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Every season the NHL witnesses a few amazing year-long individual performances that resonate hockey greatness. Last season we watched the emergence of Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Jonathan Cheechoo, Dion Phaneuf, and the re-emergence Jaromir Jagr.
In a really magical season we are able to watch a player turn in a campaign that becomes legendary or, even better, transforming. The achievements of that season may garner iconic status because of historical significance, dramatic impact, defining nature, or statistical dominance.
Without taking into account the Stanley Cup playoffs, it has been a while since we’ve seen a player’s regular season efforts reach a status of truly important in NHL history. We might have to go back to Dominik Hasek’s days in Buffalo for that.
All of this got me thinking: Which individual season is truly the greatest? With over 90 seasons and countless great performances, I have narrowed my choices down to five key performances.
In my estimation, the single most consequential NHL campaign was turned in by Bobby Orr in 1969-70. In his fourth NHL season, the 22 year old Orr captured the Hart, Norris and Art Ross trophies. Yes, the Art Ross. Bobby Orr became the first and only defenseman to win the league’s haloed scoring championship. It was a signature moment in a career that revolutionized the way the game is played.Perhaps the great writer Jack Falla sums it up best:
“Orr had broken scoring records by such huge margins and played with such creativity and abandon as to alter a half century of tactical hockey orthodoxy about the proper role of a defenseman.”
He didn’t just redefine how a defenseman should play. He influenced how a hockey was to be played. Offence was expected from blue liners, marking a fundamental change in the hockey landscape. This was the transition season.
A culturally significant winter of hockey has to be Rocket Richard’s 50-goals-in-50-games season of 1944-45. In dramatic fashion, Richard became the first and for quite a while the only 50 goal scorer in NHL history. Doing it in a 50 game season is all the more amazing. Those numbers have ever since been benchmarks of NHL greatness. A 50 goal season remains as magical today as ever. 50 goals in 50 games is a benchmark even the NHL’s greatest snipers have trouble matching.
Although maybe not as culturally significant, in my opinion no player had a more impressive season in NHL history than Mario Lemieux in 1992-93. En route to challenging Wayne Gretzky’s record of 215 points, Mario is diagnosed with cancer in a lymph node in his neck. He would take two months off, under goes intense radiation therapy, including in the morning of his return to the NHL. In his time off, he surrendered his scoring lead to Buffalo’s Pat Lafontaine, but the physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted Lemieux scores 56 points in 20 games after cancer treatment to best the Sabres center by 12 points. Mario truly became super in this season, scoring 69 goals and 160 points in only 60 games while winning the Ross and Hart trophies.
You can not mention the greatest individual seasons without mentioning Wayne Gretzky. The Great One dominated regular seasons in the 1980s, winning scoring championships by landslides and owning the MVP awards. It is tough to pick one season as his best, but 1981-82 is hard to top, even though Gretzky did just that point-wise 4 years later. But in 1981-82, the 22 year old rewrote the NHL record book, raising the bar to an unthinkable height. After scoring 50 goals in an unbelievable 39 games (only Richard and Mike Bossy had scored 50 in 50 at this time), he finished the season with 92 goals, 16 more than the previous record held by Phil Esposito. Gretz added 120 assists, bettering his own NHL record by 11 helpers, to set a mind-boggling 212 points in a single season. While he would score 200 points in 3 following seasons, including 215 in 1986, it was the goal scoring totals and the raising of the bar of excellence that gives the nod to Gretzky’s 1981-82 season as his most important.
The fifth most important NHL season goes back to Mario Lemieux. Just a couple of seasons after Gretzky scored 215 points, totals never to be challenged most thought, Mario does just that. Missing 4 games, the 23 year old falls a whisker shy and finishes with 199 points. His 85 goals rank as the 4 highest of all time, and his 114 assists made him just the third player, with Orr and Gretzky being the others, to register 100 assists in a season. Lemieux also wrestled away the scoring championship from Gretzky for a second straight year, blowing away the new LA King by 31 points. Mario Lemieux emphatically arrived in a stratosphere reserved for Gretzky.There are other great seasons, to be sure, including many of Gretzky’s campaigns in the 1980s. Here’s a quick look at 5 more NHL campaigns of great consequence.
Phil Esposito’s 1970-71 campaign saw him destroy NHL records with 76 goals (Bobby Hull had 58) and 152 points (Espo had 120 two years earlier as the NHLs first 100 point player, prior to that Hull and Stan Mikita owned the NHL record at just 97) has to be acknowledged.
In 1928-29 George Hainsworth backstopped the Montreal Canadiens while establishing two amazing single season records. His 22 shutouts (in a 44 game season!) and 0.92 GAA are untouchable. Rule changes such as forward passing followed the next year, guaranteeing these marks will never be touched.
In 1980-81, Mike Bossy became the only player since Rocket Richard to score the magical 50 goals in 50 games, notching two goals in the dying minutes of game 50. He finished with 68 goals.In 1966-67, Stan Mikita dominated the NHL. His 97 points (tied with team mate Bobby Hull) set a new standard of excellence in the NHL, as did his 62 assists. He became the first NHL player to take home a hat trick of regular season trophies – the Art Ross, the Hart and the Lady Byng.
Teemu Selanne may have had what most people consider the best rookie season when he debuted in 1992-93. His 76 goals led the league and blew away Mike Bossy’s old rookie record of 53 goals. His 132 points also shattered Peter Stastny’s freshman mark of 109.
6 comments:
you rock boby orr
What - No Doug Harvey??? In his career he would get 7 James Norris trothies, 6 Stanley Cups, 11 consecutive All-Star selection and could control the pace of a game like no one before, or since - with the possible exception of Gretzky, Lemieux or to a lesser extent Orr. I played against Orr in the Juniors in 64 - and while Orr was very good - he always needed to be protected - as he was later with the Bruins.
The "fighting Jean Beliveau" of 1955-56 that scored 47 goals in 70 "full strength 6-team league games" and followed it up with 12 goals in 10 games (better than the 12 in 9 games by Rocket Richard in a WW2 "weaker league") His 59 goals in 80 games (comparable to a goal a game in 1944-45...based on game averages...i "adjusted it to 81 goals in 80 games" much like the Rocket with 56 in 56 or 68 in 65) including the playoffs was never broken during the "6-team league". A record 7 goals in the 5 game final. On November 5, 1955 he scored 3 goals in 44 seconds to help MONTREAL create the famous "end minor penalty on a goal" rule
as they'd quickly put the game out of reach!
I talked to an old DENTIST from BRANTFORD, ONTARIO (players like Bill Cook, Wayne Gretzky) and asked him who was the best that he had saw (expecting to hear ORR or HOWE or GRETZKY and RICHARD)...but he said HOWIE MORENZ!!! Being born in 1906 he also saw Walter Johnson pitch in a 2-1 loss in 1921 as well!
The article is based on single season magnificance, not best players. I'd have to say great job with article Joe. If there was anything missing it would have to be the lack of consideration of old time hockey. Problem is, is that there is such a limited amount of information with which to make informed decisions about past single season endeavors. Your site here is my favorite hockey site I've found thus far. Keep'er goin'!
Another great article. Any player, of any sport, playing on the same day they receive radiation treatment stands out though. Winning the scoring title on top of that is simply amazing.
This list was obviously compiled by someone who dislikes Gretzky and refuse to acknowledge his greatness. To put Gretzky in at #3 and for only one season borders on laughable and conveys a lack of objectivity and comparative analysis. Gretzky did exactly what Orr did to the record books and changed the way the game was played. I watched him early on and he so dominated that he elevated the play of everyone around him. Messier would not have become the player he was without watching and playing behind Gretz. Lemieux's seasons should only be considered after at least two of Gretzky's when objectively analyzed. Sorry, but sympathy should not factor into the analysis. Also, Lemieux had Gretzky's records to aim for in a game changed by "The Great One".
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