The Devilish Buffoon
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- Dec 24, 2018
- 12,087
- 10,907
I was looking at Michael Froliks stats and noticed that he set career highs in goals (21) and points (45) in his rookie year
This piqued my interest and I started thinking of other players who peaked statistically in their rookie year
I immediately thought of Joe Juneau, who scored 32 goals and 102 pts in his rookie year. He never cracked 20g or more than 85 pts ever again - and that was the next year. After that, his career high was 15 goals and 64 points and then he never hit 50 pts in a season.
Next, I thought of Marek Svatos. He posted 32g and 50pts in just 61 games as a rookie. He finished his career with 100 goals and 172 pts. Petr Prucha was similar - that very same year, he scored 30g and 47pts in 68 games as a rookie and some argued he was better than Crosby lol but then finished his career with 78 goals and 146pts.
On the defensive side, Barrett Jackman set a career high of +23 as a rookie. I know, +/- is a dumb stat but given that he won the Calder that year (over Zetterberg, iirc) I thought I would include him.
On the goalie end, Andrew Raycroft had a 2.05 GAA and a .926 SVP in 57 games as a rookie, and he also won the Calder. While he set a career high in wins with Toronto a few years later (37, vs 29 as a rookie), he did so in 72 games and with a 2.99 GAA and a .894 SVP.
Anyways, I thought it might be a fun discussion to have, where people could say what went wrong or what caused a player to have so much success. In the case of Frolik, it was a case of a physically-developed player getting prime opportunity - he has never been a bad player, and he is in fact a better player now than he was when he entered the league, but he kind of plateau'd offensively instead of developing into a top line player as folks might have expected when he first entered the league. Jackman was somewhat similar, in that sense. With Prucha and Svatos, they entered the league in a year where lots of players had career highs. And so on and so forth.
So, who are some other names who peaked statistically in their rookie years???
This piqued my interest and I started thinking of other players who peaked statistically in their rookie year
I immediately thought of Joe Juneau, who scored 32 goals and 102 pts in his rookie year. He never cracked 20g or more than 85 pts ever again - and that was the next year. After that, his career high was 15 goals and 64 points and then he never hit 50 pts in a season.
Next, I thought of Marek Svatos. He posted 32g and 50pts in just 61 games as a rookie. He finished his career with 100 goals and 172 pts. Petr Prucha was similar - that very same year, he scored 30g and 47pts in 68 games as a rookie and some argued he was better than Crosby lol but then finished his career with 78 goals and 146pts.
On the defensive side, Barrett Jackman set a career high of +23 as a rookie. I know, +/- is a dumb stat but given that he won the Calder that year (over Zetterberg, iirc) I thought I would include him.
On the goalie end, Andrew Raycroft had a 2.05 GAA and a .926 SVP in 57 games as a rookie, and he also won the Calder. While he set a career high in wins with Toronto a few years later (37, vs 29 as a rookie), he did so in 72 games and with a 2.99 GAA and a .894 SVP.
Anyways, I thought it might be a fun discussion to have, where people could say what went wrong or what caused a player to have so much success. In the case of Frolik, it was a case of a physically-developed player getting prime opportunity - he has never been a bad player, and he is in fact a better player now than he was when he entered the league, but he kind of plateau'd offensively instead of developing into a top line player as folks might have expected when he first entered the league. Jackman was somewhat similar, in that sense. With Prucha and Svatos, they entered the league in a year where lots of players had career highs. And so on and so forth.
So, who are some other names who peaked statistically in their rookie years???
