Quote:
Originally Posted by Nuk
Curious about a couple of my favourite Canucks growing up. Do you have stats on Thomas Gradin and Pavel Bure?
Also - that story about the Canucks draft Bill Hajt 2nd overall makes me worry the Canucks struggled in your sim - was that the case?
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Neither Bure or Gradin played for the Canucks in this replay.
Bure was selected 5th overall by the Leafs in 1990 (the Canucks took Robert Lang with the 4th pick that year). He played 13 seasons, all with Toronto, and had 360 goals and 735 points. Bure never approached the goal scoring numbers he put up in real-life with his best year coming in 00-01 when scored 43 times. Bure was a Cup winner though as he helped the Leafs claim the hardware in 1999-2000.
Gradin's career numbers were fairly close to real life (510 points in 708 sim games vs 593 points in 677 real games). Chicago selected him 18th overall in 1976 (he also went 17th to Quebec in the WHA draft). Midway through his third season with the Hawks he was dealt to the Rangers in exchange for Rogie Vachon. He had a huge year in 1981-82 notching 103 points but would never approach those totals again. Gradin narrowly missed out on a Cup as the Rangers won in 1985-86, but he played just 24 games that season and was sent to the reserve roster in March.
As for the Canucks they had a number of lean years early in their existance but it was all worthwhile when they hoisted their first and only Stanley Cup in 1981-82. The Canucks won the Cup that season despite finishing 3rd in the Smythe Division behind Colorado and Los Angeles. Ken Linseman led the team with 82 points, while Bob Bourne, Alan Haworth, Reed Larson and Don Luce all played key roles as did Mr Canuck - Lanny McDonald - who lit the lamp 30 times despite being limited to just 49 games because of injury. McDonald also scored 24 points in just 14 playoff games during the Cup run. The Conn Smythe that season went to Reed Larson, who had 24 points in 23 games and an average game rating in the postseason of 85.
McDonald, the 1974 rookie of the year is the all-time team leader in scoring and is clearly the face of the franchise.
Hajt would play over a decade in Vancouver before ending his career with the Islanders. He was still around and a key contributor on the Cup winning team. He played over 1000 career games and had just over 500 points.