Did Phil Esposito ever reach his '72 Summit Series level of play in the NHL?

daver

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The Summit Series was such a unique event. The cultural and political overtones seemed to bring out the best and worst in players. Phil was great all series and off the charts in Game 8 with 2 goals and 2 assists, and points on all three goals in the third period to cap Canada's famous comeback.

Did he ever come close to matching this level of passion in the NHL?
 

JackSlater

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Probably. Esposito isn't Henderson, who reached a world class level in the series that he never showed before or after. He was likely the best forward in the NHL at the time and probably had 8 game stretches of similar or better quality. From what I've read of Esposito though, I do think that he probably took the latter games of the series more seriously than he did NHL playoff games.
 

frisco

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Esposito was a beast in that series. That being said, he was probably the best forward in the league for a 6-8 year stretch so his play in the Summit was probably more typical of his overall play during that time period than a "peak" although it is to his credit that he stepped up in the series.

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BobbyAwe

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I think a lot of his success in the Summit series may have had to do with the fact that the Russians had never defended against that type of strategy (the way he played the slot)? Of course, that was Esposito's forte his whole career, but against the Russians it may have been something they couldn't adjust to immediately?
 

frisco

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I think a lot of his success in the Summit series may have had to do with the fact that the Russians had never defended against that type of strategy (the way he played the slot)? Of course, that was Esposito's forte his whole career, but against the Russians it may have been something they couldn't adjust to immediately?
Plus, he had a huge size advantage on the Soviets even more than typical NHL players as the Russians in general were smaller. And you're right he played basically the antithesis of your typical weaving Euro player in that he maintained position in the high slot and his wingers pounded the corners in an attempt to retrieve the puck. He shot relentlessly and often from a standing position. That being said, the NHLers knew his style and they weren't able to stop him either so it must've been extra hard for the Soviets to defend.

It's been three or four years since I've sat down and watched the Summit series but Espo was the best player on the ice.

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BigBadBruins7708

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Since by 1975 he had six of the top eight point seasons in NHL history, and had led the NHL in goals for six years in a row, I'm thinking... yes?

Was going to say the same thing.

His 76 goal season broke the record by 18

His 152 points broke the record by 32

He was also the first player to score 1000 points in a decade.

The man was legendary but unlucky. 5 years after smashed every scoring record Gretzky came along and broke them again.

There wasn't enough time between them for Esposito's legend to grow. Which is unfortunate because his dominance is largely forgotten and written off as because of Orr
 

Big Phil

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Esposito talked in his book how he never got credit in Chicago because of Hull. Then in Boston it was all because of Orr. Well, what is the common denominator of the 1972 series? Neither of those two played. So this leaves Esposito as "the" guy of that team. What a leader he was in that series, just amazing. He had incredible passion to win that series too, and all of them did, but there was almost something (in retrospect of course looking back) comforting about Esposito being there. He really took the bull by the horns. Espo gets some undeserved flack on here and I defend the guy a lot and point to the 1972 series as his moment to shine where he had no other superstar teammate "carrying" him like what happened in Boston supposedly.

Well, let's take a look here. The following year Espo - who scored 130 points - gets hurt in Game 2 of the opening round against the Rangers. He's out for the playoffs. Boston doesn't do a single thing that series. No Bruin had more than three points that series, not even Orr. Small sample fine, but that team just fell apart without Esposito, and why not? How many teams are better when a 130 point guy is out? 1974 Cup final is a time Esposito didn't have a good series and the Bruins lost that series. Is that a coincidence? I don't think so.

But to answer your question, I don't know if he ever played better considering the height of the stakes. He had tons of good postseasons and was instrumental in 27 and 24 point playoff runs to the Cup. But in those games he wasn't playing for hockey superiority in a foreign country either. It would have been so easy to quit in Moscow, in fact we all know many players did literally do this and go home. But Espo didn't and he is the reason they won as far as I am concerned. I don't know if he played better. 13 points in 8 games is obviously something he achieved a ton of times in his career, even in the playoffs, but were the stakes as high?
 
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Big Phil

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It always pisses me off when Esposito is written off as a product of Orr, whom he has repeatedly beaten for Hart. The man was amazing.

About as underrated as they come, I think. Or at least underappreciated. I have heard people say that "Well, the reason he dominated the 1972 series is because the Soviets didn't know how to defend against a player with his style in front of the net." Yeah, neither did the NHL guys. What a coincidence.
 

Sentinel

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About as underrated as they come, I think. Or at least underappreciated. I have heard people say that "Well, the reason he dominated the 1972 series is because the Soviets didn't know how to defend against a player with his style in front of the net." Yeah, neither did the NHL guys. What a coincidence.
I've heard people say this... in this very thread.
 

JackSlater

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It always pisses me off when Esposito is written off as a product of Orr, whom he has repeatedly beaten for Hart. The man was amazing.

Eh his Hart record overrates him if he's fully given credit for winning the MVP over Orr. He shouldn't have won one, but that's due to competition. He was a Hart worthy player at least. Esposito is a player often caricatured. Some make him out to be some slug who hung around the slot and had pucks ricochet in off him, which is clearly wrong. Recently I've noted some trying to take his accomplishments at near face value however and that's a distorted picture too.

Esposito was an elite offensive player and he demonstrated as such in 1972 and at other times. Among the five or so players who carried team Canada he was best. I doubt that he was ever as important to his team as he was in 1972.
 

wetcoast

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It always pisses me off when Esposito is written off as a product of Orr, whom he has repeatedly beaten for Hart. The man was amazing.

It almost sounds like that you think that Phil is better than Bobby which was never the case in Boston.

Orr was driving that bus to be sure.
 

Merya

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Espo is tragically underrated because he played with two very romantic Bobby-named heroes of hockey. The gap between Phil and the Bobbies has been exaggarated more and more as their myth has risen. Hull already back then, Orr growing to a more and more godlike figure every year (mostly bcs of Wayne opposition).
 

Michael Farkas

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I mean, Orr was pretty Godlike though in reality...watch a Bobby Orr game from 1970...I have never seen anything like that in my entire life...

Esposito, especially, was never on his level or even on the next level down...
 

Crosbyfan

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Absolutely. Canada was still ahead of the USSR in 1972...just not in September...the Russians were in much better condition in that series, especially at the start.
 

Dennis Bonvie

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Eh his Hart record overrates him if he's fully given credit for winning the MVP over Orr. He shouldn't have won one, but that's due to competition. He was a Hart worthy player at least. Esposito is a player often caricatured. Some make him out to be some slug who hung around the slot and had pucks ricochet in off him, which is clearly wrong. Recently I've noted some trying to take his accomplishments at near face value however and that's a distorted picture too.

Esposito was an elite offensive player and he demonstrated as such in 1972 and at other times. Among the five or so players who carried team Canada he was best. I doubt that he was ever as important to his team as he was in 1972.

Bruins always needed both Orr & Esposito to be a championship level team.
 

Dennis Bonvie

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Espo is tragically underrated because he played with two very romantic Bobby-named heroes of hockey. The gap between Phil and the Bobbies has been exaggarated more and more as their myth has risen. Hull already back then, Orr growing to a more and more godlike figure every year (mostly bcs of Wayne opposition).

The complete opposite is true.

Orr is diminished more and more every year because of Gretzky devotion.
 

BobbyAwe

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Plus, he had a huge size advantage on the Soviets even more than typical NHL players as the Russians in general were smaller. And you're right he played basically the antithesis of your typical weaving Euro player in that he maintained position in the high slot and his wingers pounded the corners in an attempt to retrieve the puck. He shot relentlessly and often from a standing position. That being said, the NHLers knew his style and they weren't able to stop him either so it must've been extra hard for the Soviets to defend.

It's been three or four years since I've sat down and watched the Summit series but Espo was the best player on the ice.

My Best-Carey

I just watched the documentary on that series and there was a very interesting quote by Vladimir Petrov of the Soviets which seems to confirm the point you and I agree on...

"With Phil it was very difficult to take the puck from him, to even get close to him. I've never seen a player like him before."

;)
 

Theokritos

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Apr 6, 2010
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Anatoly Tarasov echoed the problems Phil Esposito caused the Soviets in 1972:
In Tarasov's 1974 book Путь к себе ("Path to the Self") there is some interesting hindsight-reasoning about the 1972 Summit Series and how Phil Esposito ("not particularly fast, but battlesome, feisty, with fine technical tools and excellent orientation; he's extremely clever") could be "neutralized". Tarasov sees two options, one of them is to make Esposito play a more defensive game (where he is "far from brilliant") with the Soviet centers Petrov and Maltsev forcing him "to run the extra hundreds of meters" and tiring him out. "But that might not be enough", Tarasov continues: "With the departure of Vyacheslav Starshinov from hockey we are lacking a center forward/halfback who combines a vast physical game, including the accurate execution of defensive tasks, with the ability to attack most pointedly. Petrov is perhaps the closest comparable to the Spartak forward, but he is lacking the mass and physical strength to scare the opponent."
 

Thenameless

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Did Phil Esposito ever reach his '72 Summit Series level of play in the NHL?

Yes, he most certainly did. He was wrecking the NHL both before and after the Summit Series, setting new records while he was at it. His performance in '72 was the cherry on top.
 

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