All time hit leaders

[ViD]

As you know, official stats for hits only began recording in 2005 so the current all time leaders are definitely skewed, but realistically who do you think is missing from the list and who might be the leading hitter of all time that’s not on this list?

NHL All-Time Hits Leaders

NHL players who hold the all-time record for the most hits in NHL. All-time hits leaders for NHL players.

www.quanthockey.com

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[gary69]

Rob Blake?

 

[Hockey Outsider]

They also recorded hit and other data (blocked shots) from 1998 to 2004. All the data has been deleted from NHL.com. I think I have it on an old computer, and will see if I can find it.

The rumour was - this type of data helped depth forwards/defensemen with salary arbitration. Why give your third pair defensemen objective data to demonstrate that he was a big hitter and shot blocker in a pre-salary cap world?

All time? You'd have to think that Howe, Messier, Chelios and Stevens are near the top (partly due to style of play, and partly due to playing 1,600+ games each).

 

[Bear of Bad News]

It's before the era where hits were rigorously recorded, but in a fair world, this should be considered an all-time hit:

 

[BraveCanadian]

Hate when they use "all time" to describe stats that aren't even 20 years old yet and don't even cover the careers of players still active.

 

[Brodeur]

They also recorded hit and other data (blocked shots) from 1998 to 2004. All the data has been deleted from NHL.com. I think I have it on an old computer, and will see if I can find it.

The rumour was - this type of data helped depth forwards/defensemen with salary arbitration. Why give your third pair defensemen objective data to demonstrate that he was a big hitter and shot blocker in a pre-salary cap world?

I recall part of the reason it was removed was because there wasn't a ton of consistency between what constituted a hit. Some scorekeepers were notorious for overcounting. I vaguely recall Robert Svehla leading the league in hits one year which painted him as a different type of D than he really was.

And I think Friedman/Marek joked on their podcast in recent years how Dan McGillis racked up an inordinate amount of hits playing in Edmonton. When McGillis was traded to Philadelphia, Flyers GM Bobby Clarke thought he was getting a monster because of that data.

 

[Michael Farkas]

1. I'm glad I'm not crazy in thinking that they brought hits along at the same time as ATOI.
2. The scorekeepers aren't any better now, I don't believe.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Hate when they use "all time" to describe stats that aren't even 20 years old yet and don't even cover the careers of players still active.

I thought that was the purpose of this thread - to speculate on who the hit leaders of the past were.

 

[MadLuke]

Would be on the highest game played, high minute players.

Messier-Howe-Chelios-Stevens-Bourque-Ovechkin-Dale Hunter-Verbeek-Chara, because of how fuzzy a hit is in hockey, maybe there no real answer.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Would be on the highest game played, high minute players.

Messier-Howe-Chelios-Stevens-Bourque-Ovechkin-Dale Hunter-Verbeek-Chara, because of how fuzzy a hit is in hockey, maybe there no real answer.

Yeah, I’m also thinking that some notable hitters of the past still weren’t doing it as frequently (per the fuzzy definitions of a hit) as a bunch of random afterthoughts. There were lots of players throwing their body more frequently than Kronwall on the Red Wings, but I never saw the Abdelkader or Ericsson memes.