Dominant scoring leads during a season?

[plusandminus]

There is a thread about most impressive season ever, which so far has focused mostly on offensive stats (especially points scored).

What did the scoring race look like when Gretzky had his 153 points in first 51 games of the season?

What did it look like this year, when Crosby was leading before getting injured?

(I assume both anwers may be found online, but as anyway in case someone hasa the info off hand.)

Any other Gretzky seasons? Mario seasons? Others? Any surprise player, like if some less famous point producer would lead big into the season?

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[shazariahl]

Well, I don't know about specific point leads 51 games in that year, but since Gretzky was averaging 3.0 PPG 51 games into that season, his lead must have already been insane. Since Coffey finished in 2nd place in league scoring with 126, and Gretzky put up 153 points during the streak, he would have won the scoring race even had he never scored another point all season. Despite missing 6 games, he scored his 2nd highest goals total ever (and higher than any other player in history), and scored 118 assists. 118 isn't as impressive as some of his other seasons (163?!?!?), but bear in mind that no other player has even scored that many assists either. I don't know if its as dominant as some others (there are some good ones mentioned in the other thread, including Gretzky's 86-87 season where he outscored everyone by 69%) which may be just as dominant or more. However, I do consider this to be Gretzky's best season ever. I hate to sound like a Lemieux fan here, but if he hadn't missed those 6 games, he may have broken his own records.

Crosby was certainly impressive last year before his injury, but he didn't show anywhere near this same level of dominance. Say what you want about it being harder to dominate these days etc, but fact is Crosby's dominance doesn't even come close to this. That's no knock on Crosby however - last season he was looking more dominant than anyone we've seen since the lockout.

 

[Epsilon]

What did Lemieux's numbers look like relative to the rest of the NHL in 1992-93 when he first started missing time for cancer treatment?

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

I remember reading lemieux had something like 40 points in the first 12 games of the season in 92-93, ill check the book I read it in when I get home tonight if I can find it

 

[reckoning]

Going by the closest Tuesday NHL weekly statistics reports:


1983-84 on Jan. 31 (right after Gretzky's streak was broken):

1. Gretzky 153
2. Kurri 85
3. Bossy 83
4. Stastny 82
5. Goulet 80


1992-93 on Jan. 5 (right before Lemieux's last game before the cancer diagnosis):

1. Lemieux 104
2. Lafontaine 73
3. Oates 65
4. Recchi 61
4. Sundin 61

 

[jepjepjoo]

1992-93 on Jan. 5 (right before Lemieux's last game before the cancer diagnosis):

1. Lemieux 104
2. Lafontaine 73
3. Oates 65
4. Recchi 61
4. Sundin 61

Selanne and Yzerman who both finished top5 in points had insane second halfs of the season:

Jan. 5th

Selanne 40gp 31 goals 54 points 1.35ppg 0.775gpg (pace: 65 goals 113 points)
Yzerman 43gp 29 goals 58 points 1.35ppg 0.674gpg (pace: 57 goals 113 points)

rest of the season:

Selanne 44gp 45 goals 78 points 1.77ppg 1.023gpg (pace: 86g 149pts)
Yzerman 41gp 29 goals 79 points 1.92ppg 0.707gpg (pace: 59 goals 162 points)

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

yea I just checked lemieux had 41 points in the first 12 games of the 92-93 season, not sure waht 2nd in points was at that time but I cant imagine it was anything close

 

[Irato99]

yea I just checked lemieux had 41 points in the first 12 games of the 92-93 season, not sure waht 2nd in points was at that time but I cant imagine it was anything close

The hockey-reference.com gives me 38 pts for Lemieux in the first 12 games. I don't know if he was second at that time but Lafontaine had 30 pts in his first 12 games, so not close but not that far.

 

[plusandminus]

Going by the closest Tuesday NHL weekly statistics reports:


1983-84 on Jan. 31 (right after Gretzky's streak was broken):

1. Gretzky 153
2. Kurri 85
3. Bossy 83
4. Stastny 82
5. Goulet 80


1992-93 on Jan. 5 (right before Lemieux's last game before the cancer diagnosis):

1. Lemieux 104
2. Lafontaine 73
3. Oates 65
4. Recchi 61
4. Sundin 61

Thank you. Cool to see Gretzky being so outstanding.

The 1992/93 season surely saw high scoring numbers by many players.