How would an NHL superstar do in the AHL?

[Los Patos de Anaheim]

If you put Sidney Crosby in the AHL and he played an entire 76 game season, how would he do?

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[MMC]

Probably be a decent 4th line grinder.

 

[LeProspector]

Think of Jason Spezza in the 2005 lockout.

 

[Wild-Sabres]

Good.

 

[Real Smart Sens Fan]

In the lockout season, when the AHL was arguably at its strongest, Spezza led the league with 117 pts in 80 games. Cammalleri was second with 109 in 79 games, and then there were like 20 guys with between 68 and 88pts.

Spezza posted 90 pts in 68 games in the NHL the next season, good for 13th in points and 5th in PPG.

With that in mind, I think Crosby would lead the league by about 40-80 points, depending on the year.

edit: Also, fun but unsurprising lil factoid, Spezza is the only player to lead the AHL in scoring who went on to have a standout NHL career.

 

[GordieHowsUrBreath]

he would average at least 3 points per game

 

[hockeykicker]

Probably be a decent 4th line grinder.

agreed. ahl is too fast for a sidney crosby

 

[Hockeyholic]

McDavid would get 200 points at minimum.

 

[Jarey Curry]

Over a hundred points but not like 150

 

[Elvs]

There's only so many points one can score in any league. The increase wouldn't be overly significant.

 

[SwissGrog]

Well Crosby is used to play with AHL players at the wing, am I right?

 

[Atoyot]

Good.

*Well

 

[alko]

Lets go further:

Connor McDavid in

ECHL
SPHL
FHL
Slovak Extraleague

Now im also curious, how it would look, if we put him and Alex DeBrincat back to OHL.

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

edit: Also, fun but unsurprising lil factoid, Spezza is the only player to lead the AHL in scoring who went on to have a standout NHL career.

That's because anyone who's good enough to dominate the AHL is called up before they get a chance to play a full season.

 

[Paralyzer008]

2012-13 Oklahoma City Barons point paces based on a pro-rated 76 game season:

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - 80 points
Taylor Hall - 100 points
Justin Schultz - 107 points
Jordan Eberle - 114 points

I could see Crosby or McDavid hitting 135-140 or more.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Justin Schultz won the Eddie Shore Trophy for Defenceman of the Year in the AHL as a rookie from just playing 34 games. He led all d-men in scoring for the year.
Imagine what Karlsson would do.

 

[The Macho King]

I also think it depends on the type of player. I could see a player like Vlad Tarasenko (who creates his own offense and is an elite finisher) doing better than a guy like McDavid who is more of a playmaker and relies (at least somewhat) on competent play by linemates to convert.

 

[A Loyal Dog]

I know he isn't a superstar (yet), but Jonathan Drouin had 13 pts in 17 games in the AHL last year, lol!

 

[Laineux]

Not nearly as dominant as many would think.

Maybe around 1.5 ppg.

Erik Karlsson was exactly one point per game in Liiga, which is comparable level to AHL. This was Karlsson in 12-13 before Cooke injured him btw.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

That's because anyone who's good enough to dominate the AHL is called up before they get a chance to play a full season.

Yep. Don't have to look very far for a good example, either - Jake Guentzel probably would have won the scoring title last year if he spent the entire season in the AHL...I'd say the right move was made there.

This is a fun thought experiment...but really what possible motivation would an established NHL superstar have to give their all in the minors? Once you go past a Spezza situation, which required a lockout for it to be possible (no way he's not playing in the NHL with that kind of production if the NHL is playing games) it's just that - a fun thought experiment...I think the reality would disappoint most of us since I just don't see a 30 year-old Crosby or 27 year-old Karlsson giving their all on a Tuesday in January against Utica. Still, established superstars like them would still lead the league in scoring by a fairly large margin even if they half-assed things.

 

[Halla]

In the lockout season, when the AHL was arguably at its strongest, Spezza led the league with 117 pts in 80 games. Cammalleri was second with 109 in 79 games, and then there were like 20 guys with between 68 and 88pts.

Spezza posted 90 pts in 68 games in the NHL the next season, good for 13th in points and 5th in PPG.

With that in mind, I think Crosby would lead the league by about 40-80 points, depending on the year.

edit: Also, fun but unsurprising lil factoid, Spezza is the only player to lead the AHL in scoring who went on to have a standout NHL career.

Usually the young guys dominating the AHL get called up, leaving the AHL vets to challenge for the scoring title.

in 2005-2006 Perry had 34 pts in 19 games (1.79ppg) and Getzlaf had 33 pts in 17 games (1.94ppg)

the league leader that year had 110pts in 80 games (1.38ppg)

 

[The Macho King]

Yep. Don't have to look very far for a good example, either - Jake Guentzel probably would have won the scoring title last year if he spent the entire season in the AHL...I'd say the right move was made there.

This is a fun thought experiment...but really what possible motivation would an established NHL superstar have to give their all in the minors? Once you go past a Spezza situation, which required a lockout for it to be possible (no way he's not playing in the NHL with that kind of production if the NHL is playing games) it's just that - a fun thought experiment...I think the reality would disappoint most of us since I just don't see a 30 year-old Crosby or 27 year-old Karlsson giving their all on a Tuesday in January against Utica. Still, established superstars like them would still lead the league in scoring by a fairly large margin even if they half-assed things.

Same thing happened with Kucherov. 24 points in 17 games and he got called up.

 

[Real Smart Sens Fan]

Usually the young guys dominating the AHL get called up, leaving the AHL vets to challenge for the scoring title.

in 2005-2006 Perry had 34 pts in 19 games (1.79ppg) and Getzlaf had 33 pts in 17 games (1.94ppg)

the league leader that year had 110pts in 80 games (1.38ppg)

Yup, hence the "unsurprising". The only other years I thought might be different were the other partial lockout years.

 

[Laineux]

I also think it depends on the type of player. I could see a player like Vlad Tarasenko (who creates his own offense and is an elite finisher) doing better than a guy like McDavid who is more of a playmaker and relies (at least somewhat) on competent play by linemates to convert.

Didn't seem to hurt McDavid's totals in the OHL.

 

[leafsfan1234]

130-150 points for Crosby or McDavid. I think a prime Ovechkin would of been better since he didn't even need line mates.