Just doing some follow-up work on this thread, I thought it might be interesting to look at how the centers matched up together.
Odie Cleghorn at C vs.
Ottawa (Frank Nighbor) 2 games, 3 goals
Toronto (Reg Noble) 4 games, 7 goals
Rusty Crawford at C vs
Ottawa (Frank Nighbor) 1 game, 0 goals
Corb Denneny at C vs
Montreal (Newsy Lalonde) 1 game, 0 goals
Ottawa (Frank Nighbor) 3 games, 0 goals
Newsy Lalonde at C vs.
Ottawa (Frank Nighbor) 7 games, 4 goals
Toronto (Corb Denneny) 1 game, 2 goals
Toronto (Reg Noble) 2 games, 2 goals
Toronto (Harry Meeking) 1 game, 0 goals
Toronto (Alf Skinner) 1 game, 2 goals
Harry Meeking at C vs
Montreal (Newsy Lalonde) 1 game, 0 goals
Frank Nighbor at C vs.
Montreal (Newsy Lalonde) 7 games, 3 goals
Montreal (Odie Cleghorn) 2 games, 4 goals
Toronto (Reg Noble) 5 games, 5 goals
Toronto (Corb Denneny) 3 games, 3 goals
Toronto (Rusty Crawford) 1 game, 2 goals
Reg Noble at C vs.
Montreal (Odie Cleghorn) 4 games, 4 goals
Montreal (Newsy Lalonde) 2 games, 2 goals
Ottawa (Frank Nighbor) 5 games, 2 goals
Alf Skinner at C vs
Montreal (Newsy Lalonde) 1 game, 1 goal
These are all based on regular season starting lineups, with one exception. Of course we have to keep in-game player movement in mind, but for the most part the starting lineup was usually a fair indication of who played primarily at a given position during the game.
The exception is the December 31st game between Toronto and Ottawa, where Jack Adams started at center for the Arenas and Corb Denneny scored a hat trick. That caught my attention enough to look it up and yes, Dennenny replaced Adams after the first period so I am counting Denneny as the Arenas' C for that game.
Noteworthy:
- Corb Denneny scored a hat trick against Frank Nighbor on 12/31
- Newsy Lalonde scored a hat trick against Frank Nighbor on 1/16
- Odie Cleghorn scored a hat trick against Reg Noble on 2/2
- Reg Noble came right back and scored a hat trick on Odie Cleghorn on 2/4
- For Newsy Lalonde, the difference between playing a Toronto center and playing Frank Nighbor was a GPG drop from 1.20 to 0.57.
- For Frank Nighbor, the difference between playing a Toronto center and playing Newsy Lalonde was a GPG drop from 1.27 to 0.43.
- Reg Noble scored 8 goals in 11 games. The other Toronto centers combined for 1 goal in 7 games.
- Reg Noble's opponents, in 11 games, scored 14 goals. The other Toronto centers' opponents, in 7 games, scored 9 goals.
- Overall, Toronto centers were outscored 23-9. Montreal centers outscored their opponents 20-14. Ottawa's only center, Nighbor, outscored his opponents 17-9.
- My count of 17 goals for Nighbor does not match hockeydb's 18 or hockey-reference's 19.
- Odie Cleghorn scored 10 goals in 6 games at center. He scored 12 goals in 11 games at wing.
- On the other hand, Nighbor scored more goals against Cleghorn in 2 games than he scored against Lalonde in 7 games. Moving Cleghorn away from that matchup was probably a good idea, even if he scored a little less at wing.
