How MUCH Were Neely's Stats Cut Short By His Injury?

BobbyAwe

Registered User
Nov 21, 2006
3,442
883
South Carolina
Practically as much as we can assume Orr's were? Not claiming a big revelation here but I did a little computing regarding his numbers after his injury and what he probably would have done, if healthy, is pretty overwhelming...

In 1991-92, after two 50+ goal seasons, he had the initial injury and only played in 9 games. But in those 9 games, he had 9 goals (and 12 points).

In 1992-93 he played only 13 games, but had 11 goals (and 18 points).

1993-94 was the famous 50 goals in 49 games.

His final two years, obviously near the end and nowhere near 100%, he played in only 91 games, but still had 53 goals.

It is definitely a safe assumption that, apart from the injury, all 5 of these years would have been 50+, or even possibly some at 60 or 70 goals. (in example, the 50 goals in only 49 games season. What would he have done if he had played in all the 35 more games?

All this speculation leaves him at still only 30 years old, just a little past what would have been his prime, and no doubt with even 2 or 3 more 50 goal seasons in the tank?

I'm too biased (as a B's fan) to argue against Neely's HOF induction. I understand why some protest his induction based on a shortened career, but there's no doubt that he was an ELITE player who would have been regarded much higher in the all-time ranks if his career had not been sabotaged by that ASSHOLE :mad: whose name I will not even repeat here. Add to his potential stats the fact that Cam was also one of the best hitters and fighters in the league and his overall value is "off the scale". Truly he was a hockey FORCE OF NATURE :thumbu:
 
Last edited:

streitz

Registered User
Jul 22, 2018
1,258
318
I'm sure he would of had 600 goals and like 11-1200 points if he was healthy until old age if he could of played relatively healthy till like 37-38

That being said he played hard, and would of had any other injuries other then the Samuelsson saga.


Probably would of had 2-3 Hull-like seasons with Oates, 60-80 goals.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Canadiens1958

Big Phil

Registered User
Nov 2, 2003
31,703
4,144
I am always on the fence with Neely as a HHOFer. That being said, I don't argue it too much because of his impact. When he was healthy he was the type of player all GMs would have wanted. Anyone would salivate drafting a modern day Neely. Someone who is a bonafide sniper but a rare physical beast too. That's hard to find. And we all remember his career and the combination of goal scoring and physical punishment was a rare breed. My only concern is was his playing career long enough?

But what did injuries limit him to? I think he could have hit 70 goals in 1994. Maybe 1993 too. You've got Oates as your center, and Oates was always more than happy dishing off and letting his wingers finish what was usually a lovely pass from him that put them in a good position.
 

The Panther

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
19,114
15,573
Tokyo, Japan
Neely was great, but I tend to think of him more as a Shanahan-type than an Ovechkin-type. Let's say he could score 40+ goals in his prime as long as he was on a competitive team, but he needed an elite center and a great power-play to reach 60 or 70. The fifty in forty-nine was amazing... but it's forty-nine games, not 80 or multiple full seasons of elite production.

Neely also has great playoff goal-numbers, although he was a bit of a no-show in the 1988 and 1990 Finals.

I guess I am with Phil in thinking of him as a borderline Hall of Famer. Sure, we can speculate that he'd be more of a slam dunk if he had been healthy, but it's also just as likely that his per game numbers would be notably less impressive if he'd been healthy, too.
 

Dennis Bonvie

Registered User
Dec 29, 2007
29,206
17,561
Connecticut
Neely was great, but I tend to think of him more as a Shanahan-type than an Ovechkin-type. Let's say he could score 40+ goals in his prime as long as he was on a competitive team, but he needed an elite center and a great power-play to reach 60 or 70. The fifty in forty-nine was amazing... but it's forty-nine games, not 80 or multiple full seasons of elite production.

Neely also has great playoff goal-numbers, although he was a bit of a no-show in the 1988 and 1990 Finals.

I guess I am with Phil in thinking of him as a borderline Hall of Famer. Sure, we can speculate that he'd be more of a slam dunk if he had been healthy, but it's also just as likely that his per game numbers would be notably less impressive if he'd been healthy, too.

He also seemed to own Patrick Roy.
 

sr edler

gold is not reality
Mar 20, 2010
11,845
6,290
Bourque probably helped as much as Oates. Boston when Neely put the fireworks on also wasn’t the deepest team, so regarding ice time/opportunity it was probably an ideal situation for (goal) scoring there for him.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,585
15,948
actually, it's 50 in 44. neely went goalless in the last five games he played that season.

i have to think that a neely who doesn't wreck his knees hits 500 goals. how many more? hard to say.

shanahan is not a great comparison, because he was insanely durable for a power winger in that era. if you look at the 14 year prime between the st. louis offer sheet and him signing with the rangers, he missed an average of less than three games a year.

no one else comes close to that. leclair missed almost whole seasons in his early 30s. kevin stevens was effectively done after 28. tocchet topped 75 games in a season exactly once in his first 14 years, before settling into his old man phase in phoenix. even tkachuk, who lasted 1,200 games and was a physical freak himself missed on average 15 games a year from ages 25 to 31.

how healthy could neely have reasonably been? he played more than 75 games in a season exactly once in his entire 13 year career. i think we can decently safely give him 50 goal seasons in '92 and '93, but would he have started breaking down early, like many of his contemporaries, and started to see diminishing returns by '95 anyway?

on the other hand, does a healthy neely top 76 goals in 1993? does oates break the 100 assist plateau? does bourque hit 100 points?
 

BigBadBruins7708

Registered User
Dec 11, 2017
13,579
18,347
Las Vegas
Neely was great, but I tend to think of him more as a Shanahan-type than an Ovechkin-type. Let's say he could score 40+ goals in his prime as long as he was on a competitive team, but he needed an elite center and a great power-play to reach 60 or 70. The fifty in forty-nine was amazing... but it's forty-nine games, not 80 or multiple full seasons of elite production.

Neely also has great playoff goal-numbers, although he was a bit of a no-show in the 1988 and 1990 Finals.

I guess I am with Phil in thinking of him as a borderline Hall of Famer. Sure, we can speculate that he'd be more of a slam dunk if he had been healthy, but it's also just as likely that his per game numbers would be notably less impressive if he'd been healthy, too.

as to the "Ovechkin type" assertion, Backstrom says hi

give Neely a decade next to Oates the same way Ovechkin has had a decade next to Backstrom and I dont think 600+ goals is out of the question. They're pretty similar at 0.66 (in Boston) GPG for Neely to 0.61 for Ovechkin

Also, using your definitions Neely is much closer to an Ovechkin type than Shanahan.

Neely's career best 55 goals came before Oates was in Boston (1989-90). That season was also where he and Bourque carried the Bruins to their 2nd Cup Finals in 3 years with 12-16-28 in 21.

The next season 1990-91, he scored 51...again before Oates got to Boston.

In fact, Neely's career was essentially over by the time Oates came in mid 1991-92. As the Samuelsson/knee issues started that year. Neely played 9 games that year, 13 the next and never topped 49 games. And only played 162 games over those 5 years.

The only season a remotely healthy Neely and Oates played together was in 1993-94, his 50 in 44 season. Even then he only played 49 games that year.

Basically, the vast majority of his goal scoring exploits and legend had already happened before Oates came around.

The back to back 50 goal seasons, the 4 big playoff runs (44-30-74) in 72, completely owning one of the 2 best goalie in history (Roy). It was all before he had an elite set up man and certainly not a 'sit and wait for the set up' type of player that you claimed.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->