What are the biggest "huh" seasons of all time?

[CokenoPepsi]

Players known for their strong play and consistency who just had one weird off season and then just continued on playing a high level again?

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[MadLuke]

was aging, but maybe 2004 Modano ?

PPG player every year from 92 to 2003, had a full Sundin-Sakic level of consistency aura to him, 14 goals-44 pts, -21, was still playing 20 minutes a night.

Back to a ppg in the easier to score 2006 and then was fully over 35 aging normally.

The first one that came to mind was regular season 1993 Roy but that sound silly with the playoff

 

[Hippasus]

Teemu Selanne's 03-04 season in Colorado where he was reunited with Kariya was a bit of a head-scratcher. I thought he was washed-up.

 

[MadLuke]

Could be misremembering and that will be a common thing during this thread, those 2 were quite injury related.

Bit cheating with more a pair of season than just one, but Ovechkin 11&12 ?

 

[connellc]

In terms of goals, Glenn Anderson 16 goal season in 1989 (which was a very high scoring era) was sandwiched between 38 and 34 goals. Rumer was, he was depressed after his friends passing.

In terms of points Martin St Louis 2006 season is extremely puzzling. In a low scoring era he gets 94 points (best for 1st place in the league) in the trap era. Scoring goes through the roof in the 2006 season, and he only gets 61 points, which is only good for 71st in the league. The year after in 2007 he finishes 5th. In short, while most players were feasting on lots of power plays and high scoring, St Louis had his worst year. It wasn't like he took off the lockout year, like some players either, so he wasn't completely rusty. Anyone have any news on this?

 

[Hockey Outsider]

was aging, but maybe 2004 Modano ?

PPG player every year from 92 to 2003, had a full Sundin-Sakic level of consistency aura to him, 14 goals-44 pts, -21, was still playing 20 minutes a night.

Back to a ppg in the easier to score 2006 and then was fully over 25 aging normally.

The first one that came to mind was regular season 1993 Roy but that sound silly with the playoff

There were rumours that Modano lost millions of dollars on bad investments. (I'm going from memory here, but I vaguely recall that he may have been betrayed by someone close to him). This one was due to off-ice distractions, rather than injuries.

 

[MadLuke]

There were rumours that Modano lost millions of dollars on bad investments. (I'm going from memory here, but I vaguely recall that he may have been betrayed by someone close to him). This one was due to off-ice distractions, rather than injuries.

quick google went back up to this message board, maybe I did read your message about it in the past:

Post-career NHL-ers who "M.C. Hammered" their money and lost it all

"You can't touch this!" Rapper M.C. Hammer is famous for two things: his 1990 Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em album, which sold 20 million copies, making Hammer (briefly) a superstar... and the fact that by 1996, he was $13 million in debt (he apparently spent something like $25 million...

forums.hfboards.com

And that could be why I had Modano having an off year come to mind, did not remember the money issues happening.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

Bit cheating with more a pair of season than just one, but Ovechkin 11&12 ?

Capitals organization lost their minds after the Halakstrophe of 2010. Early 2011 season after the loss there were fully unironic media hit pieces claiming that the Capitals winning a game 3-2 was objectively better than winning 9-6. Ovies ability to do his obvious role suffered in that environment

 

[Brodeur]

Teemu Selanne's 03-04 season in Colorado where he was reunited with Kariya was a bit of a head-scratcher. I thought he was washed-up.

I definitely thought Selanne and Kariya were going to put up video game numbers. Maybe in a pre-Twitter world we didn't know how bad Selanne's knee was. Both he and Kariya ended up on PP2. So instead of playing on PP1 with Sakic-Forsberg-Blake they had Konowalchuk-Morris-Liles on PP2.

-------

One sorta outlier season was Bill Guerin in 2005-06. Most guys had inflated numbers due to the sheer amount of power play time, but Guerin went the other way. Guerin later admitted that he didn't work out during the lockout and was in poor physical condition that season. He'd have a good 2006-07 season and then his numbers steadily dropped probably due to Father Time.

2000-01: 40 goals
2001-02: 41 goals
2002-03: 25 goals (64 games)
2003-04: 34 goals
2005-06: 13 goals (70 games)
2006-07: 36 goals

 

[DitchMarner]

Could be misremembering and that will be a common thing during this thread, those 2 were quite injury related.

Bit cheating with more a pair of season than just one, but Ovechkin 11&12 ?

Ovechkin's 2011 was considered perplexing and disappointing at the time, but in hindsight it wasn't so bad. He was in the top ten in points. If you flip the goal and assist totals around, it's not that different from some of his later prime seasons.

2012 stands out as a surprisingly poor season. He was out of the top 30 in points. He was playing and scoring at a higher level this season (age 39) than in 2012.


Getzlaf really struggled in 2012 as well. Only 57 points in the middle of his prime in a full season.

 

[bobholly39]

Ovechkin's 2011 was considering perplexing and disappointing at the time, but in hindsight it wasn't so bad. He was in the top ten in points. If you flip the goal and assist totals around, it's not that different from some of his later prime seasons.

2012 stands out as a surprisingly poor season. He was out of the top 30 in points. He was playing and scoring at a higher level this season (age 39) than in 2012.


Getzlaf really struggled in 2012 as well. Only 57 points in the middle of his prime in a full season.

Ovechkin really is so strange. So many "huh" moments, where you figure he's "done", only to prove everyone otherwise.

After his slightly slower 2007 season vs Crosby's 2007 season - did anyone expect Ovechkin to torch the league, in the regular season, to the extent he did even above Crosby for the next 3 years?

And then - in 2010 - flying high - did anyone expect him to have such a downturn in 2011 & 2012? I agree looking bad with hindsight it doesn't maybe look too bad on his resume, but it's still a huge dip in performance.

And then - in middle of 2013 season, 3rd straight poor season for him....did anyone expect him to turn it around mid-season, score close to a ~goal per game rest of season to help Caps rise back up the rankings to make playoffs and win the Hart?

And still - in ~2013 looking farther out, did anyone ever think Ovechkin would bounce back from his seeming early decline to come back and win 7 additional rocket trophies?

And then - in 2021-2022, age 35, finally declining for real after such a great career...did anyone expect him to give McDrai a run for their money for hart/ross/rocket more than halfway into the season, and end up with another 50 goal season?

And then - here we are in 2024-2025, he finally did slow down last year, "only" 31 goals and a really bad start...did anyone expect him to come back and start the year with 15 goals in 18 games to lead the league, prior to injury, and be scoring at a ~114 point pace?

It's really incredible to consider Ovechkin's career arc, and how many times he came back unxpectedly after being counted out with a huge bounce back.

 

[MadLuke]

Ovechkin's 2011 was considering perplexing and disappointing at the time, but in hindsight it wasn't so bad.

Maybe he just shot under 9% that year.... 2012 is when he became a minus player.

 

[mrhockey193195]

Leetch in 99-00 sticks out like a sore thumb. 7-19-26 in 50 games. Injuries played a large part. He jumped back to 79 points the next season to lead all D in scoring.

Not injury related - Lidstrom in 03-04 is a weird one. 10-28-38 in 81 games. Only 8 EV assists all season. Sandwiched by seasons of 62 and 80 points.

One that always confused me was Jean Ratelle in 66-67. He hadn't established himself as a star yet, but the prior seasons he put up 54 GP, 14-21-35 in 64-65, and 67 GP, 21-30-51 in 65-66. Trending towards 1C territory. Then his stat line drops to 41 GP, 6-5-11 in 66-67. He immediately follower that up with 78 points and a string of ~10 consecutive years as one of the top centers in the NHL.

 

[Terry Yake]

marleau 07-08

78 games 19 G 29 A 48 pts

 

[ES]

Lidström 03-04?

 

[Reindl87]

Selanne 04 is Your answer.

 

[Terry Yake]

selanne's down season in 04 isn't all that surprising considering he was basically playing on one leg

getting surgery after that season+the lockout+the "new" NHL saved his career

 

[Hippasus]

Another good one is Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne's very teammate in 03-04, and at least former linemate from Anaheim, in what was supposed to be a super-team for the Colorado Avalanche.

Kariya	51	11	25	36
Selanne	78	16	16	32

Kariya's percentage of point drop from the average of the seasons before and after is 36/83=43%.
Selanne's percentage of drop from the average of the seasons before and after is 32/77=41%.

Kariya suffered two wrist injuries early in this season.

 

[Run the Gauntlet]

Leetch in 99-00 sticks out like a sore thumb. 7-19-26 in 50 games. Injuries played a large part. He jumped back to 79 points the next season to lead all D in scoring.

Not injury related - Lidstrom in 03-04 is a weird one. 10-28-38 in 81 games. Only 8 EV assists all season. Sandwiched by seasons of 62 and 80 points.

One that always confused me was Jean Ratelle in 66-67. He hadn't established himself as a star yet, but the prior seasons he put up 54 GP, 14-21-35 in 64-65, and 67 GP, 21-30-51 in 65-66. Trending towards 1C territory. Then his stat line drops to 41 GP, 6-5-11 in 66-67. He immediately follower that up with 78 points and a string of ~10 consecutive years as one of the top centers in the NHL.

Leetch took a slapshot that broke his arm during a PK that season. Then a few minutes later he went on the ice again to kill another PK with a broken arm.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Any player I took high in a hockey pool... but only for the season I took them.

 

[MXD]

Guy Carbonneau, 92-93.

 

[Doctor No]

Andrew Hammond coming out of AHL Binghamton to post a 20-1-2 record and pull the Senators into the playoffs.

Fun trivia, this happened during the same professional season where Hammond allowed three goals in the first 0:36 of an AHL game to get a 300.00 GAA for the evening. He did not earn the loss, however.