Players who had career years in their rookie season

[SPF6ty9]

Trent Hunter, man was he ever slow in NHL 04, but what a potential rating. Probably a victim of the new rules post lockout.

^^^ guess I wasn't the only one with NHL 04 on my mind

 

[Plural]

Selanne had better seasons in lower scoring years

Yeah, both in terms of peer comparison and eye test. He was clearly better player in the late 90's. Coming second in points against Jagr and Lemieux. In his rookie year he was maybe top-10/15 player in the game and in the late 90's he was top-5 and arguably top.3 few times.

 

[Plural]

I understand what you are saying, but watching Selanne's rookie season was magical - although his rookie goal record was kind of the product of Tie Domi.

Tie Domi and Selanne bromance would have gotten a lot of media attention these days. There was this one time when Domi "fought" Selanne in the practice after Teemu jumped on the ice with a bucket on his head saying "Tie Domi".

 

[ESH]

Svatos was so fast in NHL 2004. Always traded for him

I remember Havlat being so fast in NHL 04 it wasn’t even fair. Gaborik too

 

[HOUSUTON]

Matt Murray for now

 

[CallArnoldSlick]

Jordan Staal.

Career-high 29 goals including 7 shorthanded as an 18-year-old.

That year he was talked about in the same breath as Crosby and Malkin as the big 3 for the Penguins. Some thought he could become "more valuable" than Malkin due to his two-way play. He also was getting hype as Eric's brother.

While Staal has since passed the 42 points he had that year (50 in 12), he has never been regarded the same he was that year.

 

[NotCommitted]

People saying Selanne are wrong in my opinion. He had a season with the Ducks where he put up 50+ goals and 85+ points while Kariya only played like 20 games that year. Just dominant

Seriously check out how awful this team was outside of Teemu:

Anaheim Mighty Ducks 1997-98 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com

Holy **** I never looked at it like that before. Kariya played only 22 games and was still tied for 2nd in goals with 17... while Teemu had 52 in 73. Rucchin had 17g and 53 points, but besides him no one broke even 40 points. Well everyone can see all that from the link, but that was some crappy team.

 

[Salsa Shark]

Joe Juneau went crazy in his first full year (another case of the crazy 93 season perhaps) scoring 102 pts. 72 the next year and then 64 would be the most from there on out.

 

[AngelDuck]

Holy **** I never looked at it like that before. Kariya played only 22 games and was still tied for 2nd in goals with 17... while Teemu had 52 in 73. Rucchin had 17g and 53 points, but besides him no one broke even 40 points. Well everyone can see all that from the link, but that was some crappy team.

Yep, he should have won the Hart that year imo, given the situation

 

[Silky mitts]

Jim Carey

 

[The Examiner]

Nikolai Borchevsky.

34 goals, 74 points in his rookie year.

15 goals, 48 points, the rest of his career.

 

[Plural]

Yep, he should have won the Hart that year imo, given the situation

That was an amazing year by him and Teemu carried that group on his back. That was the time when most saw that Selanne was at least similar tier player as Kariya.

But Hart, I don't know. Teemu is my all-time favorite but Hasek was pretty god damn good that season. Maybe the best RS by any goalie ever. At least in modern times. I do think Teemu should have been above Jagr (who won the Art Ross) in Hart but they were close anyways.

 

[InglewoodJack]

Way off the board, but I remember when some of us in Montreal thought that rookie season a Matt d'agostini was the real deal.

 

[jfhabs]

Michael ryder scored 63 pts in 81 game in nos rookie season. He had a 62 season years later and many season in the 50-60 range, but never equallwd his first year

 

[Section88]

Nikolai Borchevsky.

34 goals, 74 points in his rookie year.

15 goals, 48 points, the rest of his career.

Was it injuries? Thats a crazy decline

 

[Voight]

Ed Belfour... Vezina/Calder/3rd place Hart finish. he won 2 more Veins but never got higher than 10th in Hart voting again. Only career high he set was in W's w/ 43 (era of the tie game tho) but the awards speak for themselves.

 

[Voight]

Matt Murray.. ???? won 2 cups before he was a ROOKIE. Murray seems average now and often injured.

No he didn't... he won 1 cup. The second came in his first year as a starter.

Dryden on the other hand won the freaking Smythe after playing in only 6 regular season games... yes the team was stacked but to win MVP on a team like that means a lot.

 

[Curufinwe]

Typically we expect a young promising player to get better and better as he gets older, especially when he hits his prime years.

However, there are players who come in flaming hot, and never repeat their success.

Example 1 -
Teemu Selanne
In his rookie season, Teemu scored 76 goals, and had 132 points.
The next closest season he had was 51 goals and 58 assists for 109 points.

Example 2 -
Steve Mason
In his 11 year career, his rookie season with Columbus was the best. 61gp, 10 shutouts, 33 wins, 2.29 GAA and .916 Sv%
He came close in 2013-14 with Philadelphia, but his rookie season is by far his best season.

.928 in 14-15 was his career year.

NHL.com - Stats

 

[NotCommitted]

That was an amazing year by him and Teemu carried that group on his back. That was the time when most saw that Selanne was at least similar tier player as Kariya.

Was there any question about that ever? I mean when Kariya entered the league, Selänne had already scored 101g in 136 games. Yeah, he did have injury problems and combined with the lockout, didn't really play a full season again until 1995-1996, but that was Kariya's 2nd season and his rookie season was nothing to say he was a better player than Selänne.

Now, I have no idea what people thought back then, but the idea that people thought Kariya was somehow a tier above Selänne seems a bit silly. Based on what?

 

[Plural]

Was there any question about that ever? I mean when Kariya entered the league, Selänne had already scored 101g in 136 games. Yeah, he did have injury problems and combined with the lockout, didn't really play a full season again until 1995-1996, but that was Kariya's 2nd season and his rookie season was nothing to say he was a better player than Selänne.

Now, I have no idea what people thought back then, but the idea that people thought Kariya was somehow a tier above Selänne seems a bit silly. Based on what?

Well, I don't really know what it was based on and hindsight is always a bad position. But back in the late 90's it was really popular opinion to think Kariya was the better of the two. I mean, some Mighty Ducks fans saw that they're equal but it was far from consensus. Most of hockey professionals back then thought that Kariya was the best player on that team when in reality (that we now see) they were equals. It took a long time for people to see Selanne was at least as good. Without his resurge it probably never happens.

 

[puckpilot]

Steve Bozek
Don Barber
Stephen Morin

 

[NotCommitted]

Well, I don't really know what it was based on and hindsight is always a bad position. But back in the late 90's it was really popular opinion to think Kariya was the better of the two. I mean, some Mighty Ducks fans saw that they're equal but it was far from consensus. Most of hockey professionals back then thought that Kariya was the best player on that team when in reality (that we now see) they were equals. It took a long time for people to see Selanne was at least as good. Without his resurge it probably never happens.

Interesting. Well I guess I can kinda understand it, I believe HFboards would hate 90s Selänne. All he did was skate fast and score goals. His passing game would be underrated and there would probably be endless whining about his poor defensive play

 

[Plural]

Interesting. Well I guess I can kinda understand it, I believe HFboards would hate 90s Selänne. All he did was skate fast and score goals. His passing game would be underrated and there would probably be endless whining about his poor defensive play

I don't think they'd hate him. But it would be hard for him to shine in a team where there's an equal Canadian superstar.

But yeah, I remember thinking myself back in the late 90's (and I'm a Finn) that they're probably quite equal, but now that I think of it. There's a good chance that Teemu actually was the better player of the two. But nevertheless, the bromance was real and I don't think either of the two care about which one was ultimately better. Kariya has always, throughout his career remained the position that Selanne was the player who made him better. Teemu has said the exact same thing. In their Hall of Fame speech (and jesus f***ing christ, they're both Hall of Famers) they both gave so much credit to each other.

Ultimately, there's no need to establish the better player. All I know, is that when the dynamic duo was on the Mighty Ducks were a scary team:

 

[Riddum]

Timou Silani

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Jimmy Carson?

My first thought, but he had better 2nd and 3rd seasons.

Then his production went down like a stone in a lake.