Players who got very close to a milestone... and failed.

[jiboy]

Patrick Elias.. so close to have 400 goals-600 assists..

 

[GMR]

Probert was going for 30 goals and 300 PIM and finished just short on both.

I remember an interview at the time where Probert said his main focus was to score a goal and if he did that, then he would have taken the penalty. But he didn't score and obviously didn't want to lose a shift sitting in the penalty box when going for that last goal.

You mean 400 PIMs? Good story though. Didn't know that.

 

[MS]

You mean 400 PIMs? Good story though. Didn't know that.

Yeah, whoops. 400 PIM.

It was actually a really big story at the time, back when having huge PIM totals was really cool.

 

[GMR]

Yeah, whoops. 400 PIM.

It was actually a really big story at the time, back when having huge PIM totals was really cool.

Ah, those were the days.

 

[paracord]

Glenn Anderson, 2 goals short of 500.

 

[DJ Man]

...

Gordie Howe never scored 50 goals in a season. The most he ever had was 49 in the 1952-53 season.

'52-'53 was an unusually low-scoring season. In almost any other year Howe would have projected to well over 50!

 

[DJ Man]

Ted Lindsay retired with a record 999 career games played.

(Lindsay did come back for one more season., but by that time, his team-mate Gordie Howe had become the first to play in 1,000+.)

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

everything about brian propp's career was almost

made it to five finals, never won

never scored 50 goals, but scored 40 four times in five years (39 the other year, another almost)

scored 90 points four times in five years, including back to back 97 point seasons, never hit 100

fourth in AST voting three years in a row

it would have been fitting if he'd finished just shy of 1,000 games and pts like kariya did, but actually he just made it — 1,016 games, 1,004 pts

 

[The Panther]

Bossy was such a good scorer, I wonder if he looks back with some regret at his great 1980-81 season when he finished with 69 goals. Just one away from being (then) only the second player to reach 70. In fact, he scored "only" 19 goals in the final 30 games, but then ripped it up in the playoffs.

Glenn Anderson was not only stopped at a career 498 goals, but in the 1983-84 season he finished with 99 points. Had he scored one more lousy point, the Oilers would have had five 100+ point scorers.

I've seen Paul Coffey jokingly state that he should have scored 50 goals in 1986. He finished with 48, breaking Orr's season record. What's crazy is that Coffey scored 31 goals in the last 41 games of the regular season!

 

[95Tal]

Bobby Clarke failed to finish as a plus-player in only one season of his career by finishing -1 in his rookie year. Other than that, though, he was plus.

 

[crobro]

Charlie Simmers 56 in 64 and 56 in 65 back to back seasons

breaks 60 for sure maybe 70 if he plays full seasons

 

[alko]

Brett Hull 1990/1991 season - 86 goals. Only 4 to a magic 90.

In his last 12 games he scored, no doubt, but only one game was with 2 goals.

Even more Wayne Gretzky 1981/1982 season with 92 goals.

8 goals is a lot. But we are speaking about Gretzky. In this season he had a 6-game streak with 0 goals. One 4-game streak and two 2-game streaks.

 

[crobro]

Simmers 50 in 51 season

 

[LuckyPierre]

In 2005/06, Dany Heatley scored 103 points in 82 games, for a pace of 1.26 p/g, while Daniel Alfredsson hit 103 in 77, at 1.34 p/g.

Meanwhile, Jason Spezza only played 68 games and put up 90 points, at 1.32 p/g. Had he been healthy enough to play a few more games, it was all but a certainty that he would have joined both his line mates over the 100 point mark.

Not sure when that had been accomplished last, but it certainly hasn't happened since.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

McDavid was 3 points away from becoming the 13th player in NHL history (and first since Yzerman) to have five consecutive 100+ point seasons.

 

[Hockeyholic]

McGriff with like 493 home runs.

I honestly think he's been black balled by the HOF. All because he didn't hit another frickin 7 dingers.

 

[Brodeur]

Devils have never had a player with a 50 goal or 100 point season.

Patrik Elias had 96 in 2000-01, can't help but wonder if he could have gotten a few more points had his usual centerman Jason Arnott (plus Scott Niedermayer) not held out and missed the first ~20 games of the season.

Brian Gionta had 48 goals in 2005-06. The line of Elias-Gomez-Gionta had been solid in 2003-04. Elias missed the first half of the post-lockout season after contracting Hep A from tainted food while playing in Russia during the lockout. Gionta scored 21 goals in 39 games (44 goals pace over full season) while Elias was out. After Elias returned to the lineup, Gionta scored 27 goals in 43 games (51.5 goals pace).

 

[Super Fadio Bro]

Pavel Datsyuk being 3 pts shy of a 100 pts….twice.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Lemieux missed the 200 points season mark by a single one.

This would bother me for the rest of my life

 

[jigglysquishy]

Brett Hull 1990/1991 season - 86 goals. Only 4 to a magic 90.

In his last 12 games he scored, no doubt, but only one game was with 2 goals.

Even more Wayne Gretzky 1981/1982 season with 92 goals.

8 goals is a lot. But we are speaking about Gretzky. In this season he had a 6-game streak with 0 goals. One 4-game streak and two 2-game streaks.

Gretzky was pacing even higher in 83-84 (94 goal pace) when he got 87. He had a bonkers 76 goals in his first 61 goals. But then finished with "only" 9 in his last 13 games. That's a 100 goal pace through 61 games.

 

[tabness]

Nicholls soooo close to 50 in 50

Probert was going for 30 goals and 300 PIM and finished just short on both.

I remember an interview at the time where Probert said his main focus was to score a goal and if he did that, then he would have taken the penalty. But he didn't score and obviously didn't want to lose a shift sitting in the penalty box when going for that last goal.

awesome story lol! wish he'd scored and then run the goalie

 

[hacksaw7]

Good article on his situation: Steve Larmer: I have no regrets
I was still surprised he retired at 33 after the lockout season as he was still producing.

Yea Larmers retirement at 33 was perplexing. He was still an excellent 2 way forward...he probably wasn't going to hit 30+ goals or score 70+ points again but the guy didn't have any nagging injuries and could could've been a valuable piece to the Rangers in their still competitive 95-97 years or another team looking to add those final piece veterans to go and win a Cup

 

[hacksaw7]

Glenn Anderson signed with the Canucks during the 95-96 season after starting the year playing somewhere in Europe. He wanted nothing to do with the Oilers with the state they were in. Of course to get back into the league he had to clear waivers. Anderson even called and begged Sather not to do it...but Sather does so mere MINUTES before Anderson was set to clear

 

[Stephen]

Paul Kariya finishing with 989 points in 989 games came to mind.

Alexander Mogilny ended with 990 games. Mike Modano infamously had 1499 games. Not sure if Martin Brodeur cared about hitting 700 wins but he fell short at 691.

Same with Vinny Lecavalier at 949 points. You just kind of wish those guys had gotten to 1000 points. At their peaks they were such superstars and such random guys got there ahead of them.

 

[Stephen]

Glenn Anderson, 2 goals short of 500.

It's mindboggling that Anderson was stopped at the goal line like that when you consider what a high flyer he was from that high flying era. Compare and contrast his peak and accomplishments with Mike Gartner, whom he was traded for at one point.