Obscure hockey facts/stats (Part 2)

[The Panther]

I posted this on the Oilers' board yesterday, but as it's quite interesting, I'll post it again here. This is as of 4/29/2025:

NHL all-time PPG in the Playoffs:
1. Gretzky 1.84
2. McDavid 1.62
3. Lemieux 1.61
4. Draisaitl 1.50
5. MacKinnon 1.29
6. Messier 1.25

NHL all-time PPG for Defencemen in the Playoffs:
1. Orr 1.24
2. Bouchard 1.14
3. Makar 1.08
4. Leetch 1.02
5. Coffey 1.01

Six of the 11 listed here are current / former Edmonton Oilers!

Everyone who's active will probably drop once their careers extend further into their 30s, etc., but it will be interesting to see how (especially) McDavid holds up vs. the "all-time greats". With 2 points vs. L.A. yesterday, McDavid, for the moment, moved ever so marginally ahead of Super-Mario for 2nd place in playoff PPG. McDavid has played 78 playoff games, and Lemieux played 107, so the gap is still pretty large but narrowing.

Mario up to age 30, however, was at 1.77 PPG, so he still has an edge on McDavid. At that point, Mario had played 84 playoff games, so let's check back after McDavid has played six more games and see how they compare! To even be as close as he is is kind of crazy...

 

[Voight]

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Between 1992-93 and 2022-23, a span of thirty seasons, only three players had three consecutive 100 point seasons:

Connor McDavid, Alex Ovechkin... and Jeremy Roenick

 

[Kahvi]

Worst single game stats for a goalie to start a game in a pro league final series?

Kari Piiroinen last night in 3rd Liiga final, 3 goals on 3 shots in just over 1,5 minutes. And he wasn't some random EBUG or anything, he has started every game for SaiPa in the playoffs, 18 games, 1.97 GAA and 92.1 save% so far, including that game

Kari Piiroinen - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Kari Piiroinen, 2001-07-01 Helsinki, FIN Finland. Most recently in the Liiga with SaiPa. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Game stats Finnish Hockey League | Season 2024-25 | KalPa – SaiPa | 28.4.2025 | Game stats

 

[The Panther]

Worst single game stats for a goalie to start a game in a pro league final series?

Kari Piiroinen last night in 3rd Liiga final, 3 goals on 3 shots in just over 1,5 minutes. And he wasn't some random EBUG or anything, he has started every game for SaiPa in the playoffs, 18 games, 1.97 GAA and 92.1 save% so far, including that game

Kari Piiroinen - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Kari Piiroinen, 2001-07-01 Helsinki, FIN Finland. Most recently in the Liiga with SaiPa. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Game stats Finnish Hockey League | Season 2024-25 | KalPa – SaiPa | 28.4.2025 | Game stats

I still go with Andy Moog in game two of the 1990 Cup Final, because he played about half the game (not just three minutes).

 

[Randyne]

Between 1992-93 and 2022-23, a span of thirty seasons, only three players had three consecutive 100 point seasons:

Connor McDavid, Alex Ovechkin... and Jeremy Roenick

Also, correct me if i am wrong:
In entire NHL history only 3 players had three consecutive top1 PPG and top1 GPG finishes:
Esposito, Gretzky and Ovechkin

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Also, correct me if i am wrong:
In entire NHL history only 3 players had three consecutive top1 PPG and top1 GPG finishes:
Esposito, Gretzky and Ovechkin

Good observation. You're right - it's only been those three.

 

[MadLuke]

Howe-Mario never doing it (51-54 Howe I could have guessed that he would have a 3 in a row stretch in there...) is a bit of the surprise but to be fair to him, it was Gretzky scoring 2.33 pts a game stopping his streak....

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Howe almost did it four years in a row (he led in GPG in 1952 and 1953, and PPG in each of 1951 through 1954). He was 0.04 GPG behind Richard in 1951, and 0.07 behind Geoffrion (and also behind Richard) in 1954.

Lemieux, of course, was prevented by Gretzky and injuries.

 

[Randyne]

Howe almost did it four years in a row (he led in GPG in 1952 and 1953, and PPG in each of 1951 through 1954). He was 0.04 GPG behind Richard in 1951, and 0.07 behind Geoffrion (and also behind Richard) in 1954.

Lemieux, of course, was prevented by Gretzky and injuries.

Only Esposito did it four years in a row.

 

[Kahvi]

I still go with Andy Moog in game two of the 1990 Cup Final, because he played about half the game (not just three minutes).

Good point, I should add that I'm speaking purely from stat viewpoint.

It's really difficult to say whether Piiroinen had a rough night or he was just unlucky, because first goal was a deflection from defenders stick, second was 3-on-1, and the third was a deflection again. SaiPa started the game completely unprepared. Not much more he could have done.

Funny thing, he was replaced by Hutchinson who also gave up a goal on the first shot.

You can see the goals here

 

[Mr Nogatco]

Good point, I should add that I'm speaking purely from stat viewpoint.

It's really difficult to say whether Piiroinen had a rough night or he was just unlucky, because first goal was a deflection from defenders stick, second was 3-on-1, and the third was a deflection again. SaiPa started the game completely unprepared. Not much more he could have done.

Funny thing, he was replaced by Hutchinson who also gave up a goal on the first shot.

You can see the goals here

Wonder what the record is for most consecutive GA to start a game before a save

 

[Mr Nogatco]

From the ECHL: The South Carolina Stingrays were eliminated in game 7 vs Orlando by one of their own players: defenseman Hudson Thornton is signed to a contract with the SC/Hershey/WAS org, but was loaned to Orlando earlier this season. He then scored the GWG in game 7 yesterday to eliminate SC.

Has to be a pretty rare occurrence across sports.

 

[Summer Rose]

From the ECHL: The South Carolina Stingrays were eliminated in game 7 vs Orlando by one of their own players: defenseman Hudson Thornton is signed to a contract with the SC/Hershey/WAS org, but was loaned to Orlando earlier this season. He then scored the GWG in game 7 yesterday to eliminate SC.

Has to be a pretty rare occurrence across sports.

I'd be interested to find out how player loans in the ECHL work. Only sport or league I'm familiar with that has player loans is soccer, but a player on loan from another club is generally not permitted to play against the club that loaned him out.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

I'd be interested to find out how player loans in the ECHL work. Only sport or league I'm familiar with that has player loans is soccer, but a player on loan from another club is generally not permitted to play against the club that loaned him out.

Player loans happen in the European hockey leagues as well. Not sure there’s any standard arrangement, but when there are loans within the same league I haven’t heard of players being barred from playing against the contracted team. I’d say generally, the players on loan had been reduced to peripheral presences on their team, and the idea is that a new environment will aid their development. Loans between teams in the same league are not the most common but they do happen, however that the player might burn you is a risk you have to consider.

I know one example where Luleå’s blue-chip prospect Noel Gunler struggled to gain ice time or do anything useful with it, on what was one of the top clubs that year. He was a dominant U20 player but needed senior experience. Brynäs were languishing in the lower parts of the table and had use for depth scoring, and could afford to promise the kid PP ice time, so a loan were granted. Didn’t affect Luleå’s position as they were doing well without utilizing him.

It’s much more common to see players loaned to the second division (Hockeyallsvenskan). This season, David Lilja initially struggled for ice time in Luleå, despite having a tantalizing and unique toolkit, and a temporary loan was arranged with his former team Karlskoga. He played just five games with them but thrived in a larger role, and returned to Luleå with renewed confidence. In just 15 games in the the playoffs, he matched his 48 game regular season output of 10 points and the quarterfinals particularly were huge for him.

 

[Sanf]

Yeah it sometimes can get bit complicated. In Finland Kasper Lundell (Antons brother) was in little over a years time loaned to three different teams and for one of those twice. He was traded, his contract was terminated two times and he was sent to juniors in two of the teams that he played.

But this used to happen in NHL too long time ago. One easy example is Paul Bibeault from 40´s who was property of Canadiens, but was loaned to atleast Toronto and Boston for a season of both.