A quote from an article in yesterday's Washington Post feature on Nicklas Backstrom got us to thinking. Here is the quote...
"Through the first eight games of his third season, Backstrom has two goals and nine assists -- four on Ovechkin goals -- and is on pace to notch a career-high 112 points to become only the second Capitals center to reach the 100-point plateau. (Dennis Maruk notched 136 in 1981-82.)"
First it reminded us that the Caps haven't ever really had much in the way of high-end scoring out of the center position in their history. Second, it reminded us of that old saying about success in team sports that you have to be "strong down the middle."
Well, do you?
In terms of scoring out of the center position in hockey, perhaps not as much as you'd think. Looking back at 41 seasons since the original expansion, in 16 of those seasons at least one of the centers on the Stanley Cup champion had at least 100 points. In six other seasons, the Cup winner had a 90-point or better center. Here is the breakdown...
(source: hockey-reference.com)For some reason, we thought that the champions would be represented by more 100-point centers. Just something to think about on a cloudy Friday.
4 comments:
This is some great stuff, Peerless.
Peerless, nice work. I could have sworn that Damphousse played wing for the Habs in 93 though. It was a while ago though so I can't be certain.
I wondered about that, too, but he was listed as a center at the site I referenced, so I put him in.
Peerless, Your 09-10 season is off to a very strong start! Keep up the good work.
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