Obscure hockey facts/stats

[Robert Gordon Orr]

Some more obscure records/facts.

- Patrick Sieloff have scored two career NHL goals in his first two games. He is the only player in league history to score in each of his first two career games while playing for different teams.


- These players have scored 4598 goals between them, but are / were 0 for 55 on penalty shots in their career.

Brett Hull (741 goals), Ziggy Palffy, (329), Daniel Sedin (393), Scott Hartnell (327), Sidney Crosby (462), Nikita Kucherov (221), Martin St.Louis (391), Shane Doan (402), Evgeny Malkin (416), Mike Modano (561), Greg Adams (355)


- Claude St.Sauveur is the highest scoring player to only ever play one season in the NHL.
He had 48 points in 1975/76 with Atlanta. (Not counting the rookies for this season)


- Ilya Kovalchuk holds the NHL record for most minutes played on the powerplay in one game (20:05 PP TOI - Nov.22, 2005). Kovalchuk have seven of the 20 highest recorded minutes on the PP in one game, all with Atlanta. (since 1997/98)


- Mark Messier (1+2), Wayne Gretzky (1+2) and Danny Gare (2+1) are the only NHL players that have scored three empty net points in one game.


- Bernie Nicholls scored 150 points with Los Angeles in 1988/89. That is most points ever scored in an NHL season without leading his team in scoring (Gretzky had more points on the team)


- Jason Bacashihua is the only goalie to record his first NHL point before making his first save.


- At the 1993 expansion draft, players not picked by Florida and Anaheim, included 5 Selke Trophy Winners, 7 future Hall of Famers and 3 Norris Trophy Winners. Probably their greatest mistake was picking four goalies, none being Dominik Hasek.


- Grant Mulvey holds the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a game by a player scoring a hat trick.
Mulvey picked up three goals and 26 penalty minutes in a game against NY Islanders 1979 (8-0).
He was penalized for Hi-Sticking 2 min, Fighting 5 min (2 times), Slashing 2+2 min and got a 10 min Misconduct.

 

[NyQuil]

Jason Spezza holds the Ottawa Senators team record for most penalty minutes in a game.

He received a fighting major, a misconduct and a double game misconduct all on the same play for a total of 35 minutes.

The game in question was the most penalized in league history, with 419 penalty minutes assigned to the two teams.

Philadelphia Flyers–Ottawa Senators brawl - Wikipedia

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Jason Spezza holds the Ottawa Senators team record for most penalty minutes in a game.

He received a fighting major, a misconduct and a double game misconduct all on the same play for a total of 35 minutes.

The game in question was the most penalized in league history, with 419 penalty minutes assigned to the two teams.

Philadelphia Flyers–Ottawa Senators brawl - Wikipedia

Considering the 80s and early 90s I'm still a little bit in shock that that game is the most penalized.

Last year the lowest penalized team was the Maple Leafs with 503 pims.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

This reminded me that the ‘97-‘98 Capitals saw three players hit the 1,000-point mark: Oates, Housley, and Hunter. (Bellows would get there the following season)

I don’t think any other team has had three of these in one season.

Also, in 1999-00, the Red Wings saw Fedorov get his 300th goal, Shanahan get his 400th, Verbeek his 500th, and Yzerman his 600th. Pretty sure that’s never happened before or since.

Montreal had Hamrlik,Smolinski and Kovalev all hit 1,000 games played and they were all in October I believe.

 

[MS]

Some more obscure records/facts.

- Patrick Sieloff have scored two career NHL goals in his first two games. He is the only player in league history to score in each of his first two career games while playing for different teams.


- These players have scored 4598 goals between them, but are / were 0 for 55 on penalty shots in their career.

Brett Hull (741 goals), Ziggy Palffy, (329), Daniel Sedin (393), Scott Hartnell (327), Sidney Crosby (462), Nikita Kucherov (221), Martin St.Louis (391), Shane Doan (402), Evgeny Malkin (416), Mike Modano (561), Greg Adams (355)


- Claude St.Sauveur is the highest scoring player to only ever play one season in the NHL.
He had 48 points in 1975/76 with Atlanta. (Not counting the rookies for this season)


- Ilya Kovalchuk holds the NHL record for most minutes played on the powerplay in one game (20:05 PP TOI - Nov.22, 2005). Kovalchuk have seven of the 20 highest recorded minutes on the PP in one game, all with Atlanta. (since 1997/98)


- Mark Messier (1+2), Wayne Gretzky (1+2) and Danny Gare (2+1) are the only NHL players that have scored three empty net points in one game.


- Bernie Nicholls scored 150 points with Los Angeles in 1988/89. That is most points ever scored in an NHL season without leading his team in scoring (Gretzky had more points on the team)


- Jason Bacashihua is the only goalie to record his first NHL point before making his first save.


- At the 1993 expansion draft, players not picked by Florida and Anaheim, included 5 Selke Trophy Winners, 7 future Hall of Famers and 3 Norris Trophy Winners. Probably their greatest mistake was picking four goalies, none being Dominik Hasek.


- Grant Mulvey holds the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a game by a player scoring a hat trick.
Mulvey picked up three goals and 26 penalty minutes in a game against NY Islanders 1979 (8-0).
He was penalized for Hi-Sticking 2 min, Fighting 5 min (2 times), Slashing 2+2 min and got a 10 min Misconduct.

I love the Sieloff and St. Sauveur ones.

The 1993 Expansion Draft one is ... ehhhh. The three 'Norris Trophy' defenders available were Doug Wilson, Rod Langway, and Randy Carlyle. All were completely finished and none played the following season. A better question might be to name three Norris Trophy winners who all retired in the same offseason, because that has to be the only time in NHL history that three of them retired at the same time. And they were all consecutive winners, to boot.

 

[JianYang]

Some more obscure records/facts.

- Patrick Sieloff have scored two career NHL goals in his first two games. He is the only player in league history to score in each of his first two career games while playing for different teams.


- These players have scored 4598 goals between them, but are / were 0 for 55 on penalty shots in their career.

Brett Hull (741 goals), Ziggy Palffy, (329), Daniel Sedin (393), Scott Hartnell (327), Sidney Crosby (462), Nikita Kucherov (221), Martin St.Louis (391), Shane Doan (402), Evgeny Malkin (416), Mike Modano (561), Greg Adams (355)


- Claude St.Sauveur is the highest scoring player to only ever play one season in the NHL.
He had 48 points in 1975/76 with Atlanta. (Not counting the rookies for this season)


- Ilya Kovalchuk holds the NHL record for most minutes played on the powerplay in one game (20:05 PP TOI - Nov.22, 2005). Kovalchuk have seven of the 20 highest recorded minutes on the PP in one game, all with Atlanta. (since 1997/98)


- Mark Messier (1+2), Wayne Gretzky (1+2) and Danny Gare (2+1) are the only NHL players that have scored three empty net points in one game.


- Bernie Nicholls scored 150 points with Los Angeles in 1988/89. That is most points ever scored in an NHL season without leading his team in scoring (Gretzky had more points on the team)


- Jason Bacashihua is the only goalie to record his first NHL point before making his first save.


- At the 1993 expansion draft, players not picked by Florida and Anaheim, included 5 Selke Trophy Winners, 7 future Hall of Famers and 3 Norris Trophy Winners. Probably their greatest mistake was picking four goalies, none being Dominik Hasek.


- Grant Mulvey holds the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a game by a player scoring a hat trick.
Mulvey picked up three goals and 26 penalty minutes in a game against NY Islanders 1979 (8-0).
He was penalized for Hi-Sticking 2 min, Fighting 5 min (2 times), Slashing 2+2 min and got a 10 min Misconduct.

Kovalchuk getting 20 mins of PP ice time is mind blowing on multiple levels. I mean, I know the refs were calling everything coming out of that lockout, but it's still crazy that it happened.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

- Bernie Nicholls scored 150 points with Los Angeles in 1988/89. That is most points ever scored in an NHL season without leading his team in scoring (Gretzky had more points on the team)

This stat is crazy! Gretzky-Nicholls went 168-150 that season...I figured that someone in Edmonton would for sure break 150 points when Gretzky but posting 200+ point seasons, but the closest anyone ever came was Paul Coffey, when Gretzky and him went 215-138 in 85-86.

Insane to think that in some ways we still *underrate* Gretzky.

 

[Tarantula]

This stat is crazy! Gretzky-Nicholls went 168-150 that season...I figured that someone in Edmonton would for sure break 150 points when Gretzky but posting 200+ point seasons, but the closest anyone ever came was Paul Coffey, when Gretzky and him went 215-138 in 85-86.

Insane to think that in some ways we still *underrate* Gretzky.

Never thought of it that way, interesting. I never would have guessed Nichols was the closest team mate point wise.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

The Los Angeles Kings had the same exact regular season record of 40-27-15 in 2011-2012 when they won the Stanley Cup, and in 2014-2015 when they missed the playoffs. (They also had a higher ROW in 2014-2015.)

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

Insane to think that in some ways we still *underrate* Gretzky.

True, think of this:

- Gretzky scored a point in 89,4% of his first 1000 NHL games.

- Another incredible stat is that the longest Gretzky went without a point was four games, and that happened once (1487 games), that's quite impressive.

- Or what about him scoring 104 points in a span of 31 games. (1983/84).

Some of his stats are mind-boggling.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

In his final NHL season, Henrik Sedin had 3 goals and 47 assists for 50 points. That is the NHL record for points by a skater with 3 or fewer goals.

It is also the NHL record for points by a *forward* with 4 or fewer goals.

Also 5 or fewer goals.

Also 6 or fewer goals.

Also 7 or fewer goals.

But at 8 he is outdone by Jozef Stumpel (8G, 50A in 2000-01) and Terry Ruskowski (8G, 51A in 1980-81). And at 7, he is in a 3-way tie with Mike Ribeiro and Joe Thornton.

As for Daniel, in his final Canucks season he led the team in points. He is, as far as I can tell, one of only 3 players in NHL history to retire after leading his team in scoring. The other two are Jean Beliveau and Wayne Gretzky. Pretty good company.

Finally, this might have been mentioned earlier, but the 1981-82 Vancouver Canucks entered the playoffs with a record below .500, 30-33-17. They made the Stanley Cup Finals playing 3 teams *worse* than them on the way: The Calgary Flames in round 1 (29-34-17), the Los Angeles Kings in round 2 (24-41-15, this was the Miracle on Manchester year), and the Chicago Blackhawks in the conference finals (30-38-12).

 

[Oheao]

I really wish the NHL pulled an NFL and incorporated WHA statistics. Gretzky, Hull and Howe have time there not included in their records when they should be.

 

[Hogan86]

Nick Boynton was a 1st round draft pick. Twice.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

I really wish the NHL pulled an NFL and incorporated WHA statistics. Gretzky, Hull and Howe have time there not included in their records when they should be.

No way. That would be like the NHL incorporating KHL statistics today.

 

[Oheao]

In his final NHL season, Henrik Sedin had 3 goals and 47 assists for 50 points. That is the NHL record for points by a skater with 3 or fewer goals.

It is also the NHL record for points by a *forward* with 4 or fewer goals.

Also 5 or fewer goals.

Also 6 or fewer goals.

Also 7 or fewer goals.

But at 8 he is outdone by Jozef Stumpel (8G, 50A in 2000-01) and Terry Ruskowski (8G, 51A in 1980-81). And at 7, he is in a 3-way tie with Mike Ribeiro and Joe Thornton.

As for Daniel, in his final Canucks season he led the team in points. He is, as far as I can tell, one of only 3 players in NHL history to retire after leading his team in scoring. The other two are Jean Beliveau and Wayne Gretzky. Pretty good company.

Finally, this might have been mentioned earlier, but the 1981-82 Vancouver Canucks entered the playoffs with a record below .500, 30-33-17. They made the Stanley Cup Finals playing 3 teams *worse* than them on the way: The Calgary Flames in round 1 (29-34-17), the Los Angeles Kings in round 2 (24-41-15, this was the Miracle on Manchester year), and the Chicago Blackhawks in the conference finals (30-38-12).

What's the record for player with most points with 0 goals?

 

[Oheao]

No way. That would be like the NHL incorporating KHL statistics today.

Are they going to absorb KHL teams into their league?

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

What's the record for player with most points with 0 goals?

Dan Bourbonnais, who had 16 assists and no goals for the Whalers in the 80s.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Are they going to absorb KHL teams into their league?

Oh cool, can we include Vancouver's WHL points? I bet Andy Bathgate would love to have his 108-point 69-70 season counted before he rejoined the NHL and posted 48 points the next year.

 

[Oheao]

Oh cool, can we include Vancouver's WHL points? I bet Andy Bathgate would love to have his 108-point 69-70 season counted before he rejoined the NHL and posted 48 points the next year.

Sure, why not.

 

[Iapyi]

No way. That would be like the NHL incorporating KHL statistics today.

I know that for some reason that mystifies me, many people actually think that the KHL is a higher level than the AHL and is the 2nd highest league in the world. I consider this ludicrous.

I do think the point another poster mentioned about teams being absorbed to be quite thought-provoking.

 

[Megahab]

Finally, this might have been mentioned earlier, but the 1981-82 Vancouver Canucks entered the playoffs with a record below .500, 30-33-17. They made the Stanley Cup Finals playing 3 teams *worse* than them on the way: The Calgary Flames in round 1 (29-34-17), the Los Angeles Kings in round 2 (24-41-15, this was the Miracle on Manchester year), and the Chicago Blackhawks in the conference finals (30-38-12).

What?! 63 points got the Kings into the playoffs? Does anyone know if any other teams made the playoffs with less than 63 points in an 80 game season? I know most teams made it back then (16 out of 21 teams I think) but that still sounds insane to me.

 

[The Panther]

What?! 63 points got the Kings into the playoffs? Does anyone know if any other teams made the playoffs with less than 63 points in an 80 game season? I know most teams made it back then (16 out of 21 teams I think) but that still sounds insane to me.

1987-88 Toronto Maple Leafs Roster and Statistics | Hockey-Reference.com

 

[The Panther]

Assuming Leon Draisaitl wins the Hart trophy "this" (?) season, the Edmonton Oilers will have had 4 different players win the Hart trophy in the past 32 years (and Taylor Hall is a recent ex-Oiler who won it for another team); while the Pittsburgh Penguins have similarly had 4 different players win it in the past 25 years.

By contrast, the Toronto Maple Leafs haven't had a Hart winner for 65 years. (The Flames franchise hasn't had a Hart winner in 48 years.)

 

[Michael Farkas]

The WHA wasn't as good as the AFL was, if that's the contention/analogy being made...WHA was a glorified minor league or maybe Quad-A League. Top heavy with some talent on the surface. But severely lacking depth.

Currently, the AHL has narrowed the gap with the KHL. You can make a good claim that the AHL is the 3rd best league in the world...2nd is a little tougher. If the K wasn't so spread out, it would have a stronger case. That hurts its depth. It's amplified at the junior level too...the top end of that league could destroy major junior teams, but the bottom of it would get mercied by Penticton or the Chicago Steel...

 

[The Panther]

WHA was a glorified minor league or maybe Quad-A League. Top heavy with some talent on the surface. But severely lacking depth.

My take on the WHA (bearing in mind it was before my time) is that its top couple of teams and certainly its top players were easily on par with good teams/elite players in the NHL at the time. Remember that the NHL in the mid-1970s included clubs like the 1974-75 Washington Capitals, which is likely the single worst major-professional hockey team in North American history (four years later, not a single player on its roster was still a pro player). So, were top WHA teams/players worse than that? Definitely not.

Numerous WHA players had no trouble at all adapting to the NHL from 1979, and some did better in the NHL than they had in the WHA. That simply wouldn't be possible if the WHA had been a "glorified minor League".

Of course, all the WHA teams would have been slaughtered by, say, the 70s' Canadiens, Bruins, Flyers, Sabres, etc. But I also think the top couple of WHA teams each season would have beaten several of the lower-end NHL teams in that era.