Marcel Dionne

[tarheelhockey]

Dionne was a compiler later in his career, but don't doubt that he was dominant, either. The guy was top-10 in goals nine times (same as Bossy and one more than Gretzky), and top-5 six times (one fewer than Gretzky, two fewer than Bossy)

No doubt, he was dominant. But to answer the question "Why does Dionne get overlooked", the simple answer is that he was overshadowed by Gretzky and Bossy.

Top-10 goalscoring is relevant, but most fans will not remember a guy just because he hit the top 10 with frequency. Heatley has been top-10 in five of the past six seasons (!), but I'd wager the majority of NHL fans wouldn't name him on an off-the-cuff list of elite forwards.

Bossy finished top-3 in goals more than twice as often (7) as Dionne did (3). Perhaps more important to reputation, two of the times that Dionne finished #2 in the league, the race was won by none other than Mike Bossy.

And fair or not, playmaking is forgotten unless a player is legendary for it. Like Francis and Jagr, the goal scorer always gets the bigger reputation.

I am glad, though, that there is at least some push to raise Dionne's profile for future generations. 5th all time in points is a huge accomplishment.

 

[seventieslord]

Top-10 goalscoring is relevant, but most fans will not remember a guy just because he hit the top 10 with frequency. Heatley has been top-10 in five of the past six seasons (!), but I'd wager the majority of NHL fans wouldn't name him on an off-the-cuff list of elite forwards.

They would if Heatley was also an elite playmaker. But he's not.

 

[Dreakmur]

The fact that Dionne was able to put up elite offensive numbers is actually pretty amazing. The guy basically played alone. Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer meshed well with Dionne, but there were avarage hockey players during their time. Asside from those 2 guys, can anybody name guys from that Kings roster? Playing in a high scoring era helps him put up high totals, but playing on a weak team, with mediocre linemates, really brings down that total, as well as each season's dominance.

1975
Dionne was 3rd in scoring behind Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. Boston was one of the league's top offensive teams, while Detroit was one of the weakest. If you account for linemates and team strength, Dionne was 1975's best scorer.

1977
Dionne was 2nd in scoring to Guy Lafleur. Lafleur played with Jacques Lemaire and Steve Shutt(3rd in scoring), while Dionne played with Mike Murphy and Tom Williams. Lafleur also had Larry Robinson and Guy Lapointe feeding him breakout passes, while Dionne was getting them from Gary Sergant. Montreal was, by far, the leagues top offensive team (scoring 64 more than the next team), and Los Angeles was one of the better scoring teams.... but still way behind Montreal. Again, if you account for linemates and team strength, Dionne was 1977's best scorer.

1979
Dionne was 2nd in scoring to Bryan Trottier. This was the first season that Dionne played with Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor(9th in scoring). Trottier played with Mike Bossy(4th in scoring) and Clark Gillies(9th in scoring). Trottier also had Denis Potvin feeding him breakout passes, and Dionne had Robert Palmer. Once again, if you account for linemates and team strength, Dionne was 1979's best scorer.

1980
Dionne was tied for 1st with Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky's Oilers are not yet the dyansty they would soon become..... Dionne had better linemates and a better team, so he wasn't better than Gretzky this season.. in fact, Gretzky was better

1981
Dionne was 2nd in scoring to Wayne Gretzky. Dionne finally has a decent puck-moving defenseman in Larry Murphy (a rookie). Gretzky's Oilers are still not the dynasty..... Dionne had better linemates and a better team, so he wasn't better than Gretzky this season either