Obscure hockey facts/stats

[hacksaw7]

Even though there were a lot of ties in the 70s/early-80s, that's still one of the craziest stats I've ever heard and it amazes me that it doesn't get more attention.

Most of Dryden's career tends to be kind of dismissed as in, "He did it with the 70s' Habs, so it doesn't really count." It's all a little unfair, probably.

You look at what Bunny Larocque did and there probably is a bit to it, though Bunny did face easier opponents. Still it just shows what a powerhouse team those Habs were. Larocque actually went 57-6-11 for a stretch between 1975-1978

Still Dryden was a good goaltender and would've been good on any franchise. Just in Montreal he was consistently good and elevated to otherworldly stats.

 

[hacksaw7]

No matter how many mind boggling stats there are out there about Gretzky, there are always new ones that you learn that are mind boggling and if anything age like a fine wine.



I would have liked to have seen Washington get to the Cup final one of those years. Of course, maybe the Oilers would have destroyed them anyway because the Caps were always a classic regular season team and pretty much were their entire franchise until finally hitting the jackpot in 2018.

85-86 I thought it would happen for a hot second. They beat up the fading but still formidable post nemesis Isles...then had the yearly spring Caps meltdown vs the Rangers. Should they have gotten past them it's Montreal in the Wales Finals. The Ghosts of the Forum would devour them

 

[hacksaw7]

New York Islanders at Washington Capitals Box Score — October 20, 1989 | Hockey-Reference.com

Mick Vukota had a natural hat trick in 5 minutes

You have legendary players who never did this

Vukota never scored more than 4 goals in a season

 

[Big Phil]

Even though there were a lot of ties in the 70s/early-80s, that's still one of the craziest stats I've ever heard and it amazes me that it doesn't get more attention.

Most of Dryden's career tends to be kind of dismissed as in, "He did it with the 70s' Habs, so it doesn't really count." It's all a little unfair, probably.

We all know Dryden was regularly a 1st team all-star back in the day. But how many know about his Hart record? He finished, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 10th, 16th. That says a lot, considering there were plenty of other options of greatness on the Habs.

 

[Big Phil]

New York Islanders at Washington Capitals Box Score — October 20, 1989 | Hockey-Reference.com

Mick Vukota had a natural hat trick in 5 minutes

You have legendary players who never did this

Vukota never scored more than 4 goals in a season

How on earth....................?

 

[The Panther]

Here's a great one, if I do say so myself...

1983 Edmonton - Calgary playoff series (the first 'Battle of Alberta'):

PAUL REINHART (defence):

-- Scored 6 goals in 5 games (35.3 shooting percentage)
-- Went minus 14

How the hell do you go minus 14 in a five-games series, while scoring six goals as a defenceman...?

That minus 14 must be a record for such a short series...? Or any series...?

 

[The Panther]

Another stat re: the above 1983 Edmonton - Calgary series...

The Oilers ended up with 9 players that went point-per-game or better in the series. That's got to be a record for a five+ game series, too...?

(Overall, Oilers' skaters were +97 in the series, and Flames' -104.)

 

[95Tal]

Some unrelated ones:

Gordie Howe led the NHL playoffs in scoring six times before there was a Conn Smythe trophy. He won the cup twice out of those six seasons. The season after Howe last led the playoffs, Beliveau became the first Smythe winner.

I think it's amazing that Nicklas Lidstrom spent his first nine seasons in the NHL (his entire 20s) with no Norris trophies, and only began his run of seven at age 30.

Roger Crozier won the Calder then Smythe back-to-back; Dryden won the Smythe then Calder. The only players to win the Smythe in their first year have been goalies (I count four).

 

[hacksaw7]

How on earth....................?

Unreal. It's really among the most holy shit accomplishments from a low skilled player that I have ever seen. In any sport

Would be like a one of those pitchers in baseball who never gets a hit, looks hopeless for a decade at the plate...suddenly hitting 3 homers in a game

 

[MadLuke]

How on earth....................?

 

[frisco]

Bobby Orr, Tom Barrasso and Sidney Crosby are the only players to get Hart votes in both their age 18 and 19 seasons.

The Blackhawk save percentage in their series loss to the Oilers in 1985 was .813%. They still managed to take the series to six games.

The active playoff PIM leader (Evgeni Malkin) is only tied for 63rd on the all-time list.

My Best-Carey

 

[frisco]

Unreal. It's really among the most holy shit accomplishments from a low skilled player that I have ever seen. In any sport

Would be like a one of those pitchers in baseball who never gets a hit, looks hopeless for a decade at the plate...suddenly hitting 3 homers in a game

Jose Ortiz of the Colorado Rockies hit 14 homeruns in his career. Three came in one game in 2001. Chris Woodward had a long career but with just 33 homers. He also had a three homer game.

My Best-Carey

 

[Big Phil]

Lemieux, Howe, Messier and Ovechkin have a combined zero playoff overtime goals in their career.

 

[MS]

Unreal. It's really among the most holy shit accomplishments from a low skilled player that I have ever seen. In any sport

Would be like a one of those pitchers in baseball who never gets a hit, looks hopeless for a decade at the plate...suddenly hitting 3 homers in a game

Brian Boucher's record-breaking shutout streak falls into a similar vein - guy was a terrible goalie who somehow dropped 5 shutouts in a row but was a .880 goalie for the rest of the 4 seasons surrounding that.

 

[kaiser matias]

Read recently that the last player to play visorless at the Olympics was Sandis Ozolinsh in 2014.

 

[Iapyi]

Some unrelated ones:

Gordie Howe led the NHL playoffs in scoring six times before there was a Conn Smythe trophy. He won the cup twice out of those six seasons. The season after Howe last led the playoffs, Beliveau became the first Smythe winner.

I think it's amazing that Nicklas Lidstrom spent his first nine seasons in the NHL (his entire 20s) with no Norris trophies, and only began his run of seven at age 30.

Roger Crozier won the Calder then Smythe back-to-back; Dryden won the Smythe then Calder. The only players to win the Smythe in their first year have been goalies (I count four).

They made up for it by later giving him multiple Norris's that he didn't deserve.

 

[seventieslord]

Brian Boucher's record-breaking shutout streak falls into a similar vein - guy was a terrible goalie who somehow dropped 5 shutouts in a row but was a .880 goalie for the rest of the 4 seasons surrounding that.

Close. I know you were just spitballing, but the least flattering way I can find to describe him is that he was .891 in those six seasons outside of those five games.

Another would be to say he was .890 in the five seasons surrounding 03-04, with 03-04 completely removed, but I think it's more damning to say .891 maintained over 180 games, than .890 over 140 games.

....but yeah, he was bad. During the course of his career, only 4 of 69 goalies managed to get to 200 GP with career sv% numbers worse than his. Only Dan Cloutier made it to 300+.

 

[plusandminus]

(I haven't seen this one being mentioned.)
Lorne Henning, who played (and later co-coached) on the NYI dynasty, once had a season of 6 SH goals and 8 SH assists, totalling 14 SH points. No other player had more than 7 SH points that season. This makes Henning end up on top-10 all-time regarding most SH points within a season.
NHL Stats

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I stumbled on this stat while looking for something else. Jack Lynch was -54 in just 20 games on the abysmal 1975 Capitals. 6 ES goals for vs 60 ES goals against. Almost unfathomable.

 

[The Panther]

I stumbled on this stat while looking for something else. Jack Lynch was -54 in just 20 games on the abysmal 1975 Capitals. 6 ES goals for vs 60 ES goals against. Almost unfathomable.

I mean, it's only -1 per period.

 

[ES]

Read recently that the last player to play visorless at the Olympics was Sandis Ozolinsh in 2014.

IIHF has birth year based rule on visors. The youngest group who were allowed to play without were those born in 1975.

 

[seventieslord]

I stumbled on this stat while looking for something else. Jack Lynch was -54 in just 20 games on the abysmal 1975 Capitals. 6 ES goals for vs 60 ES goals against. Almost unfathomable.

Wow. this is noteworthy not only for the sheer number, but also for the ratio. I can't imagine that anyone else approached a 0.10 GF:GA ratio over any extended period, or if they did, it was some 5 minute goon who happened to be 1:10 in 26 games in 1993 or something.

 

[Kahvi]

edit: after some brief googling, not even close so nevermind

How about that goal scoring frenzy Coyotes @ Avalanche last night? 6 goals within 3:27, 5 goals within 2:00, 4 goals within 1:32, 3 goals within 0:37

If not records, I would guess at least pretty close for 6 and 5 goals. Although I'm not suprised if there was some crazy game in the 80's easily beating those numbers.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Last night was Buffalo's first regulation win in the month of March since 2018.

Also last night, the Flyers also broke the record for most goals against in a calendar month (75).

 

[plusandminus]

If we look at the standings, at least since 1963-64 (probably longer back too), we can see that:

Even the worst offensive team score as many GF as league average / 1.6. WSH 1974-75 181 GF, average 274. = 1.51
Even the best defensive team allows as many GA as league average / 1.6. MTL 1975-76 174 GA, average 273. = 1.57
Even the worst defensive team allow as "few" GA as league average * 1.6. WSH 1974-75 446 GA, average 274. = 1.63
Even the best offensive team doesn't score more than league average * 1.6. BOS 1970-71 399 GF, average 243.5. = 1.64, where 2nd best is 1.46 times..

In other words...
Even the worst offensive team will score at least 62 % or so of the league average GF, while even the best defensive team will allow 62 % of league average GA.
And even the worst defensive team will "only" allow 162 % or so of league average GA, while even the best offensive team won't score more than 162 % of league average GF.