So I only today digested an old thread from 2017 - it had 1,000 replies! - around the topic of how good Wayne Gretzky really was. The thread was incredibly entertaining, and I got a lot out of it. Didn't care too much for the idea that #99 would have been a 70-80 point guy in today's game - as if he wouldn't have (like today's players) also been on a blue-ribbon diet and fitness regimen. He 1000% would have.
I have a spreadsheet that I created a number of years ago that contains league average goals per game, assists per game, PiM per game etc. for every professional hockey season going all the way back to 1886 - and including the NHL, NHA, PCHA and WCHL, ECAHA, ECHA, CAHL and AHAC.
I have been tinkering around with a cross-translation/NORMALIZED statistical formula for many years, and have along the way come to admit that it's a very inexact science. However, assessments can be made - and a lot can be revealed when you have two ingredients: (1) Reliable estimated ice time for a player, and (2) Their goals, assists & penalty minutes.
Anyway, long story short, the long thread about Gretzky touched on some excellent points and inspired me to do some calculations - basically to see how some of the greats from yesteryear stack up in a cross-era comparison to some of the dudes who currently haunt the dreams of NHL goaltenders (Kucherov, for example). Check it out (below) and let me know what you think.
Player............................Season....................GP....G......A.....Pts.......Ice Time.....(Estimated Ice Time)
Mario Lemieux 1988-1989 80 65 88 153 20:00 (23:00)
Wayne Gretzky 1984-1985 80 51 98 149 20:00 (23:00)
Howie Morenz 1927-1928 80 48 90 138 20:00 (43:00)
Peter Forsberg 2002-2003 80 37 99 136 20:00 (19:20)
Nikita Kucherov 2018-2019 80 42 89 131 20:00 (19:58)
Guy Lafleur 1976-1977 80 52 77 129 20:00 (20:00)
Evgeni Malkin 2011-2012 80 59 69 128 20:00 (21:01)
Duke Keats 1921-1922 80 31 90 121 20:00 (55:00)
Patrick Kane 2015-2016 80 51 67 118 20:00 (20:25)
Frank Boucher 1928-1929 80 21 96 117 20:00 (38:00)
Jaromir Jagr 1998-1999 80 40 76 116 20:00 (25:51)
Gordie Howe 1952-1953 80 56 59 115 20:00 (26:00)
Joe Thornton 2006-2007 80 23 92 115 20:00 (20:19)
Sergei Fedorov 1993-1994 80 53 61 114 20:00 (20:00)
Joe Sakic 2000-2001 80 52 62 114 20:00 (23:01)
Alex Ovechkin 2007-2008 80 63 45 108 20:00 (23:06)
Bobby Hull 1965-1966 80 59 48 107 20:00 (23:00)
Martin St. Louis 2003-2004 80 43 64 107 20:00 (20:35)
Sidney Crosby 2013-2014 80 37 69 106 20:00 (21:58)
Steve Yzerman 1992-1993 80 43 59 102 20:00 (22:00)
Milt Schmidt 1939-1940 80 39 62 101 20:00 (24:00)
Maurice Richard 1950-1951 80 59 40 99 20:00 (20:00)
Pavel Bure 1999-2000 80 59 37 96 20:00 (24:23)
I know some of you would think #99 played more than "just" 23 minutes a game, but one of the posters on the Gretzky thread I referred to earlier demonstrated quite to my satisfaction that 23 minutes is a reasonable guess. Of course there are going to be games where a player plays more, and other games where he plays less; but for #99 I set the guess at 23 minutes of ice.
Items of interest:
* Forsberg ended up with 99 "translated" assists - one more than the Great One!
* Lemieux 1988-89 "Super Mario" ended up with four more points than Gretzky and two more goals than Ovechkin. I suspect Brett Hull would end up with more than Mario's 65 if I were to apply my method to his sick 1990-91 stat line.
*Rocket Richard, Bobby Hull and MALKIN tied with 59 translated goals apiece