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Tiger Fan 10-07-2017 10:21 AM

Random Notes from a 120 year historical sim
 
NOTES FROM 120 YEARS OF NHL HISTORY

I ran a historical sim over night starting in 1917 and progressing through to 2036. I went that long to ensure most of the current players would have completed their careers and retire so we can see how Connor McDavid and others number's would stack up against past greats.

In this sim, as in most I do, I choose to let the FHM development engine take over rather than have the player ratings recalculated every year. Recalculating would yield much more realistic results but I always enjoy some variety in my sims, having an unheralded player or two emerge with some very big numbers.

I also decided to assign players to their original teams rather than have a draft in this sim so there would be some semblance of normality when comparing this sim to real life. I do that most times as well as I find it difficult to imagine a league where Maurice Richard is anything but a Canadien and Gordie Howe not a Red Wing. It also means when I talk teams or number of Cups won we can immediately have a good idea of who was on that team.

If you want to hear how a certain player or team feel free to ask. There will be no format to this dynasty and it will last just as long as I find interesting things to document.

Let's start with Cup winners. Your 2035-36 Cup winners are the Toronto Maple Leafs which gives the club 15 Stanley Cup titles in the past 120 years, second only to the Montreal Canadiens with 34. Looking at the Leafs history, their all-time scoring leader was Pavel Datsyuk (581-1087-1647), who was acquired from Detroit after scoring just once in 11 games as a rookie. Datsyuk would lead the Leafs to a Cup in 2004. Toronto would also win in 1983 and 1985 when Borje Salming (215-683-898) and Dennis Maruk (632-897-1529) led the way.

Maruk was one of those breakout players I talked about when I mentioned I like the variance you get using the FHM development engine as opposed to recaluclate ratings. Maruk began his career in Oakland as the California Golden Seals played their final season. He would go with the club to Cleveland for two years and scored 52 goals in his final year as a Baron. The Leafs signed him when Cleveland folded/merged with Minnesota and he would have 5 straight 50+ goal years in Toronto from 1981-85 playing alongside Lanny McDonald (322-363-685) and Darryl Sittler (342-520-862) for much of the time.

Despite having the most titles, the Canadiens have not won a Cup since 2017-18 when Carey Price - who's 739 career wins is third all-time behind Roberto Luongo and Patrick Roy - backstopped the Habs to the title. Montreal's greatest time was from 1975-80 when the Guy Lafleur (741-1084-1825) led a team that won 6 Cups in a 7 year period. Old-timers, of course, would say no team could match the Habs of the 1940's when Maurice Richard (650-604-1254) and goaltender Bill Durnan (294-67-42, 1.98) led Montreal to a record 6 straight titles.

The Detroit Red Wings are third all-time in Cup wins with 13. Detroit's glory days started in 1982 when they began their streak of 31 straight playoff appearances, a stretch that included 10 Cups with 4 straight coming betwen 2000-2003. That was the heyday of Steve Yzerman (1060-1565-2625) and Nik Lidstrom (410-1146-1556). Yzerman, who won 5 Conn Smythe Trophy's and 9 Art Ross's is widely regarded as the best player in Detroit history - including Gordie Howe (1165-1352-2417). Howe is the NHL's all time goal scorer but trails only Wayne Gretzky (1066-1681-2747) and Yzerman in career points.

The Boston Bruins won 11 Stanley Cups in their history with Bobby Orr (310-1087-1397) and Ray Bourque (541-1337-1878) being most identified with the team. Unlike in real-life when he needed to go to Colorado to get his name engraved on the Cup, Bourque would win with Boston - three times actually- and be named Conn Smythe Winner each of the 3. Orr would also win 3 Cups as a Bruin and would do so alongside Phil Esposito. Esposito (754-961-1715) would join the Bruins as a 21 year old in the summer of 1963 after Chicago dealt the young forward in exchange for defensemen Doug Mohns and Arnie Brown.

Chicago drank from the Cup on only 4 occassions as the Black Hawks were certainly the least successful original six team. Despite joining the NHL in 1926-27, Chicago did not win a title until 1966-67 - the final year of the original six era. Stan Mikita (670-1201-1871) and Bobby Hull(701-731-1432) were the leaders of that team and the long-time teammates also led Chicago to championships in 1971 and 1973. The only other Chicago Cup came in 2012 when Jonathan Toews (338-690-1028) and Patrick Kane(510-617-1127) combined for their only title. The Hawks looked to be building something until the infamous Duncan Keith (222-692-914)for Rick Nash (523-612-1135) trade with Columbus in 2013. Keith, who won 3 Norris Trophy's in Chicago, would win 3 more with Columbus and help the Bluejackets to their first of two Stanley Cups in 2017.

Rounding out the original six, the New York Rangers won 5 Stanley Cups: 1936, 1937,1940,1955 and 1997 when John Vanbiesbrouck (675-409, 2.71) had the best season of his Hall of Fame career.

Tiger Fan 10-07-2017 11:04 AM

1 Attachment(s)
LEMIEUX VS CROSBY

In this sim Mario is ahead of Sid in all of the individual accolades but Crosby was the only one to lead the Penguins to a title. Lemieux had the Penguins close - they would lose to Calgary in the 1989 finals- but he could not lift the team to a Cup. Crosby captained Pittsburgh to pair of them - the only two the team would win- in 2015 and 2019. To be fair to Lemieux, Crosby did have a slightly better supporting cast as his Cup winning teams also included Malkin and Anze Kopitar, who was acquired from Los Angeles a couple seasons before the first Pittsburgh Cup. Although Lemieux had the benefit of Jaromir Jagr, who would play his entire 1658 game career in Pittsburgh and finish with 838 goals - placing him 7th all-time just ahead of Sid.

In the sim, just as in real-life, Lemieux did rescue the Penguins as they were awful prior to him joining the club. Before Lemieux's debut in 1984-85 the Pens had made the playoffs just twice in their existance and their win total the 4 years prior to Mario was 12, 15,12 and 13. With Lemieux they won 32 games in his first season and made the playoffs.


Code:


                LEMIEUX            CROSBY

CUPS                      0              2
CONN SMYTHE          0                  1
ART ROSS          5              3
HART                  2              2
CALDER                  1              1
1st TEAM ALLSTAR  4                  2
2nd TEAM ALLSTAR  3                6

                TOTAL-RANK        TOTAL-RANK
GAMES CAREER        1456        52nd        1657  10th
GOALS CAREER    1009  4th        812  8th
ASSISTS CAREER  1327  5th        1190  11th
POINTS CAREER    2336  4th        2002  6th

GAMES PLAYOFFS    143    204
GOALS PLAYOFFS    92          92
ASSSITS PLAYOFFS  121        133
POINTS PLAYOFFS  213        225


In case you are interested here are the all-time goal scoring leaders from the 120 year sim. Calgary fans will be happy to see the career Sean Monahan put together.

skyballer455 10-07-2017 12:38 PM

Very interesting. As you may have noticed, I'm about to start a historical replay similar to the ones you did for the past couple of years. I hope you don't mind.

Still, I'm looking forward to more of this. Keep it up!

Tiger Fan 10-07-2017 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyballer455 (Post 4241009)
Very interesting. As you may have noticed, I'm about to start a historical replay similar to the ones you did for the past couple of years. I hope you don't mind.

Still, I'm looking forward to more of this. Keep it up!

I saw yours. Looking forward to following along as you progress through it.

Tiger Fan 10-09-2017 03:33 AM

Single Game record holders
 
The new game records section of FHM allows us to look back at the greatest single game achievements and this league had a few of them. The real life record for goals in a game is 7 by Joe Malone in 1920 (with the modern record being 6 jointly held by Red Berenson and Darryl Sittler).

In the sim the record is 6 goals and was accomplished 3 times in the 120 year history. The first to do it was Don Marcotte of the Los Angeles Kings in 1975 with Philadelphia's Tim Kerr equalling the feet 8 years later. The final player to score 6 times in a single game was Colorado's Owen Nolan in 2003.

Marcotte had a decent real life career, winning a pair of Cups with Boston over a 12 year career that saw the two-way forward earn 484 points in 868 NHL games. Marcotte was much more productive offensively in the sim, playing 1141 NHL games while scoring 433 goals and 1027 points.

After 41 games with the Oklahoma City Blazers, Marcotte made his NHL debut by playing 1 game for the 65-66 Bruins. He would stick in the NHL for good the following season but would spend just under 3 years in Boston as he was moved to the Los Angeles Kings in a deadline day deal in 1969. Before leaving Boston Marcotte did manage to enjoy the only Stanley Cup victory of his career, when he helped the Bruins sweep the expansion Oakland Seals in the 1968 finals.

His career bloomed in Los Angeles as Marcotte won 3 Selke Trophy's as the top defensive forward and also become an offensive force. He scored a career high 48 goals and 101 points in 1977-78.

Tim Kerr spent a decade in the NHL in this sim, playing all but the final 2 of his 886 career games with the Flyers. He won a Cup with the Flyers in 1986, scoring 14 goals and 32 points in 18 playoff games but the Conn Smythe Trophy went to linemate Brian Propp (14-24-38) that season. Kerr was nominated for the Calder Trophy after scoring 39 goals as a 21 year old rookie in 1981-82 but that was the closest he got to an individual accolade. He did manage 4-straight 50 goals seasons starting in 1983-84 when he scored a career best 67 goals - third behind Gretzky (70) and Bossy (69) that year. When it was all said and done Kerr finished his career with 459 goals and 910 points. His career ended with minor league stops in Hamilton and PEI along with 2 games for the 1993-94 Vancouver Canucks.

In real life Kerr played 655 NHL games, scoring 370 goals and 674 points.


The third player to score 6 goals in a single game was Owen Nolan. Nolan played his entire career in the sim with Quebec/Colorado and was a key member of their first Cup winning team in 2004-05. Because Nolan stayed healthy he played a couple of hundred more games in the sim than his real-life totals but he was not as productive. The sim-Nolan only reached the 30 goal plateau twice and finished with 309 goals and 623 points in 1418 games. In real-life Nolan played 1200 NHL games but had 422 goals and 885 points.

POINTS IN A GAME
Darryl Sittler holds the real-life record by scoring 10 points in a single game. The total was matched twice in the 120 year sim history. Murph Chamberlain was the first to do it, while playing for Toronto in 1941. That record was matched 80 years later when John Tavaras of the 2020-21 New York Islanders had a goal and 9 assists in a game.

Tavaras' 9 assists are also a single game record. In the sim he would enjoy an outstanding career, playing 1302 games and scoring 642 goals with 1679 points. The goal total ties Tavaras with Mickey Redmond for 22nd all-time while his point total is good for 21st on the list. He spent his entire career with the Islanders, leading the club to 3 Stanley Cup titles: in 2023,25 and 26. Their only other Cup win in this sim came in 1982 with Trottier, Bossy, Potvin and company.

Rookie of the year in 2009-10 when he scored 40 goals and 90 points, Tavaras would go on to win 6 Hart Trophy's and a Conn Smythe. A 7-time first team all-star, he led the NHL in scoring 3 times and also won a pair of Selke Trophy's. Bothered by injuries late in his career, Tavaras would accept a demotion to Bridgeport Sound in 2027-28 at the age of 37 and finish his career with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.

Murph Chamberlain is about as unlikely a 10-point scorer as you could find. His career spanned 376 games from 1937-38 until 1945-46 with Toronto and Chicago. He scored 104 goals and 266 points during that time with his best season being the year he had his 10 point game: 1940-41 when Chamberlain had 23 goals and 26 assists. He added another 31 points in 58 career playoff games, winning 3 Stanley Cups while with the Leafs.

In real life Chamberlain had 100 goals and 275 points in 510 NHL games. He played for Toronto, Montreal, the NY Americans and Boston Bruins.

Tiger Fan 10-09-2017 04:02 AM

McDavid and Gretzky
 
2 Attachment(s)
MCDAVID VS GRETZKY

Connor McDavid certainly had a very good NHL career in this sim but it paled in comparison to Wayne Gretzky. Not that there is anything wrong with that as, aside from Gordie Howe, everyone's career paled in comparsion to Gretzky. Where McDavid does has bragging rights is in Cup victories. McDavid led Edmonton to just one Stanley Cup- which is one more than Gretzky.

The fact that the Gretzky-led Oilers never won a Cup is one of the biggest surprises to me from this sim. Even though he won 12 Hart Trophy's and led the league in scoring 9 times the Great One could never lift the Oilers to a title. He led them to the finals twice, losing to the Islanders in 1982 and Montreal in 1984. He had virtually the same cast as the real life Oilers but there was one major exception. When the WHA folded Mark Messier signed with Winnipeg instead of Edmonton and spent most of his career with the Jets/Coyotes. Like Gretzky, Messier also never won a Cup.

As for McDavid. He won the Calder Trophy with 70 points in 2015-16 when he joined an Oilers team just two years removed from it's first Cup win behind Hall, Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers enjoyed a number of playoff seasons with McDavid leading the way and reached the finals in 2019. That was the year McDavid won his only scoring title when he had 47 goals and 121 points. McDavid would dominate the playoffs, scoring 20 goals and 42 points in 24 games to win the only Conn Smythe Trophy of his career but his Oilers would lose a thrilling Stanley Cup final in 7 games to the Pittsburgh Penguins, giving Sidney Crosby his second title.

McDavid would finally get his one and only Stanley Cup ring in 2024 when the Oilers beat the Islanders in 5 games to win the title. McDavid would also win just 1 Hart Trophy which came in 2022-23.

Here are the career stats of McDavid and Gretzky.

Tiger Fan 10-09-2017 11:19 AM

Steve Yzerman
 
YZERMAN SURPASSES HOWE AS GREATEST RED WING

There is no denying Gordie Howe had an exceptional career with the Detroit Red Wings in this sim. Mr Hockey scored 1,165 career goals placing him first all-time in that list with 99 more than Wayne Gretzky, who finished second. Howe's 2,417 points rank third all-time and no one played more regular season NHL games than the 1,952 Howe suited up for.

Gordie won the Calder Trophy in 1947-48 when he broke into the NHL as a 19 year old, recording 25 goals and 44 points that season. He would be a fixture in the Detroit lineup, rarely missing time with injury, until announcing his retirement in 1975 at the age of 44. Howe would win 7 Hart Trophy's, led the NHL in points 6 times and goals on 10 occassions. He would help the Wings win their first 3 Stanley Cups in franchise history- 1960, 1965 and 1969.

However, when asked who the greatest Red Wing of all-time was, fans in this universe are quick to say Steve Yzerman before they would say Gordie Howe. Yzerman finished as the Wings all-time point leader with 2,545 and when you added his totals from his final two seasons with the Rangers StevieY is second only to Gretzky with 2,625 career points. Yzerman is third behind Howe and Gretzky in goals with 1,060 but is the all-time leader in NHL history for assists with 1,681.

The biggest number supporters of Yzerman will point to is the number 8 - as in how many Stanley Cups he led the Wings to. Included in that total were 4 straight titles from 2000-2003. Yzerman, who scored 205 goals and 469 points in 319 career playoff games, was at his best in the post-season. His 5 Conn Smythe Trophy's are the most any player has won.

Yzerman holds the NHL single season record for goals with 89 in 1989-90 and points with 187 that same year. His 89 goals broke the previous mark of 84 set by Mario Lemieux a year earlier after Lemieux had topped Yzerman's 1987-88 total of 81 goals. Yzerman, Gretzky and Lemieux are the only players to top 155 career points and did it 18 times between the three of them (6 times for Yzerman). He also holds the single season assist record with 120 recorded in 1992-93.

After 21 seasons in Detroit and with Henrik Zetterberg, Keith Primeau and Mike Sillinger taking his ice time away, a now 38 year old Yzerman was dealt to the New York Rangers in November of 2003 in exchange for much-travelled winger Jason Pominville. The move would pay off as Pominville was packaged to Nashville a year and a half later in a trade that would net the Wings Dan Hamhuis - who would be a key defenseman on the Wings final two Cups. As for Yzerman he would play a year and a half in New York before retiring in 2005 at the age of 39 and go on to join Howe in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Yzerman's number 91 (Alex Delvecchio wore 19 and it was retired after his stellar career) and Howe's #16 (Ted Lindsay beat him to #9) are both retired and hanging from the rafters of the Little Caesar's Arena along with 13 Stanley Cup banners

Of course if we are only talking Stanley Cups than Nik Lidstrom ranks number one in Red Wing history. The defenseman would win 8 alongside Yzerman and than add two more at the end of his career in 2009 and 2010. There is no official list of Cup wins by player in the game but I would have to think Lidstrom's 10 is the most all-time by a non-Montreal Canadien. (The Habs were dominant in the 40s and 50s winning 16 Cups in 21 years). Lidstrom also won 3 Conn Smythe Trophy's and a record 11 Norris Trophy's in his career.

Rasmuth 10-09-2017 01:02 PM

what happened to Mike Bossy...played less than 700 games.

Tell me about the fortunes of Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. And also how did Ric Seiling do (a personal friend in real life.)

Nino33 10-09-2017 04:49 PM

I’d be interested in knowing how Bernie Parent did :) and any other 70s or 80s era goaltenders

Thanks for your efforts/thanks for sharing 👍

Tiger Fan 10-09-2017 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rasmuth (Post 4241791)
what happened to Mike Bossy...played less than 700 games.

Tell me about the fortunes of Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. And also how did Ric Seiling do (a personal friend in real life.)

MIKE BOSSY

His career went much like real-life. Great start only to have injuries end it early. In 1977-78 Bossy scored 52 goals and 111 points as rookie to win the Calder Trophy and make the Second All-Star team. He followed that up with seasons of 47,65,67 and 59 goals before an injury limited his 1982-83 season to 31 games - although he still managed to score 28 goals that year. He rebounded with 69 goals the following season but that was the last great season of his career.

In 1985-86 the Islanders suffered through a terrible 37 point season and dealt Bossy to Toronto midway through the year. He would finish with 35 goals in 80 games that season but his stay in Toronto was short-lived as the Leafs moved him to Boston the following season and he even spent some time in the minors. At 29 years old he scored 21 goals in 56 games between the Leafs and Bruins but he would end up in the AHL the following year and finished out his career with 3 seasons for the Maine Mariners.

Bossy won a Cup with the 1981-82 Islanders, scoring 10 goals and 26 points in 20 games that playoff season. He was a 3-time second team all-star and won the Maurice Richard Trophy as top goal scorer in 1979-80. His final totals were 697 games played with 474 goals and 970 points. In real life he played 752 games with 573 goals and 1126 points.

EICHEL AND REINHART

The two played a key role in bringing Buffalo it's first two Stanley Cups - something Gil Perreault and Rick Martin came close to doing but could never quite accomplish.

Eichel would spend his entire 21 year career with the Sabres, playing 1463 career games while scoring 609 goals and 1573 points. Those numbers put him second behind Perreault for the franchise goal and point lead. Eichel would lead the NHL in scoring 4 times and win 3 Hart Trophy's. He also won the Selke twice and was a Conn Smythe winner in 2022 when the Sabres won their second of back-to-back Cups. Eichel was a 3-time first team all-star and was also named to the second team on 3 occassions. His 207 career playoff points rank him 20th all-time.

Reinhart would play just 9 seasons in Buffalo but was a key contributer on the 2 Cup winning teams. He had a career best 37 goals and 103 points in 2019-20 and won his only individual award that season when he was presented with the Lady Byng Trophy. He played a huge role in both Cup wins, scoring 21 points in 22 games the first year and 24 points in 20 games the year Buffalo won it's second title.

In the summer of 2024 Reinhart was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a deal for veteran Jeff Skinner and a fictional player by the name of Jiri Pech, who was a 2020 draft pick and would enjoy some very productive years in Buffalo. Reinhart spent the 4 years of his NHL career with the Penguins, finishing with 226 goals and 677 points in 899 career games.

RIC SEILING

Fashioned himself a decent career which was spent entirely in Buffalo. He broke in as a 20 year old in 1977-78 with 40 points in 62 games and would enjoy the most productive offensive season of his career the following year when he scored 31 goals and 60 points. Seiling was a regular with the Sabres for 9 seasons before his skills eroded a bit and he spent the final few years of his career bouncing between Rochester and Buffalo. The Sabres waived him in December of 1987 after Seiling had played 673 career NHL games, scoring 162 goals and 384 points. He would spend the final year and a half of his pro career with the Binghampton Whalers of the AHL. Seiling also played in 38 playoff games, scoring 10 goals and 23 points.

The sim career of Seiling was fairly close to his real life numbers of 738 games with 179 goals and 387 points.

Tiger Fan 10-09-2017 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nino33 (Post 4241868)
I’d be interested in knowing how Bernie Parent did :) and any other 70s or 80s era goaltenders

Thanks for your efforts/thanks for sharing ��

BERNIE PARENT

Just as in real-life Parent found his path to the NHL blocked while in Boston so he was exposed in the 1967 expansion draft and selected by the St Louis Blues. Before joining the Blues he spent 4 seasons in the minors from the ages of 18-21 but did get into 10 games for Boston. St Louis had him spend most of the 67-68 season in the minors before he made the NHL for good the following season.

The Blues had some bad teams in their early years but Parent still managed to win 285 games for the club which places him third in team history behind Cam Talbot and Curtis Joseph. He would remain with St Louis until his retirement at age 39 in 1985. In 880 career NHL games, Parent was 287-429-89 with a 3.40 goals against average. He played in 41 playoff games compiling a 14-25 record with a 3.41 GAA.

His number 33 was retired by the club and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.


JOE DALEY

I will talk about a surprise goaltender of the seventies who became a superstar. He was a big reason Parent was exposed in the expansion draft as Daley broke in with the Bruins in 1966-67 and would be their starting goaltender for 17 years, leading the Bruins to 3 Stanley Cup titles and winning 540 games. He would win the Calder in 1966-67 and claim 7 Vezina Trophy's in his career that saw Daley post a record of 540-263-136 with a 2.45 GAA. The 540 wins are good for 13th all-time.

2 spots ahead of him is Gerry Cheevers, who spent his entire career with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Cheevers played 19 seasons and 1105 games, going 573-343-143 with a 2.61 GAA but he only won the Vezina once in his career. Cheevers did claim 3 Stanley Cup titles for the Leafs - in 1964, 1966 and 1977.

The winningest goaltender in the WHA was Gilles Gratton. If you haven't read about him in real life you should, he was just plain nuts. He spent 7 seasons with one franchise in the WHA and he did win an Avco Cup with the team when they were the Toronto Toros. His 229 career WHA wins lead runner-up Glenn Resch by 30. Overall in 348 starts in the rebel league, Gratton was 229-85-22 with a 2.58 GAA. When the WHA folded he was signed by the Hartford Whalers and played 72 NHL games over parts of 5 seasons, going 29-26-7 for the Whalers.


Since you asked about Parent I thought I would finish this post with a look at the Flyers goaltenders. Without Parent, Philadelphia did not accomplish much during the 70s as they were forced to rely on a parade of mediocre goaltenders including Les Binkley (95-182-44), Bobby Taylor (23-63-9) and later Rocky Farr (20-12-6) and Gord McRae (30-14-6) before Pete Peeters arrived in 1977 to solidify the position. Peeters would go 244-108-36 over 8 seasons in Philadelphia before Pelle Lindbergh took over in 1983. Lindbergh would win 178 games over a decade but would only start for 3 years before Ron Hextall arrived in 1985.

Hextall would win 312 games with Philadelphia and lead the Flyers to their only Stanley Cup in his rookie year. Mike Smith, who played for the Flyers from 2007-19 was the only Philadelphia goalie to win more games than Hextall - as he won 368 in a Flyer uniform.

Papi 10-09-2017 10:40 PM

I'd love an update on some of the early to mid 90's Bruins, Cam Neely, Byron Dafoe, Jason Allison. (I installed the sound system in the Bruins locker room back in the mid's 90's.) Saw Ray Bourque naked. That's my claim to fame, what's yours? :)

JaBurns 10-10-2017 10:21 AM

Tiger Fan, I enjoy following all your sims in both baseball and hockey. You give me many ideas! Please keep up your great and fascinating work!

Rasmuth 10-10-2017 02:59 PM

how about:

Dominak Hasek
Rasmus Ristolainin
Ryan Miller
Blair MacDonald
Alexander Mogilny
Pat LaFontaine

btw...is it me or is Eichel not on the alltime goal scorers listed you posted earlier?

Tiger Fan 10-10-2017 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rasmuth (Post 4242231)

btw...is it me or is Eichel not on the alltime goal scorers listed you posted earlier?

You are right. I have let Jeff know and provided a save file so he can identify the issue.

Tiger Fan 10-10-2017 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Papi (Post 4242027)
I'd love an update on some of the early to mid 90's Bruins, Cam Neely, Byron Dafoe, Jason Allison. (I installed the sound system in the Bruins locker room back in the mid's 90's.) Saw Ray Bourque naked. That's my claim to fame, what's yours? :)


Lol. Maybe a little more info then most would care for but here are the Bruins you requested.

Let's start with everyone's favourite Bruin who never becomes a Bruin in any of my sims because the cpu Canucks GM is much smarter than Jack Gordon, who dealt Neely and a draft pick (Glen Wesley) to Boston for Barry Pederson in 1986.

CAM NEELY

In this sim Neely still had his career cut short by injuries - he would retire following the 1998-99 season - but he did manage to play 1094 NHL games, all with Vancouver, and score 499 goals and 981 points. Neely also amassed 2226 penalty minutes.

A number of injuries throughout his career, most to the shoulder, saw him manage to play over 70 games in only 7 of his 16 NHL seasons. He would score 35 goals and add 15 assists as an 18 year old rookie in 1983-84 but his best season was 1986-87 when Neely played 80 games and scored a career high 63 goals and 114 points. He would only top the 50 goal plateau on one other occasion - in 1991-92 when he had 55.

The Canucks of his era were not very good and his team never made it past the second round of the playoffs. In all, Neely played 44 post-season games and had 18 goals and 21 assists. He was nominated for the Messier Leadership Award late in his career but did not win. That was the only accolade he was ever considered for.

His 499 goals are second all-time in Vancouver history, 77 back of Henrik Sedin and he is 4th in career points with the organization, trailing the Sedin's and Trevor Linden. League-wide he is tied for 61st in career goals with Brandon Saad, 1 goal up on Connor McDavid.


BYRON DAFOE

Dafoe won 354 games in his professional career -- but all of them were in the minors. He never did get a shot in the NHL despite playing in the Capitals, Islanders, Ducks, Sabres and Red Wings organizations despite playing for nearly 20 years. Dafoe's minor league record was 354-202-53 with a 2.49 goals against average. He is 7th all-time in minor league games played by a goalie. Among those ahead of him are Sean Burke, Guy Hebert and Ken Wregget. Every one of the 6 goalies ahead of played at least one NHL game so Dafoe holds the distinction of playing the most minor league games by goalie who never made the NHL.

JASON ALLISON

It took Allison a couple of years to get going but he was fairly productive in his 12 year NHL career, all with Washington. He broke in as an 18 year old in 93-94 but managed just 4 goals and 11 points in 40 games as a rookie. The following year was even worse as he scored just once in 33 games but he had a breakout year as a 20 year old - notching 20 goals and 69 points. He would follow that up with a career best 27 goals and 74 points in 1996-97. Allison would enjoy 3 more 20+ goal seasons and finish his career with 163 goals and 482 points in 797 NHL games. He retired at the age of 30 following the 2005-06 season after spending the previous year and a half in the AHL. In real life he played about 200 less NHL games but his goals (154) and points (485) were almost identical to the sim totals.

Allison played 13 playoff games scoring 3 goals and 2 assists. The Capitals never won a playoff round while he was will the club.

RAY BOURQUE

Bourque had a great career in Boston, making the Hall of Fame after scoring 541 goals and 1878 points in his 20 year career. He won 3 Stanley Cups and claimed the Conn Smythe Trophy on each of those 3 occasions. He also won a pair of Norris Trophy's and is the Bruins all-time leader in assists and points. He was a 9-time first-team all-star including 3 selections as a winger when the Bruins moved him up front for a few seasons.

His best season, statistics-wise, was 1988-89 when he played defense most of the year but still scored 44 goals and 146 points.

Bourque's final rankings are 4th all-time in assists behind Gretzky, Yzerman and Chelios. He was 12th in career points and 45th in goals scored. Finally, his 1539 career games ranks 29th on the all-time list.

Tiger Fan 10-10-2017 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rasmuth (Post 4242231)
how about:

Dominak Hasek
Rasmus Ristolainin
Ryan Miller
Blair MacDonald
Alexander Mogilny
Pat LaFontaine

DOMINIK HASEK

He gets a late start to his NHL career, not appearing in the game until age 28 as in real-life. He played one season with Chicago, going 17-24-6 before being exposed in the 1993 expansion draft and going to Florida. Hasek would then spend 12 years as the Panthers starting goalie before retiring in 2005 at the age of 40. He played 840 games with a 3.29 GAA and .908 career save percentage while compiling a 189-505-112 record for what was an awful team. The Panthers did not reach the playoffs at all during Hasek's tenure...in fact it took them until 2011 before they played their first post-season game. Florida won more than 22 games in a season just once when Hasek was there, going 29-43-10 in 2002-03.

Hasek ranks 4th all time in loss with 505 for his career. He trails Al Smith, Ed Belfour and Curtis Joseph in that category. Smith was an expansion pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1967 and spent 19 years with a really bad Pens team pre-Lemieux, going 227-721-126. Belfour was 350-645-148 during a very long and mostly bad stretch for the Chicago Black Hawks. CuJo had a little better record (310-558-111) but went through some lean years in the mid-1990s with St Louis before ending his career in Philadelphia.

RASMUS RISTOLAINEN

Enjoyed an 18 year career with the Buffalo Sabres, winning a pair of Cups and also claiming the Norris Trophy in 2024-25. Three times a first team all-star and named to the second team two other seasons, Ristolainen played 1359 NHL games, scoring 202 goals and 843 career points. He had 39 points over the 2 playoff years the Sabres won the Cup and 113 points overall in 168 career playoff games.

Ristolainen was pretty consistent, regularly scoring about 15 goals and 55-60 points a season. His best year offensively was 2023-24 when he had a career high 19 goals (did that twice) and 79 points. He was -20 each of his first two seasons as the Sabres struggled but had a nice stretch of half a dozen years where he regularly was over +30 each season. He played until he was 37 years old.

RYAN MILLER

He spent his entire career in Buffalo but retired a couple seasons before the Sabres back to back Cup wins. Miller spent 19 years in Buffalo but was a backup much of the time as he was behind Manny Fernandez for his first few seasons and Ben Bishop later in his career. Miller only had about a five year stretch from 2006-07 until 2010-11 when he would get the majority of the starts.

In all, Miller played 659 NHL games, going 312-251-53 with a 2.60 GAA. He played 24 playoff games with a 10-13 record. He had a long career in Buffalo and is third in team wins but his reputation is nowhere near that of Ben Bishop and Rogie Vachon - who were the two great Buffalo goalies.

Bishop, who came over in a trade from St Louis in 2009, is loved in Buffalo for the two Stanley Cups he won. His NHL career - which lasted until 2024, saw him win 419 games including 383 with the Sabres. Vachon won a Cup as the backup in Montreal in 1969-70 before being selected first overall by the Sabres in the expansion draft. He would spend the next 16 seasons in the Sabres crease, helping them to a couple of finals, but they could never quite win it all.


BLAIR MACDONALD

One of the legends of the WHA, MacDonald spent over a decade with the Oilers starting in 1973-74 and remaining with the club through it's transition to the NHL before finally retiring in 1985. He played 447 games in the WHA and his 256 goals are second most in the outlaw league's history - trailing only Pat Hickey's 266. MacDonald was much less productive in the NHL, scoring just 49 times in 363 career games.

MacDonald and the Oilers won their only title in 1978-79, which was the final year for the Avco Cup. He holds the single-season WHA goal record with 65 in 1976-77 and would follow that up with 57 goals the following season.

ALEXANDER MOGILNY

His career started with such promise, just like in real-life, but he never took the big goal scoring jump like he did for a couple of years in the real world. He was nominated for the Calder Trophy in 1989-90 when he had 20 goals and 62 points as a 20 year old rookie but lost to Winnipeg's Teemu Selanne (34-42-77). Mogilny would follow that up with seasons of 37 and 38 goals before his career diverged from real life. In real life Moginly went from 30 and 39 goals in his second and third year to a 76 goal season in his fourth campaign. He would score just 24 goals in the sim and would never get more than 27 in a season for the remainder of his career.

The Sabres put him on waivers at age 27 in 1996-97 and he signed with New Jersey late in the year. He would end his career the following season with 4 goals and 11 points in 72 games with the Devils. Mogilny ended with 203 career goals and 477 points in 656 NHL games.

PAT LAFONTAINE

La la la Lafontaine - (semi-interesting side note, at least for me, in college I was a roommate of the son of longtime Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret). Lafontaine played a season and a half with the New York Islanders before they for some reason dealt him to Philadelphia in exchange for goaltender Pete Peeters. Peeters would play well for several seasons on the Islanders but in LaFontaine's third year he scored 87 points and teamed on the top line with Tim Kerr and Brian Propp to lead the Flyers to a Stanley Cup title - the only one they ever won.

Injuries would slow LaFontaine down and limit him to just 800 career NHL games. He finished with 301 goals and 794 points, playing his final NHL game in 1996-97 at the age of 31.

Rasmuth 10-10-2017 08:14 PM

Quote:

(semi-interesting side note, at least for me, in college I was a roommate of the son of longtime Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret)
Rick Jeanneret is awesome! Such a legend up here in upstate NY...even though he's just part time and 75 years old, I still love hearing him do games. One of my favorite things about classic Sabres highlights are his calls...literally legendary.

Rasmuth 10-10-2017 08:22 PM

gonna continue with my Sabres requests:

Jody Gage (did he make the NHL and stick?)
Miroslav Satan
Marty Biron (he's doing Sabres broadcasts this year...he's terrific)
Zemgus Girgensons
Linus Ullmark
Alexander Nylander

(hope all these requests are okay?)

Tiger Fan 10-10-2017 09:02 PM

The Greatest Dynasty
 
Note- I spent a lot of time looking at the Canadiens of the late seventies and made some notes as I went through their history. I would love to see an OOTP style almanac in a future version of FHM as that would make for much less clicking to research a past season or seasons.

In the end I hope you find this easy to follow along and entertaining - and hopefully not as disjointed as I fear it might be from my proofread.




34 CUPS FOR THE CANADIENS

The Original Six era was dominated by the Montreal Canadiens as the Habs claimed 16 titles in the 21 seasons beginning with the 1942-43 campaign. With a record 34 titles, the Canadiens are obviously the most dominant franchise in the history of this sim and it is often debated which Habs era was their best. Many would point to the club that won 6 titles in 7 years between 1975 and 1981 as the league had much more competition then but for sheer dominance the 16 wins between 1943 and 1963 is hard to overlook.

I will look at the 40's and 50's teams later but for this write-up lets take a closer look at the Habs of the 1970s.

Montreal never really went through a rebuild but Habs fans would consider the 60's to be a terrible decade as the Canadiens, after winning a third straight Cup in 1962-63 did not win again until 1969-70. Fans of the hardluck Black Hawks or Rangers would be ecstatic with that kind of record, but not in Montreal where the Candiens went 6 decades without missing the playoffs - missing the postseason in 1930-31 and then not again until 1993-94.

The 1970 Cup would be the Habs only win in over a decade but in 1973-74 there was new hope. The Canadiens of that year finished with the best record in the regular season for the first time since 1964-65. Led by Mickey Redmond and Guy Lafleur along with a solid defense Montreal breezed past Buffalo in 5 games and Philadelphia in 6 to reach the finals where they would play Boston. The Bruins of the early seventies where led by Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr and had eliminated the Habs each of the two previous seasons. 1973-74 would be no different as Boston swept Montreal 4 straight in the finals to win the Bruins second Cup in three years.

However, the experience gained by young goaltender Ken Dryden, who wrestled the starting spot away from Tony Esposito, along with a Montreal defense that featured Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Carol Vadnais and Guy Lapointe, who prove incredibly valuable going forward.

1974-75

Led by the goaltending of Dryden and Esposito along with a 65 goal season from Mickey Redmond and 103 points from his 23 year old linemate Guy Lafleur, the Canadiens posted the best regular season record in the league. Defenseman Serge Savard would win the first of his 6 Norris Trophy's that year as well, ending Boston's Bobby Orr's 6 year stranglehold on the award.

The Canadiens swept Los Angeles in the quarterfinals and were given a gift by Buffalo after the Sabres upset defending champion Boston in 6 games. That meant Montreal did not have to face the Bruins, who had eliminated the Habs in each of the previous 3 seasons. The young Sabres pushed Montreal to the brink but the Canadiens advanced to the finals with a game seven victory. Montreal would then win the Cup by knocking off Chicago in 5 games.

Dryden played all 16 playoff games and posted a 2.17 GAA. The defense in front of him was outstanding and Guy Lapointe was award the Conn Smythe Trophy over Mickey Redmond, who had 10 goals, and veteran Yvan Cournoyer who led the team with 16 playoff points.
Code:


1974-75 STANLEY CUP WINNERS
MONTREAL CANADIENS


GOAL: K Dryden, T Esposito
DEFENSE: Lapointe, Robinson, Van Boxmeer, Savard, Vadnais, Murdoch, Nyrop
FORWARDS: Cournoyer, Redmond, Lafleur, Drouin, Risebrough, Goldsowrthy,
          Lemaire, Charron, N Ferguson, Shutt, R Gilbert, Gainey.

1975-76

Possibly the most dominant team in NHL history, the 1975-76 Canadiens went 12-0 in the playoffs including a sweep of rival Boston in the finals to claim their second straight Cup. Mickey Redmond led the NHL in points with 135 and scored a then-record 76 goals. Teammate Guy Lafleur (48-83-131) finished third in scoring but the big story was Ken Dryden as the goaltender won 50 games while losing just 4 and posted a 1.37 goals against average leading Montreal to a 69-6-5 record for the season. The Habs 143 points was 32 more than second place Chicago in the overall standings.

Dryden got hurt late in the season but Tony Esposito stepped in and backstopped the Habs to their 12 straight wins. Despite the Habs dominance in both the regular season and the playoffs the Hart Trophy and Conn Smythe went to Boston's Orr.
Code:


1975-76 STANLEY CUP WINNERS
MONTREAL CANADIENS


GOAL:  T Esposito, K Dryden
DEFENSE: Lapointe, Robinson, Van Boxmeer, Savard, Vadnais, Murdoch, Nyrop
FORWARDS: M Redmond, Lafleur, Lemaire, Cournoyer, Charron, Goldsworthy,
          Drouin, Risebrough, N Ferguson, Jarvis, Shutt, Gainey, R Gilbert.

1976-77

If not for the Buffalo Sabres upsetting Montreal in a 7 game semi-final we could be looking back at a Habs team that won 7 straight Stanley Cups. Montreal won 60 games in the regular season and was nearly as dominant as they were the previous year. Mickey Redmond had a 72 goal season and again led the league in scoring while the duo of Dryden and Esposito were practically unbeatable in net. The Gil Perreault led Sabres got hot goaltending from Don Edwards and shocked the Canadiens in the semi-finals. Buffalo had little left after its battle with Montreal and fell in 4 straight to the Toronto Maple Leafs...giving the Leafs their first Cup in over a decade.

1977-78

Back with a vengeance, the Habs would breeze through the playoffs, losing just one game. Buffalo got the only win against Montreal as the Sabres lost in the finals for the second straight year. The Canadiens regular season record was 62-10-8, good for a 24 point bulge on the Sabres, who finished second overall. Redmond led the Habs with 54 goals and 128 points but finished behind Detroit's Marcel Dionne in both categories.

Very little changed on the Canadiens roster with the exception of Tony Esposito (51-8-6) regaining the starting goaltender job and pushing Ken Dryden to the bench. But the tables turned in the post-season as this time it was Esposito who was replaced by Dryden after a late season slump. Dryden would go 12-1 with a 1.54 GAA in seeing all of the playoff action. Guy Lapointe, with 13 points and a plus 21 postseason rating, would win his second Conn Smythe Trophy.
Code:


1977-78 STANLEY CUP WINNERS
MONTREAL CANADIENS


GOAL:  K Dryden, T Esposito
DEFENSE: Van Boxmeer, Lapointe, Nyrop, Savard, Engblom, Vadnais
FORWARDS: Charron, Gainey, M Redmond, M Tremblay, Jarvis, Lemaire,
          Cournoyer, R Gilbert, Lafleur, Risebrough, Shutt, R Wilson.

1978-79

The 78-79 Habs destroyed their competition all season, finishing 64-8-8 behind a 64 goal season from Mickey Redmond and a 50 victory year for Tony Esposito. The Canadiens dominance continued in the playoffs as they lost just 1 game - to Vancouver in the quarterfinals - before sweeping the Islanders and Sabres to win their second straight title and 4th in 5 years.

The playoff star for Montreal was newly acquired veteran Walt McKechnie, who came over in a mid-season deal with Minnesota. The 31 year old center scored 39 points in 27 regular season games with the Habs before earning the Conn Smythe Trophy after leading the team with 22 points in 13 playoff games. Linemate Guy Lafleur had 11 goals to lead the club while Tony Esposito posted a 1.85 GAA in playing in all 13 post-season games.

Code:


1978-79 STANLEY CUP WINNERS
MONTREAL CANADIENS


GOAL: T Esposito, K Dryden 
DEFENSE: Vadnais, Lapointe, Nyrop, Savard, Engblom, Van Boxmeer
FORWARDS: McKechnie, M Redmond, Lafleur, Jarvis, Gainey, R Gilbert,
          M Tremblay, Shutt, R. Wilson, Cournoyer, Charron, Risebrough.

1979-80

One notable roster change as the addition of the 4 WHA clubs prompted an expansion draft which saw longtime defenseman Guy Lapointe move on to Edmonton after winning 4 Cups and 2 Conn Smythe Trophy's in Montreal.

A third straight Cup and 5th in 6 years for the Habs, who again finish with the best regular season record at 61-13-6, but they were chased by Philadelphia all season and led the Flyers by 6 points when it was all said and done.

The Flyers, led by Bobby Clarke and a career year from goaltender Pete Peeters, appeared ready to challenge Montreal's supremacy in the playoffs. Unfortunately, Philadelphia never got the chance to meet Montreal as the Flyers were upset by the Islanders in the semi-finals. Montreal would handle the Islanders in 6 games after disposing of Buffalo (yet again) in the semi-finals in 5.

Guy Lafleur equalled his career high with 134 points, good enough to win the first and only Art Ross Trophy of his career. After playing 70 regular season games and winning 53, Tony Esposito played all 20 playoff games while posting a 1.78 goals against average. The Conn Smythe went to defenseman Carol Vadnais who led the team with 20 points in the postseason. Mickey Redmond was the goal leader with 12 but Steve Shutt was the big surprise, scoring 10 playoff goals and 17 points after not contributing as much in previous post-seasons.



Code:


1979-80 STANLEY CUP WINNERS
MONTREAL CANADIENS


GOAL: T Esposito, K Dryden 
DEFENSE: Vadnais, Savard, Engblom, Van Boxmeer, Ramage, S Campbell, S. Beaudoin
FORWARDS: M. Redmond, Gainey, Lafleur, Shutt, Jarvis,B Dunlop, Risebrough,
          R. Wilson, M Tremblay, McKechnie, K Acton, K Crowder.


1980-81

Lafleur had a career high 149 points but finished 2 points behind Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky in the scoring race. Lafleur did lead the league in goals with 69. Ken Dryden replaced Esposito as the starting goaltender.

For the first time in many years the Habs did not finish first overall. That honor went to the rapidly improving New York Islanders who's 118 points were 8 more than the second place Canadiens. Philadelphia was just 1 back of Montreal and a real surprise was the Quebec Nordiques, who finished 4th overall in their inaugural NHL season.

The extra teams meant an expanded playoff so the Habs had to play a preliminary round series in which they barely broke a sweat in sweeping Vancouver 3 straight. The quarterfinals saw the Minnesota North Stars push the Habs to the limit but Montreal prevailed in 7 games. That set up a battle of Quebec as the Nordiques had beat Winnipeg and Buffalo to reach the semis. Montreal won in 6 hard fought games before sweeping the Islanders in the finals to win their fourth straight Cup.

Dryden led the way in net, playing all but 7 minutes of the playoffs and posting a 2.10 GAA with his 15-5 record. The Conn Smythe went to Lafleur after he led the playoffs with 30 points including 15 goals.

Code:


1980-81 STANLEY CUP WINNERS
MONTREAL CANADIENS


GOAL: K Dryden, T Esposito 
DEFENSE: Vadnais, Savard, Ramage, Van Boxmeer, Ludwig, S Campbell, S. Beaudoin
        G Gingras, Engblom.
FORWARDS: Lafleur, Shutt, Acton, Gainey, Jarvis, M Tremblay, Wickenheiser,
          Risebrough, R Wilson, B Dunlop, McKechnie, Carbonneau, K Crowder,
          M Redmond.

1981-82

The year the dynasty would end as the Canadiens fell to the Islanders in 6 games in the semi-final setting up a New York-Edmonton Cup final, which the Islanders would win. The Canadiens beat Boston 3 games to 2 in the preliminary round and were taken to the limit by Buffalo in the quarterfinals before succumbing to the Islanders.

With Trottier, Bossy and Potvin in their prime and goaltender Rollie Melanson having a huge year the Islanders proved too much for the agining Canadiens.

Montreal would win another Cup in 1983-84 with much of the same cast but the sheer dominance they enjoyed in the late seventies was gone. The 83-84 team was a mid-level playoff squad that caught an exhausted Edmonton team - pushed to the brink by Toronto in the semi-finals - and road a hot goaltender in young Steve Penney to a title.


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