What is the longest a player has started and stayed on top of scoring in a season - by day?

[dr robbie]

Random question that I've been wondering, but does anyone know what has been the longest a player has started and stayed on top of scoring in a season? So, not just in games played, but a continuous running start from the first game of the season? So, the player would have to play in and factor into the first day of the NHL season to even be eligible. Has anyone ever led the league from start to finish?

My first thought was one of Gretzky's monster seasons, and he got 3 points in the first game of the 85-86 season. Was he ever surpassed at all in that season? If not, who has ever gone the longest?

Just curious and thought someone on here might have already played around with the question. Thanks.

Click to read more...

 

[overpass]

Michel Goulet alone eliminates most of Gretzky's 1980s seasons.

Mario Lemieux's 92-93 was almost there - if he had scored at least 4 points in his first game instead of 2, and if he didn't have cancer.

 

[seventieslord]

Michel Goulet alone eliminates most of Gretzky's 1980s seasons.

Mario Lemieux's 92-93 was almost there - if he had scored at least 4 points in his first game instead of 2, and if he didn't have cancer.

Did Goulet tend to have really hot starts?

 

[reckoning]

In 85-86 Gretzky had 3 points on opening night, but Greg Adams had 5.

In 90-91 Gretzky had 3 points on opening night, but Dave Ellett had 4.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Mario Lemieux's 92-93 was almost there - if he had scored at least 4 points in his first game instead of 2, and if he didn't have cancer.

lafontaine passed him during his time off for treatment

 

[DitchMarner]

In 85-86 Gretzky had 3 points on opening night, but Greg Adams had 5.

In 90-91 Gretzky had 3 points on opening night, but Dave Ellett had 4.

Ellett went 0-6 against him in the playoffs. Had to beat him somehow.

 

[McGarnagle]

Phil Esposito put up 5 points on opening night then 4 more points in game 2 of the 1973-1974 season. I'm eyeballing his game logs against Orr's in the early part of the year and don't think Bobby ever caught him. And given that no one other than Ken Hodge even finished above 90 points that year and by calendar day three of the season he had 9 points under his belt, that leads me to believe with about 99% certainty that Espo went coast-to-coast in 74.

 

[MadLuke]

Ken Hodge even finished above 90 points t

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

11 pts to 10 for Hodge after 3 games.

Even Malone 44 goals season he lost the lead at some point.

What make it specially hard, is early on if you played 2 less game than some opposition it is a big amount (not that it mattered that season because Goulet had the lead when both played 3 games, but if not he would have 50% more game to go over Gretzky at some point):

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

 

[overpass]

Did Goulet tend to have really hot starts?

Yes, at least in terms of the first game or three. Goulet always had multipoint games early on. 1983-84 and 1987-88 were legitimate really hot starts for more than a month. Per his career splits, October was his best month in terms of points per game.

As a result, from 1980-81 to 1992-93, Goulet led Gretzky in scoring at some point in October in 10 of 13 seasons. In the other 3 seasons, Goulet missed games at the start of the season and didn't have a chance.

Goulet's lead isn't that impressive in any one season because it was usually just over 2-3 games, but it's pretty remarkable that he kept up this pattern for more than a decade.

Season	Date	Michel Goulet	Wayne Gretzky
1980-81	10-Oct-80​	2 GP, 3 G, 4 P	1 GP, 2 G, 3 P
1981-82	10-Oct-81​	3 GP, 3 G, 5 P	3 GP, 1 G, 3 P
1982-83	07-Oct-82​	2 GP, 1 G, 3 P	1 GP, 0 G, 1 P
1983-84	14-Oct-83​	6 GP, 6 G, 14 P	4 GP, 6 G, 13 P
1984-85	13-Oct-84​	2 GP, 1 G, 3 P	2 GP, 0 G, 2 P
1986-87	13-Oct-86​	3 GP, 3 G, 7 P	3 GP, 3 G, 5 P
1987-88	16-Oct-87​	4 GP, 6 G, 12 P	4 GP, 2 G, 9 P
1989-90	05-Oct-89​	1 GP, 1 G, 2 P	1 GP, 0 G, 1 P
1991-92	12-Oct-91​	5 GP, 4 G, 8 P	5 GP, 0 G, 5 P
1992-93	10-Oct-92​	2 GP, 2 G, 2 P	0 GP, 0 G, 0 P (injured)

The seasons in which Goulet didn't lead Gretzky at any point were 1985-86, 1988-89, and 1990-91. He didn't play in the first game in 1985 or 1990, and missed a month after the first game in 1988.

If you wanted to get into even more detail, I'm pretty sure Goulet scored his first point of the season earlier in the day than Gretzky did in 1988-89 and 1993-94. Which would give Goulet a lead over Gretzky at some point in 12 of his 15 NHL seasons. Of course Goulet had the advantage of playing in the Eastern time zone.

 

[overpass]

I don't think any player has gone wire to wire as the scoring leader for a season, but I'll put forward one player who started off his NHL career leading the league in scoring.

Earl "Dutch" Reibel had 4 assists in his NHL debut on October 8, 1953, and led the league in points on the opening day of the season. Reibel went on to hold or share the league scoring lead for 28 consecutive days to start the season, through November 6, 1953. After that date his right winger, Gordie Howe, took the league lead. Howe held or shared the scoring lead until the end of the season.

Reibel and Howe join Esposito and Hodge in 73/74 as linemates where one or the other of them topped the scoring leaders from beginning to end of a season.