For our first spare, the Philadelphia Firebirds will select a player we believe is one of, if not the strongest offensive players available,
C Herb Jordan
Jordan was a star scorer everywhere he played, finishing top-4 in scoring five times! He was also 4th and 6th in other seasons. He missed 1-4 games a couple of times and actually placed 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 6th in points per game in these 8 seasons.
- 5'6", 130 lbs
- top-3 in CAHL scoring three straight years (3rd-1903, 2nd-1904, 3rd-1905, twice to Russell Bowie, once to Frank McGee, one of these times he had a much better GPG. This was as an 18-20 year old versus a 22-24 year old Bowie!)
- 9th in ECAHA scoring (1906)
- 15 points in 5 ECAHA games (1907) - which was 3rd-highest PPG average after Bowie & Russell
- 4th in ECAHA scoring behind Bowie, Walsh, Phillips (1908 - again, 2nd in PPG)
- 2nd to Marty Walsh in ECHA scoring (1909)
- Was leading Renfrew with 9 goals in 6 games before being replaced by Lalonde (1910)
- 33rd in pre-merger goals according to The Trail Of the Stanley Cup
Previously Jordan's playmaking was a question mark, as only goal stats were available. Thanks to solid SIHR research, the stats database has been beefed up with some sparse assist stats. It's still not much to go by, but Jordan was 1st in CAHL assists in 1903 with 4, 2nd in the ECAHA in 1908 with 5, and 3rd in the ECAHA in 1906 with 4. Jordan had 17 recorded assists to Russell Bowie's 22 during the 6 seasons they played in the same league together. This appears to be the 3rd-most over this period (one behind Alf Smith)
Jordan was out of hockey at 26, similar to a lot of other stars at this time who shone brightly and then vanished. (There's no evidence that he couldn't cut it anymore, but was signed as a personal assistant to Ambrose O'Brien) How do his numbers look compared to theirs?
Frank McGee: 23 GP, 71 G, 3.09 GPG
Russell Bowie: 80 GP, 238 G, 2.98 GPG
Tom Phillips: 48 GP, 116 G, 2.41 GPG
Herb Jordan: 61 GP, 146 G, 2.39 GPG
Marty Walsh: 69 GP, 142 G, 2.06 GPG
Blair Russell: 67 GP, 107 G, 1.60 GPG
Harry Trihey, 29 GP, 46 G, 1.59 GPG
Most Assists in recorded top-level hockey (CAHL/ECAHA), 1903-1909 seasons (min. 6)
(FAHL not included as there are no reconstructed assists there, same with 1905 CAHL)
Name|GP|A|APG
Alf Smith
|32|23|0.72
Russell Bowie
|44|22|0.50
Blair Russell
|36|18|0.50
Herb Jordan|46|18|0.39
Pud Glass
|41|13|0.32
Ernie Johnson
|43|13|0.30
Jack Marshall
|31|12|0.39
Harry Westwick
|37|12|0.32
Walter Smaill|36|11|0.28
Cecil Blachford|24|10|0.42
*** *****|49|10|0.20
****** *******|30|9|0.30
Marty Walsh
|21|8|0.38
Billy Gilmour|28|8|0.29
Jack McDonald|28|8|0.29
*** ********|18|7|0.39
Cyclone Taylor
|21|7|0.33
******* *******|22|7|0.32
Ernie Russell
|24|7|0.29
******** ****|17|6|0.35
Frank McGee
|17|6|0.35
Lester Patrick
|18|6|0.33
Harry Smith|21|6|0.29
Jimmy Gardner|25|6|0.24
Harvey Pulford
|29|6|0.21
Herb Jordan joined Quebec in 1903 and played with them for seven years. During this time Quebec was never a threat for league supremacy and this great centre player was fated never to be on a winner.However, in that time he was the leading goal scorer for Quebec.
He carried the load until he got some real support with the arrival of **** ******** in 1907... his best year was 1909 when Joe Malone arrived but the team got nowhere, with poor goaling. This year he scored in 12 consecutive games.
When the O'Briens of Renfrew decided to pack a team to go after the Stanley Cup in 1910, they first tried to get Marty Walsh for centre. He would not leave Ottawa so they signed Jordan who had finished second to Walsh as a scorer in 1909. He centered a line of Fred Whitcroft and **** ******. The Creamery Kings were well-loaded but could not win consistently. A deal was made with Canadiens to get Newsy Lalonde for the balance of the season. Although Jordan was their best scorer up to that time, he had to make way for Lalonde.
He was a player with a scoring average of better than two goals per game, who like Russell Bowie, had the bad luck never to be on a Stanley Cup winner.
-Trail of the Stanley Cup, Volume 1
When the club announced the signing of Herb Jordan, a speedy centre from Quebec, it was also stated that he preferred to play as an amateur... Jordan was an established star in his own right, too. He had been the second leading scorer in the ECHA the past season, while playing on a last place team... O'Brien showed his flexibility. Not wanting to leave any stone unturned in his attempt to assemble the best players he could, and his money not being directly of use in this situation, the mining magnate used his business interests to lure Jordan... Certainly, Jordan did not have the high profile of the Patricks or Fred Taylor, but that soon became immaterial. Once he was announced as a member of the Renfrew aggregation, fast becoming thetopic of conversation, importance was ascribed to him.
-The Renfrew Millionaires
Jordan, a brilliant center with the professional team...
-Ottawa Citizen
Such fast forwards as Herb Jordan and *** ***** require fast ice... it is certain Jordan and ***** were handicapped... Jordan was the only man to play in anything like his usual form...
-Ottawa Citizen
Jordan was the bright star of the forward line, and he was at all times dangerous... Jordan gave the Ottawa defense a few anxious moments... Jordan went in off the faceoff, and scored in 30 seconds...
-January 6th, 1908 Ottawa Citizen
Jordan is still the neatest, most dangerous and quickest forward.
-January 4th, 1908 Daily Telegraph
Two of their first three were scored on three-man combinations with a double-pass between Jordan and ****** *****... During the last seven minutes there were seven goals scored, and of these, Jordan, the Quebec rover, who put up a sterling game from the beginning, got four
-January 27th, 1908 Montreal Gazette
****** ***** failed to score on a pretty run with Jordan... Jordan scored for Quebec on the prettiest combination play of the night, the disc being slapped to and fro by the Quebec forwards three times before Jordan shot and scored... Quebec came back with the next goal in short order, ***** scoring from the side after a run by Jordan.
-February 17th, 1908 Montreal Gazette
***** and Jordan played fast combinations.
-January 4th, 1908 Daily Telegraph
Jordan then got the puck and after a few passes with Malone, he dashed in past the point and cover point and to the surprise of the goaler the puck was in before he could prevent it.
-January 4th, 1909 Daily Telegraph
Jordan notched two beauties as a result of combination attacks with Frank Patrick and Fred Taylor... Herb Jordan played perhaps the finest game he has ever put up, the manner in which he dodged by the big defensemen of the visitors bringing down the house.
-Ottawa Citizen, 1910
As the Quebec hockey team are now practically out of the running for the championship, it is understood that a couple of the players, who were only prevailed upon when the local septette's chances looked good, will retire from the game permanently. Among the names mentioned are those of Herb Jordan and Wllie Hogan. Their loss to the team, if they definitely decide to withdraw, will be serious.
-January 24th, 1906, Saint John Daily Sun
Jordan was the pick of the four, and all through a fast and hard game stood up to the pace and gave a fine exhibition of fast skating and clever stickwork
-March 3rd, 1906, Montreal Gazette
thanks to seventieslord for this part of the bio, here is some new stuff:
If you're not familiar with players like Russell Bowie or Fred Taylor, educate yourselves. Of course, not all of the best scorers in those days played rover, some were centers such as Frank McGee or Ernie Russell or Marty Walsh or Newsy Lalonde. Herb Jordan, a gifted scorer and likely one of the best players not in the Hall of Fame, alternated between center and rover, as did xxx. Overall, center is more represented among the best scorers of the day.
http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=699
Quebec City-born Jordan was a high scorer who was lured to Renfrew and was one of the original “Millionaires”!
http://www.classicauctions.net/Default.aspx?tabid=263&auctionid=6&lotid=552