From our "did you know (Young Guns Category)?" file...
Did you know that Bruce Boudreau is 67-32-10 in his first 109 games? Not bad for a guy who took over little more than an expansion team (with a lot of young, but green talent, to be sure). Just by way of comparison, Scotty Bowman was 49-35-25 in his first 109 games, taking over an expansion franchise in St. Louis.
Yeah, yeah, Bowman went to the Stanley Cup finals in those first two years in St. Louis, but that was when the "original six" were in one division (and they were divisions back then), and all the expansion teams were in the other. OK, he's not a "young gun," but hey, we're just sayin'...
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Did you know that in his 291-game career, Alex Ovechkin is 194-175-369? As for players to whom he has been compared in style over roughly comparable stretches to start their NHL careers...
- Maurice Richard (first six seasons): 275 games, 187-123-301
- Mark Messier (first four seasons): 302 games, 133-157-290
- Gordie Howe (first five seasons): 298 games, 113-144-257
Different eras? Absolutely, but it's safe to say his name can be mentioned in the same sentence as the others.
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Now, here's the odd one. Did you know that in this, his third full season with the Caps, Mike Green is 33-71-104 in 209 career games? Well, let's compare that to the three season totals of another defenseman...
174 games, 45-91-136
True, Green trails this player in all the scoring categories as an "offensive" defenseman, but it isn't that unfavorable a comparison... to Bobby Orr. OK, in Orr's fourth season he would have the first of five consecutive 100-plus point seasons. We're going to go out on a limb here and say that Green doesn't have a 100-point season in his future. But he still could become the premier offensive defenseman of this era.
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Did you know that in 130 career games and in his second season, Nicklas Backstrom has 91 assists? Now, compare that to the top five all-time career assist leaders (centers only) in their first two seasons...
Ron Francis -- 138 games, 102 assists
Mark Messier -- 147 games, 61 assists
Adam Oates -- 114 games, 43 assists
Steve Yzerman -- 160 games, 107 assists
Marcel Dionne -- 155 games, 99 assists
We're thinking that at his current rate Backstrom will finish this year with around 115 career assists, which certainly would put him in this company. OK, OK... we didn't list Wayne Gretzky. Well, he lives on a different planet. Sue me.
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Did you know that Alexander Semin has 92 goals in his first 222 career games in this, his fourth season? Well, compared to the top-five career goal-scorers among wingers in comparable volumes of career games...
Gordie Howe -- 228 games, 70 goals (over parts of four seasons)
Brett Hull -- 228 games, 146 goals (over parts of four seasons)
Mike Gartner -- 237 games, 119 goals (three)
Luc Robitaille -- 237 games, 144 goals (three)
Brendan Shanahan -- 206 games, 59 goals (three)
...he compares pretty favorably, especially considering that Gartner and Robitaille began their careers in a high-scoring era.
A few years does not a career make, even for players (or a coach) off to such fine starts as these. But fine starts they've had. Just something to tide us over this All-Star week.
But the game has changed since their salad days, and there doesn't seem to be a realistic way to calculate the effect of factors such as lighter weight equipment, rule changes, etc. The stat 'games played' also doesn't differentiate between "healthy" and "even though pretty badly banged up at the time." Looking at the records this way, I want to celebrate the quality of our players, but still think things are not all that bright and hopeful at the break as one might wish. Hope they come back ready to play and dedicated to winning.
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