Hockey Outsider
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- Jan 16, 2005
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This post is statistical trivia, but still might be interesting.
It was recently mentioned in the "Jagr vs Crosby" thread that #68 had five seasons where he placed in the top five in both goals and assists. I wanted to see, from 1968-present, who else had done this:
Only 27 players have joined the "double top five club" since expansion, accomplishing the feat a total of 61 times. Only nine players have done it more than once.
I was somewhat surprised to see Esposito tied with Gretzky for first. I still don't envision him as a great playmaker in the traditional sense, but he earned an awful lot of assists. Gretzky was 1 goal (in 1986) from accomplishing this nine years in a row.
I was also somewhat surprised to see Trottier make this list not once but twice - what a complete player.
Since this list requires a player to be both a strong goal-scorer and playmaker, not surprisingly it's dominated by centres (39 seasons). There are 16 RW and just 6 LW. Bobby Orr came very close to making the list, falling one goal short in 1975.
Here's how a few of the modern greats stack up:
It was recently mentioned in the "Jagr vs Crosby" thread that #68 had five seasons where he placed in the top five in both goals and assists. I wanted to see, from 1968-present, who else had done this:
Only 27 players have joined the "double top five club" since expansion, accomplishing the feat a total of 61 times. Only nine players have done it more than once.
Player | Year | Rank-G | Rank-A |
Artemi Panarin | 2024 | 5 | 5 |
Bernie Nicholls | 1989 | 2 | 5 |
Bryan Trottier | 1978 | 5 | 1 |
Bryan Trottier | 1979 | 5 | 1 |
Connor McDavid | 2021 | 2 | 1 |
Connor McDavid | 2023 | 1 | 1 |
Daniel Sedin | 2011 | 4 | 3 |
Evgeni Malkin | 2012 | 2 | 3 |
Gordie Howe | 1969 | 5 | 3 |
Guy Lafleur | 1977 | 2 | 1 |
Guy Lafleur | 1978 | 1 | 2 |
Guy Lafleur | 1979 | 3 | 2 |
Guy Lafleur | 1976 | 2 | 3 |
Guy Lafleur | 1975 | 2 | 5 |
Jaromir Jagr | 1999 | 2 | 1 |
Jaromir Jagr | 2001 | 3 | 1 |
Jaromir Jagr | 1996 | 2 | 3 |
Jaromir Jagr | 2006 | 2 | 3 |
Jaromir Jagr | 2000 | 4 | 3 |
Jean Ratelle | 1972 | 5 | 3 |
Joe Sakic | 2001 | 2 | 5 |
John Bucyk | 1971 | 2 | 3 |
Ken Hodge | 1971 | 4 | 4 |
Leon Draisaitl | 2020 | 4 | 1 |
Leon Draisaitl | 2021 | 4 | 2 |
Leon Draisaitl | 2023 | 4 | 3 |
Marcel Dionne | 1977 | 3 | 2 |
Marcel Dionne | 1980 | 4 | 2 |
Marcel Dionne | 1979 | 2 | 3 |
Marcel Dionne | 1981 | 2 | 3 |
Marcel Dionne | 1975 | 5 | 4 |
Mario Lemieux | 1989 | 1 | 1 |
Mario Lemieux | 1996 | 1 | 1 |
Mario Lemieux | 1997 | 3 | 1 |
Mario Lemieux | 1988 | 1 | 2 |
Mario Lemieux | 1993 | 3 | 4 |
Markus Naslund | 2002 | 5 | 4 |
Martin St. Louis | 2004 | 4 | 1 |
Mike Bossy | 1982 | 2 | 4 |
Nathan MacKinnon | 2024 | 4 | 3 |
Patrick Kane | 2016 | 2 | 3 |
Phil Esposito | 1973 | 1 | 1 |
Phil Esposito | 1969 | 2 | 1 |
Phil Esposito | 1968 | 4 | 1 |
Phil Esposito | 1970 | 1 | 2 |
Phil Esposito | 1971 | 1 | 2 |
Phil Esposito | 1972 | 1 | 2 |
Phil Esposito | 1974 | 1 | 2 |
Phil Esposito | 1975 | 1 | 5 |
Stan Mikita | 1968 | 2 | 4 |
Steve Yzerman | 1989 | 3 | 3 |
Teemu Selanne | 1999 | 1 | 4 |
Vic Hadfield | 1972 | 2 | 4 |
Wayne Gretzky | 1982 | 1 | 1 |
Wayne Gretzky | 1983 | 1 | 1 |
Wayne Gretzky | 1984 | 1 | 1 |
Wayne Gretzky | 1985 | 1 | 1 |
Wayne Gretzky | 1987 | 1 | 1 |
Wayne Gretzky | 1981 | 4 | 1 |
Wayne Gretzky | 1989 | 4 | 1 |
Wayne Gretzky | 1980 | 5 | 1 |
I was somewhat surprised to see Esposito tied with Gretzky for first. I still don't envision him as a great playmaker in the traditional sense, but he earned an awful lot of assists. Gretzky was 1 goal (in 1986) from accomplishing this nine years in a row.
I was also somewhat surprised to see Trottier make this list not once but twice - what a complete player.
Since this list requires a player to be both a strong goal-scorer and playmaker, not surprisingly it's dominated by centres (39 seasons). There are 16 RW and just 6 LW. Bobby Orr came very close to making the list, falling one goal short in 1975.
Here's how a few of the modern greats stack up:
- Crosby has never had a "five and five" season. He came closest in 2014, when he finished one goal out of 5th place.
- Ovechkin, despite his production being very heavily skewed towards goal-scoring, came close once. He was six assists away in 2010.
- McDavid has done this twice - 2021 and 2023. He also had three close calls - he was a single goal short in 2018, and a hat trick away in 2019 and 2022.
- Malkin accomplished the feat in 2012, and was one assist away from doing the same in 2008.
- Kane had a "top five and five" season in 2016 when he decisively led the league in scoring, and was a single assist away from doing it again in 2019.
- Draisaitl has three such seasons (2020, 2021, and 2023).
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