Nitzy's Hockey Den

With Sidney Crosby collecting his 1000th point recently, there was lots of chatter about how few games he needed and his career points per game. Many pointed out that his 1.32 points/game over his career is the 5th best all-time behind only Gretzky, Lemieux, Bossy and Orr. This is a rather impressive feat considering the era in which Crosby has played is one of the lowest scoring ever.  On social media, folks were wondering about how the leaders would look if Adjusted Points was used to even out the different eras. Adjusted Points is calculated at  hockey-reference.com  and equalizes for Goals/game, roster size and length of league schedule. For example, it calculates Gordie Howe's 49 goals in 1952/53 as an Adjusted Goal total of 65 when compared to all eras.  Using Adjusted Points, Crosby does indeed get a bump due to the era he plays in, his Points/game climbs to 1.52 while Lemieux drops to 1.68 and Gretzky drops a bit further to 1...

Above is one of the only photos of Rod Bloomfield as Reg Dunlop's skating double for the movie Slap Shot, from a 1977 American magazine named "Hockey". In the 2010 book, "The Making of Slap Shot" the details of how Bloomfield got the role are explained;  "Bloomfield and another player were considered for the job of doubling Newman. Bloomfield was more Newman's size and build but the other guy was chosen and Bloomfield returned home, content to wait until he was called back to play an extra. About two weeks later, he received a phone call asking if he was still interested in being Newman's double. They said 'they made a bit of a mistake. They shot for two weeks and figured out he was shooting right-handed. You and Paul both shoot left. We've had to scrap all the film' Bloomfield agreed to the demand that his blond hair be cut short and painted - not dyed- grey every day to match Newman's hair. 'That was one of the best ex...

This week marks the 30th anniversary of Rendezvous '87. In lieu of the All-Star game that season, the NHL played the Soviet National team in a two game series at the Colisee in Quebec City. The NHL won the first game 4-3, the Soviets the second 5-3, in what was generally regarded as a successful event showcasing the two greatest hockey powers. However, not everyone was pleased with the fact the event even went down in the first place. On the day of the first match, in the February 11 Ottawa Gazette, the great Bobby Orr himself is quoted showing his displeasure at Rendezvous. He actually had a good point, Rendezvous '87 removed over twenty All-Star spots. After looking at the NHL stats up to that point in the 86/87 season, it's clear at least a few players were robbed of their one and only chance at playing in an All-Star game.  More than a few guys missed the festivities due to injuries. Mark Howe, Paul Coffey and Mike Bossy were all voted onto the squad by fans but...

Recently, on the terrific magazine-style website  theathletic.com , James Mirtle discussed scoring records that Maple Leafs rookies are approaching or have already achieved. He mentions how Mitch Marner is well on pace to break Gus Bodnar's Leaf record for assists by a rookie, Auston Matthews on pace to break Wendel Clark's record for goals, and both on pace to top Peter Ihnacak's record for point. At one point the following juicy fact is mentioned: "The goal was Matthews’ 25th of the season after 52 games. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Matthews’ goal broke the franchise record for the fastest player to get his first 25 NHL goals, beating Howie Meeker’s 70-year-old mark of 58 games." This got me thinking. In 1985/86, Wendel Clark potted 34 goals in 66 games played, surely he scored 25 goals in less games. So I checked. Below are the Leafs scoring stats as published Feb.25, 1986 in the Montreal Gazette. At this point Toronto had played 60 games as a...

On February 6, against the Islanders, the Maple Leafs did something that hadn't been done in the NHl in over 30 years. They had five different rookies score a goal in the same game (Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Hyman, Soshnikov). The last time that happened was March 31, 1984 when the Calgary Flames did it against the Minnesota North Stars. The five Flame rookies were Tim Hunter (with two), Richard Kromm, Al Macinnis, Dan Quinn and Carey Wilson. Toronto's previous record was four different rookies scoring in the same game, and it had been almost 70 years since that last happened. On October 23, 1948 Maple Leaf rookies Fleming MacKell, Frank Mathers, Les Costello and Bob Dawes scored in a 6-1 victory over Chicago. The crazy thing is, not one of these four would play more than 15 regular season games with the Leafs that season, and collectively that year they scored a grand total of FIVE goals (Costello had 2). The fact that all four scored on October 23 is amazing. In ...

I've seen this great sequence of photos floating around the internet today, Wayne Gretzky's birthday. It's from January 24, 1979, two days prior to Gretzky's 18th birthday. WHo are the rest of the guys in the photos though? I've found online that it was Stan Weir who surprised young Wayne buy pushing the cake into his face. A pic of Weir from that era is below, I can agree that's Weir on the right of the photo. In the white helmet behind Gretz is obviously Brett Callighen, pictured below from the year after the birthday photo. The two guys in the back of the pic are tough to identify, I've seen an account where one of them is Dennis Sobchuk, not sure. That brings us to the guy on the left, using the Society for International Hockey Research photo database it's easy to determine it's backup goalie Ed Walsh. Who is Ed Walsh? I asked that myself. Walsh was twice named a First Team All-Star in the AHL. In 1974/75 with Montreal's farm...

Entering the final week of January, Maple Leaf Mitch Marner is closing in on being named Rookie of the Month for January. Through 10 games, he has 3 goals and 13 points, four points ahead of Brock McGinn and Anthony Mantha. Tied with 8 points are Connor Brown, Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk. If Marner does indeed win the award it will be Toronto's third different Rookie of the Month of the season. This has never happened since the award began in 1983/84. A few times, a team has won 3 Rookie of the Month Awards in a season, but never three different guys. Below are the teams that have had three: 1984/85 Pittsburgh: Mario Lemieux (2), Warren Young  During his flash-in-the-pan rookie season, Young garnered November honours by going 11-6-17 in 12 games.  1986/87 Los Angeles: Jimmy Carson (2), Luc Robitaille Although Carson won the award twice, Robitaille took home the Calder trophy for the season, Carson finished third in voting behind Ron Hextall. 19...