Who wins the Maurice Richard trophy in ATD2020?

[overpass]

Most of the trophies for a mythical ATD season would have clear favourites...but there is no historical consensus on the greatest goal scorer, and there are arguably 10 or more players who could take the trophy depending on their linemates and team situation. Who wins the Maurice Richard trophy in ATD 2020?

Joe Malone (Winnipeg Victorias)
Aurele Joliat - Joe Malone - Harry Oliver
PP1: Joliat/Malone/Peter Stastny - Bondra/Orr
Coach Punch Imlach

Babe Dye (Victoria Cougars)
Ted Lindsay--Nicklas Backstrom--Babe Dye
PP1: Goodfellow - Cook - Lindsay - Backstrom - Dye
Coach Jack Adams

Nels Stewart (Portland Rosebuds)
Nels Stewart --- Hooley Smith --- Blake Wheeler
PP1: Coffey - Duncan - T.Smith - Stewart - MacKay
Coach: Lester Patrick

Charlie Conacher (New York Americans)
Busher Jackson- Doug Gilmour - Charlie Conacher
PP1: Jackson-Gilmour- Conacher- Conacher- Suchy
Coach Peter Laviolette

Maurice Richard (St. John's IceCaps)
Dick Duff - Elmer Lach - Maurice "Rocket" Richard
Powerplay 1:
Gordie Drillon
Mats Naslund - Elmer Lach - Maurice Richard
Sergei Gonchar
Coach Alain Vigneault

Gordie Howe (Orillia Terriers)
Dean Prentice - Jonathan Toews - Gordie Howe
PP1 - Camille Henry - Bernie Morris - Gordie Howe - Brent Burns - Keith Yandle
Plays 2nd PK with Toews
Coach Barry Trotz

Jean Beliveau (Pittsburgh AC)
Bert Olmstead - Jean Beliveau - Helmuts Balderis
PP1
Bowie - RHS (trigger/half wall into slot) Beliveau - LHS (net front) - Olmstead - LHS (cornerman/facilitator)
Ivanov - RHS (trigger) - Shore- LHS (QB)
Coach Pete Green

Bernie Geoffrion (Salt Lake Golden Eagles)
Patrick Marleau - Adam Oates - Bernie Geoffrion
PP1: Sundin - Oates - Iginla - Kelly - Geoffrion
Coach Viktor Tikhonov

Bobby Hull (Chicago Shamrocks)
Bobby Hull - Phil Goyette - Boris Mikhailov (A)
-*Occasionally on offensive zone starts Tavares will replace Goyette (or Novy if Tavares just came off).
PP1
Recchi - Novy - Mikhailov
Stapleton - Hull
Hull's an extra PK forward
Coach Glen Sather

Phil Esposito (New Jersey Devils)
Patrik Elias - Phil Esposito (A)- Bryan Hextall, Sr.
PP1: Lynn Patrick - Phil Esposito - Bryan Hextall, Sr.
Brad Park - Rene Robert
Coach Dick Irvin

Mike Bossy (Chicago Cougars)
Syd Howe - Anze Kopitar - Mike Bossy
PP1
Howe - Getzlaf - Bossy
Carlson - Clancy
Coach Tommy Gorman

Wayne Gretzky (Mountain Lake StreetCats)
Cy Denneny- Wayne Gretzky - George Armstrong
PP1: Denneny- Gretzky- Maltsev- Subban- Prodgers
Not listed on PK
Coach Mike Sullivan

Mario Lemieux (St Johns Maple Leafs)
Michel Goulet-Mario Lemieux-Rick Tocchet
PP not listed, but the top unit could also include Marty St Louis, Doug Wilson, Andrei Markov
Might kill penalties (PK not listed)
Coach Cecil Hart

Brett Hull (Corpus Christi Ice Rays)
Wayne Cashman -- Stan Mikita -- Brett Hull
Power Play
Robitaille-Mikita-Hull-Campbell-Hedman
Coach Bruce Boudreau

Pavel Bure (Calgary Radz)
Vyacheslav Kozlov • Dale Hawerchuk (C) • Pavel Bure (second line)
PP is Bellows • Nicholls • Bure with Hawerchuk • Murphy
May play PK
When Kozlov isn't in Bellows and Nash will take the second line shifts or Nicholls will center the line with Hawerchuk playing wing
When Mellanby isn't in Bure will take the fourth line shifts
Coach Jacques Demers

Teemu Selanne (Richmond Renegades)
Bill Barber - Ron Francis - Teemu Selanne
PP not listed, team includes Denis Potvin and Markus Naslund
Coach Arkady Chernyshev

Alex Ovechkin (Marystown Mariners)
Alex Ovechkin-Bernie Federko-Glenn Anderson
PP not listed, could play with Bill Gadsby, Dan Boyle, or Mike Green
Coach Art Ross

Or one of the many other great goals scorers in history...Lalonde, Morenz, Cook, Lafleur, Jagr, Kovalchuk...

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[BenchBrawl]

Gonna go with Rocket Richard; with HMs to Brett and Bobby Hull and Mario.

Richard has the advantage of playing with his real life playmaking center who is a legit #1 center in this thing.

Bobby Hull has Phil Goyette at center, so not very good at this level.

Brett has Mikita, so he's a serious threat here.

Mario has Goulet and Tocchet; not the greatest playmakers (not that Mario needs a playmaker, but then there are the injuries...).

Esposito doesn't have an elite puckmoving D behind him (Park is good but falls short of qualifying as a great offensive defenseman).

Ovechkin plays with Federko and Anderson, so no.

Gretzky plays with Georges Armstrong and Denneny, he'll be busy passing the puck.

Howe plays on a more defensively-minded team.

Malone has an outside chance playing with Joliat, but ultimately I think Richard and Brett beats him, as well as Mario guaranteed if he stays healthy.

Edit: I just saw that Malone plays with Orr. That boosts his chances significantly.

 

[overpass]

I’ll go with Joe Malone. Playing with Bobby Orr and Aurel Joliat puts him in a really good spot.

In addition to the players BenchBrawl mentioned, I think Pavel Bure could have a shot at it. Playing with Hawerchuk on a second line and double shifting on the fourth line.

And Nels Stewart has Paul Coffey backing him up and Lester Patrick as a coach...but does playing LW hurt him?

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

Gonna go with Rocket Richard; with HMs to Brett and Bobby Hull and Mario.

Richard has the advantage of playing with his real life playmaking center who is a legit #1 center in this thing.

Bobby Hull has Phil Goyette at center, so not very good at this level.

Brett has Mikita, so he's a serious threat here.

Mario has Goulet and Tocchet; not the greatest playmakers (not that Mario needs a playmaker, but then there are the injuries...).

Esposito doesn't have an elite puckmoving D behind him (Park is good but falls short of qualifying as a great offensive defenseman).

Ovechkin plays with Federko and Anderson, so no.

Gretzky plays with Georges Armstrong and Denneny, he'll be busy passing the puck.

Howe plays on a more defensively-minded team.

Malone has an outside chance playing with Joliat, but ultimately I think Richard and Brett beats him, as well as Mario guaranteed if he stays healthy.

Edit: I just saw that Malone plays with Orr. That boosts his chances significantly.

Goyette is better offensively than Hay and Mikhailov is superior to any RW Hull has ever had, relatively speaking. Also, Tavares or Novy will be taking some shifts with Hull, and both of those guys are superior offensively to Goyette.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Goyette is better offensively than Hay and Mikhailov is superior to any RW Hull has ever had, relatively speaking. Also, Tavares or Novy will be taking some shifts with Hull, and both of those guys are superior offensively to Goyette.

Still, rather Richard centered by Lach than Hull centered by Goyette. That was my point.

Mikhailov will not contribute to Hull's goalscoring the same way Lach will for Richard's.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

Still, rather Richard centered by Lach than Hull centered by Goyette. That was my point.

Mikhailov will not contribute to Hull's goalscoring the same way Lach will for Richard's.

As you know, Hull didnt really need superstars on his line to win scoring titles. He can be a very effective one man show. He’s one of those players where linemates dont play much of a role in his production.

Of course, that doesnt mean that you can put two guys with VsX scores of 50 with him and say “thats a good line because Hull can be a one man show”. But, his linemates here are competent enough. Relatively speaking, the talent level of Hay/Esposito and Balfour/whoever else compared to the 1960s NHL vs Goyette/whoever else and Mikhailov compared to this ATD isnt much different. Actually Hull’s ATD linemates are probably superior, relatively speaking.

 

[BenchBrawl]

As you know, Hull didnt really need superstars on his line to win scoring titles. He can be a very effective one man show. He’s one of those players where linemates dont play much of a role in his production.

Of course, that doesnt mean that you can put two guys with VsX scores of 50 with him and say “thats a good line because Hull can be a one man show”. But, his linemates here are competent enough. Relatively speaking, the talent level of Hay/Esposito and Balfour/whoever else compared to the 1960s NHL vs Goyette/whoever else and Mikhailov compared to this ATD isnt much different. Actually Hull’s ATD linemates are probably superior, relatively speaking.

My comment was not an assassination, but a quick overview of who has the comparative advantage between the few top goalscorers in the ATD. My conclusion is still that Richard is in a more advantageous situation to win the scoring title than Bobby Hull. It wasn't meant as a deconstruction of Hull's top line.

 

[VanIslander]

Geoffrion led the league in scoring and won Harts playing mostly on the 2nd line behind Richard but here plays the top line with Adam Oates, the passer on each of Brett Hull's top seasons.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

My comment was not an assassination, but a quick overview of who has the comparative advantage between the few top goalscorers in the ATD. My conclusion is still that Richard is in a more advantageous situation to win the scoring title than Bobby Hull. It wasn't meant as a deconstruction of Hull's top line.

That's fair enough.

Though in the same vein, I believe Hull could win the Rocket for the reasons I outlined above.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

Geoffrion led the league in scoring and won Harts playing mostly on the 2nd line behind Richard but here plays the top line with Adam Oates, the passer on each of Brett Hull's top seasons.

Geoffrion only won one Hart, in 1960-61, where he was playing top line with Beliveau, no?

 

[VanIslander]

Geoffrion only won one Hart, in 1960-61, where he was playing top line with Beliveau, no?

Ah. It was another Art Ross trophy (not 2nd Hart) in 1955 when he was the 2nd line RWer behind Maurice Richard but the team's go-to guy on the point of the powerplay.

Boom Boom.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

It feels like Denneny could also be an option here

 

[ResilientBeast]

I’ll go with Joe Malone. Playing with Bobby Orr and Aurel Joliat puts him in a really good spot.

In addition to the players BenchBrawl mentioned, I think Pavel Bure could have a shot at it. Playing with Hawerchuk on a second line and double shifting on the fourth line.

And Nels Stewart has Paul Coffey backing him up and Lester Patrick as a coach...but does playing LW hurt him?

As my unfinished bio shows, Nels spent two of his best seasons playing at LW with Hooley as his center on the Maroons.

He's a perfectly viable LW so I don't think being a wing harms his chances at all.

Now I don't think he'd be close to a favorite for the trophy probably a dark house longshot at best

 

[Sturminator]

The same guy who wins it every season: Wayne Gretzky

 

[VanIslander]

There is a HUGE unexamined assumption when the line is shown WITHOUT the defensemen they play with:

Doesn't an offensive defenseman make a significant difference in the goal-scoring of forwards? :/ (Not just on the pp but also at even strength.)

 

[Dreakmur]

There is a HUGE unexamined assumption when the line is shown WITHOUT the defensemen they play with:

Doesn't an offensive defenseman make a significant difference in the goal-scoring of forwards? :/ (Not just on the pp but also at even strength.)

The top offensive defensemen will be on the PP, right? They’re all listed for part of the comparison.

 

[Leaf Lander]

Eric Lindros will win this

Imo

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

I'm gonna stick with my vote- but if Phil Esposito gets NO consideration here, then the "product-of-Orr" myth has (once again) been taken too far.

So, plurality view is that Richard will win the Richard. I can see the possibility of two other post-Regular-Season awards (both comparatively obscure) that could be won by their namesakes.

Messier could well win the Messier
Kharlamov might win the Kharlamov (though I think it should be somebody else)

Vezina is NOT winning the Vezina- won't even be a finalist...

 

[VanIslander]

Geoffrion has the best pp unit (and one of the greatest passers) to Boom Boom himself to a couple of more 1sts in NHL goals.

 

[bobholly39]

When in doubt - go Lemieux for goals.