Biggest Two Hit Wonders

[Albatros]

Alexandre Daigle, a flashy rookie season and again in Minnesota for a year.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Dennis Maruk's 50 and 60-goal seasons are interesting here.

 

[billybudd]

Jonathan Cheechoo had two pretty nice seasons, one of which saw him winning a Richard. Nils Ekman was another guy who had 2 pretty good years, then nothing.

Edit: looks like Cheechoo had 4 pretty good years. So I'll stick with Ekman.

 

[MS]

Dennis Maruk's 50 and 60-goal seasons are interesting here.

He did also have other seasons of 90 and 81 points, though, and finished with 356 career goals and 878 career points. That 136 point season does stick out ... but he was a very good offensive player for all of the late '70s/early '80s

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Daniel Marois

which reminds me, andrew mcbain

 

[MS]

which reminds me, andrew mcbain

Thanks, Dale Hawerchuk!

 

[tjcurrie]

if we're talking about two hit wonders, that's an artist or band who only had two memorable songs. sometimes that's a band that had a brief period of success, fell off that form and were unable to get it back, and then broke up/retired/disappeared; musical example would be arrested development.





in 1992 they put out an album with two smash hits. by '94, they were gone.

You forgot about....



Though that version wasn't on the album


A better two hit wonder would be






As for players, he didn't put up huge numbers, but he was good out of the gate and Edmonton was buzzing about the guy, especially since it was at a time when the dynasty had just recently completely dissolved and the team was now scrounging. His rookie card was going for a few bucks around town.

David Oliver

1994-95: 44 - 16 - 14 - 30
1995-96: 80 - 20 - 19 - 39
1996-97: 17 - 1 - 2 -3 (Edm)
1996-97: 14 - 2 - 1 - 3 (NYR)
1997-98: AHL Houston Aeros
1998-99: AHL Houston Aeros
1998-99: 17 - 2 - 5 - 7 (Ott)
1999-00: 9 - 1 - 0 - 1 (Phx)
1999-00: AHL Houston Aeros.....

.....anyways he went on to score 7 more NHL goals over the next 7 seasons up until 2006-07, bouncing around between Europe, the AHL, IHL, and his 45 games split up over 3 different seasons with the Dallas Stars.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Pierre Larouche scored 111 points once and 91 once but never scored more than 81 in any other season.

Mikael Renberg had 82 points as a rookie and finished in the top ten for points in '95 and then never scored 60 points in a season again.

 

[Constable]

He averaged 30 wins over a 6-season stretch.
Yeah, he had two 1st team all-star seasons, but the year after the second one he was 5th in NHL wins and he was 4th in save percentage the season before his first all-star selection, and 7th in save % two years before that, and he went to four all-star games.
He played in 426 NHL games and has the 6th best career save percentage in NHL history!

That is no "two-hit wonder".

He's more like Elton John than Wham.

he played a total 426 nhl games and had 2 seasons above .930.

he has more years where he was a below average goalie than an above average goalie.

he has a 2.52 gaa despite having a .920 sv%, and played for multiple playoff boston bruins teams during that time.

he's a 2 hit wonder in terms of being an elite goalie, he had a great album in terms of being a great goalie, but his overall career is mediocre. you're more likely to get below average than above from him

 

[ESH]

he played a total 426 nhl games and had 2 seasons above .930.

he has more years where he was a below average goalie than an above average goalie.

he has a 2.52 gaa despite having a .920 sv%, and played for multiple playoff boston bruins teams during that time.

he's a 2 hit wonder in terms of being an elite goalie, he had a great album in terms of being a great goalie, but his overall career is mediocre. you're more likely to get below average than above from him

I'd agree that Thomas was a 2 hit wonder. 2 fantastic seasons surrounded by decent, but unspectacular years. I don't think you necessarily need to disappear completely to be a 2 hit wonder, you just need to sink back into not being noteworthy.

I disagree with what you have to say about the rest of Thomas' career though. Thomas was well definitely above average for the majority of his career. A 2.52 GAA seems above average to me, considering most seasons he played in the league average was at least ~2.75 GA per game.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

You forgot about....



Though that version wasn't on the album


A better two hit wonder would be

okay, i'm taking this right off-topic... i did think about people everyday, which intellectually i remembered it as a song i'd hear on the radio but couldn't hum a bar for the life of me. but i acknowledge that different markets/cities/countries/regions/continents emphasized different singles so that might be just a geographical thing.

good call on rob base though. it was pretty neat seeing those two at the nba finals, performing those two songs.

and back on topic, how about rusty fedotenko and his two big cup runs?

 

[GlitchMarner]

Red Berenson finished in the top five for Hart voting in '69 and '70. He never received votes for any award in any other season.

 

[double5son10]

Daniel Marois

Danny Gare

Mickey Redmond

Walt Poddubny

I don't see it w/ Gare. Damn fine player until he was moved to the Dead Things. 500pts. in 503 games in Buffalo.
And Redmond had three very good seasons in Detroit, not two, before injuries derailed him.

 

[Hobnobs]

Jonathan Cheechoo had two pretty nice seasons, one of which saw him winning a Richard. Nils Ekman was another guy who had 2 pretty good years, then nothing.

Edit: looks like Cheechoo had 4 pretty good years. So I'll stick with Ekman.

Why? Ekman had two good seasons in the NHL, yes but he also had a good season between them during the lock out with Djurgården and after his injury plagued last season in NHL he had three good seasons in Russia and a good WC. How does he fit the "two season"-wonder description? How was his two NHL seasons even a wonder?

 

[The Panther]

Jimmy Carson, and I can't believe I'm the first to mention him.

He probably wasn't mentioned because he doesn't really apply.

Carson's first three seasons:
1) 37 goals, 79 points (3rd Calder)
2) 55 goals, 107 points
3) 49 goals, 100 points

On top of that, in seasons six and seven he scored well over 30 goals. I mean, he was better in seasons two and three, but his rookie year was remarkable.

 

[IComeInPeace]

Andrew McBain looked like he may be living up to his draft status; he put together successive seasons of 63 and 77 points.
Then he put up 23 points the season after his 77 point season, and that was the most points he'd ever score in a season following his best season (during which he was only 23 years old).

 

[Pominville Knows]

He did also have other seasons of 90 and 81 points, though, and finished with 356 career goals and 878 career points. That 136 point season does stick out ... but he was a very good offensive player for all of the late '70s/early '80s

Not "very good", he was a semi star like anyone scoring 50 points today. Then one year worth 85 points today.

 

[Hobnobs]

Not "very good", he was a semi star like anyone scoring 50 points today. Then one year worth 85 points today.

Thats an asinine comment to make. Maruks stat line from hit top-6 seasons best to worst is 136, 97, 90, 81, 78, 71. His 71 point season had him 30th in the point standings playing for a **** team with minimal support. You compare that to player like Lucic, Gagner and over the hill Sedin that had 50 points? Really?

And that 85 (136) point season was for a very below average team (read: punching bag). A good comparison if Zetterberg, McKinnon or Eichel had scored 85 points. They didnt so bad comparison.

Maruk may have flamed out fast but he was a consistent threat for atleast 6 seasons. Definitely not a 2 hit wonder.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Olli Jokinen had a 89 and 91 point season. He only once scored more than 70 points in another season (he had 71 in '08) and only scored in the 60-70 point range twice. In all but five seasons, he was a <60 point player.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Chris Gratton scored 62 points in both '97 and '98 and never hit the 50 point mark in any other season. He also never hit the 20 goal mark in any other season.

 

[Hobnobs]

Chris Gratton scored 62 points in both '97 and '98 and never hit the 50 point mark in any other season. He also never hit the 20 goal mark in any other season.

Thats a good one. Also Ray Sheppard belongs here. He had his '94 and '95 seasons and was never really close to those numbers again. A 60 point player with a couple of PPG seasons.

 

[pbgoalie]

Don Murdoch

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

steve christoff

seriously who was this guy?

 

[Hobnobs]

steve christoff

seriously who was this guy?

Another talent from the "miracle on ice" US team. Was pretty good with North Stars but the emergance of Broten made him expendable. Traded to Flames for Willi Plett. Never panned out after that.

iirc he injured his shoulder which affected his shot so much that it became a career ending injury.

 

[crobro]

Pat Elyinuk

Walt Poddubney

JIM Carey

Tom McCarthy

Steve Payne