Pavel Bure's linemates/ lack of quality

[connellc]

I have only been watching hockey since 1996, so I wanted to ask a couple questions to Bure, canuck, and hockey fans in genral. Is it true that Pavel's linemates in from the two season of 1992-1993,1993-1994 was Gino Odjick, a goon, and Greg Adams, a suitable, but not speactacular second line forward? How did Bure possible put up this many points with two players that were not of his caliber?

Did he have the crappiest linemates for a 60 goal (or lead) scorer in NHL history?

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[Noldo]

Bure's best asset was ability to out-accelerate even speedy defencemen (see how he breaks away from Brian Leetch to earn the famous penalty shot link) and make outstanding plays with the puck on full speed.

Hence his play was offensively actually very little affected by his linemates. In order to get best out of Bure, one just had to be able to put the puck on his stick as he accelerated. Bure would have benefited on having a defenceman with great outlet pass (like Phil Housley, who had 79 assists the year Selanne scored 76 goals) play behind him more than a great offensive center.

A defensively responsible center (well, Fedorov in the world juniors was just that and more) to cover his eagerness to pick spots for breakaway would give the team most likely best overall result.

 

[Infinite Vision*]

If I could give the puck to one guy on a team full of crap players and trust him to put it in the net with nothing but pure skill, only Lemieux could do that better IMO.

Also Bure's 99-00 season, he had 59 goals and 92 points, 1st and 2nd in the league, and the next highest on his team was 14 goals and 37 points. He had 36 assists and obviously setting people up wasn't his game.

 

[johnnycanuck]

I was quite young when he broke into the league, but I do recall at the beginning of the 1992-93 season he started the year on the second line with Dixon Ward and Anatoli Semenov. Even at 7 years old, I knew this was ridiculous.

In 1993-94 I think he spent considerable time on a line with Trevor Linden and Greg Adams. That's not too shabby.

 

[gifted88]

I thought he played with Courtnall? Damn was I wrong I guess.

Maybe they had him play with defencive guys just so he wouldn't be a liability defencively?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i certainly wouldn't call greg adams, who probably played with bure as much as any canuck, a defensive guy. they brought in semenov, who was decent defensively, to play larionov's role from bure's rookie season. they also tried out another russian, roman oksiuta, for that role briefly.

russ (not geoff) courtnall did play with bure at the end of the '95 season and playoffs, and they had some chemistry.

his best center was probably murray craven. he also played with mike ridley and old messier. after vancouver, he played with mainly viktor kozlov in florida, with guys like marcus nilson, and, briefly, much older versions of larionov and adams. and he and lindros for a very short time were fantastic together in new york. those two in their primes would have destroyed the league. hell, they did that anyway without each other.

 

[Flames420]

I couldn't stand Bure (could be me being a Flames fan and him scoring many goals against us) but the guy was an unreal goal scorer. No, he never had an all-star for a consistent line-mate or even close. He scored 60 goals in back-to-back seasons on a team of AHLers in the dead-puck era. Nuff said.

 

[sr edler]

he didn't play that much with odjick, but odjick scored 16 goals that season so it wasn't only a few games

bure was a player who made stuff happen on his own, a centre like fedorov or lindros wouldn't have hurt his case but he could score without that help, much like ovechkin could score 52 goals, in his rookie season and on a crap team, with zubrus and halpern

 

[jepjepjoo]

If I could give the puck to one guy on a team full of crap players and trust him to put it in the net with nothing but pure skill, only Lemieux could do that better IMO.

Also Bure's 99-00 season, he had 59 goals and 92 points, 1st and 2nd in the league, and the next highest on his team was 14 goals and 37 points. He had 36 assists and obviously setting people up wasn't his game.

Whitney(71pts)-Kozlov(70pts)-Bure(94pts)

 

[Infinite Vision*]

Whitney(71pts)-Kozlov(70pts)-Bure(94pts)

Am I confusing that year with 2001?

 

[helicecopter]

Am I confusing that year with 2001?

yes:
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0002342001.html

the most unbelievable team season stats ever lol.

Did he have the crappiest linemates for a 60 goal (or lead) scorer in NHL history?

to make a long story short, the answer is a huge YES as far as i can remember (and i am not young).

 

[helicecopter]

In 1993-94 I think he spent considerable time on a line with Trevor Linden and Greg Adams. That's not too shabby.

i don't think so.
I think it was Craven (most of the time), not Linden.

 

[Blades of Glory]

Mario Lemieux racked up 199 points in 1988-89. I am not joking when I say that Paul Coffey was the best winger on that Penguins team.

 

[Hardyvan123]

If I could give the puck to one guy on a team full of crap players and trust him to put it in the net with nothing but pure skill, only Lemieux could do that better IMO.

Also Bure's 99-00 season, he had 59 goals and 92 points, 1st and 2nd in the league, and the next highest on his team was 14 goals and 37 points. He had 36 assists and obviously setting people up wasn't his game.

Sillinger and Ray Whitney both were traded away during the season.

Bure still would have led both by quite a bit but it would not have been by 55 points.

Another monster season, besides the obvious Wayne and Mario ones was Adam Oates in 93 who lead a pretty imprssive Bruins team by 40 points.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BOS/1993.html


How come both of these guys are not in the Hall yet?

 

[kmart]

lol he was in germany

1994-95 Landshut EV DEL 1 3 0 3

one game, a hattrick

 

[Chumley]

In '91-'92 his center was Igor Larionov with Greg Adams. The other line was Courtnall-Ronning-Linden. Sadly, Larionov went back to Russia the next year and then returned to the NHL to play with San Jose for three years before going onto Detroit.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

As others have already stated, Bure was largely centered by Murray Craven with Greg Adams on the opposite wing, with a second scoring line of Cliff Ronning centering Geoff Courtnall and Trevor Linden.

I recall Odjick's role being diminished in the playoffs (same with Hunter and Antoski), in favor of players like Gelinas and Lafayette.

 

[Hammer79]

I have only been watching hockey since 1996, so I wanted to ask a couple questions to Bure, canuck, and hockey fans in genral. Is it true that Pavel's linemates in from the two season of 1992-1993,1993-1994 was Gino Odjick, a goon, and Greg Adams, a suitable, but not speactacular second line forward? How did Bure possible put up this many points with two players that were not of his caliber?

Did he have the crappiest linemates for a 60 goal (or lead) scorer in NHL history?

Pavel Bure didn't pass the puck anyway, so why would he need linemates? Odjick was Bure's best friend on the team, and he played the bodyguard role. All he needed on his line was a center to pass him the puck, and a goon to stick up for him, and he'd do the rest. He was just *that* good.