It'll be unpopular, but its Esposito. The man is so written off as "product of Orr" that its insulting and not true. No other all time great gets knocked down so much for playing with other greats as Esposito does.
No one writes off Crosby because of Malkin, no one writes off Messier/Coffey because of Gretzky, no one writes off Hull because of Mikita, no one writes off Beliveau because of Richard.
717-873-1590
2x Hart (5x finalist, 1,1,2,2,3)
5x Ross
6x Rocket
6x AS-1
2x AS-2
2x Cup
3x led the playoffs in scoring w 8-10-18 in 10, 13-14-27 in 14, and 9-15-24 in 15
72 Summit Series MVP
His scoring exploits rewrote the history books.
1st to score 60 in a season
1st to score 70 in a season
1st to score 150 points in a season
retired #2 all time in goals, assists, and points behind only Howe
His 6 year stretch from 1968-69 to 1973-74 is criminally underappreciated and frankly has only been matched by Gretzky. In 6 straight years he never finished below 2nd in goals, assists or points winning 5 Ross and 5 Rockets in that span.
Here's his finishes in goals/assists/points in those 6 years
year | goals | assists | points |
68-69 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
69-70 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
70-71 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
71-72 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
72-73 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
73-74 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
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and the years before and after that run would be considered all time efforts despite falling short of the above standard.
1967-68: 4th in goals, 1st in assists, 2nd in points
1974-75: 1st in goals, 5th in assists, 2nd in points