Los Patos de Anaheim
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If you put Sidney Crosby in the AHL and he played an entire 76 game season, how would he do?
Probably be a decent 4th line grinder.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.