back several years); and now it's the opposite, the Kucherov - MacKinnon - McDavid is extremely strong, and the birth years to follow are not as strong.
Also, the early '80s saw the NHL become faster, and more difficult for the previous generations to survive, and it's easier for the older guys to thrive now (for multiple reasons).
Yeah, it's getting a little out of wack lately with all the empty-net points awarded. The goals themselves are fine, but my suggestion would be to award no assists on EN goals. And also, the NHL should stop counting 'pluses' and 'minuses' on EN goals, which has never made sense.This might warrant a separate thread at some point, but it's interesting to observe that, nowadays, star players are recording far more empty-net points than ever before. It's presumably due to coaches pulling goalies earlier, and star forwards get more ice time in these situations.
Through the end of the Original Six era (ie the 1966-67 season), only seven players in all of NHL history had reached 10 empty net points. (We're 60-something games into the 2024-25 season, and we already have four players who reached double digits). Howe was the all-time leader with 16 EN points. We might see someone reach 16 EN points this season.
Prior to absorbing the WHA (ie the 1978-79 season), Beliveau was the all-time leader with just 22 EN points. Howe, Mahovlich and Dionne were the only other players over 20.
There were more EN goals starting in the eighties - but still not too many. As of 1994-95, only seven players (all Hall of Famers) had reached 30 EN points. Only two of them had reached 40 EN points (Gretzky had 76, Trottier had 46). To put that into context - 34 EN points would have put someone 4th all-time, as of 1994-95 (ie after nearly 80 years of NHL history). Over the past decade only, 34 EN points would put you tied for 30th.
In all of NHL history, only 21 players have recorded 50+ EN points. All but six of them (Gretzky, Hossa, Thornton, Iginla, Francis and Jagr) played all, or substantially all, of their careers after the 2005 lockout. (Rantanen has averaged 1 EN point every 10.5 games so far - he's tied for 8th place all-time, despite playing fewer than 650 games). It's continuing to increase. As recently as 2018, the all-time record for EN points in a single season was 10 (held by Jagr, in 2001). Since 2019, that's been matched or exceeded 13 times.
It's unquestionably good when a player scores an EN goal. I'm not criticizing Kopitar or Marchand for recording so many. But it's probably worth considering if these points should be taken at face value, if we're comparing modern stars to players from decades when they didn't get these opportunities.