Maple Leafs Rookie Production, Almost Unprecedented

Toronto's rookies in 2016/17 are really doing some special things. Individually, Matthews, Marner and Nylander are setting team records seemingly every day now. Collectively, they're doing things rarely seen in NHL history. All three of the Leafs super rookies have at least 57 points. This has happened on one team only three other times in NHL history, all in an era when goal scoring was at least 30% higher than today. 

 Three Rookies, One Team 57 Points (Age in Brackets)

 Toronto 16/17
A.Matthews (19) 61
M.Marner (19) 57
W.Nylander (20) 57

Quebec 80/81
P.Stastny(24) 77-39-70-109
A.Stastny(21) 80-39-46-85
D.Hunter (20) 80-19-44-63

 Edmonton 79/80
W.Gretzky (19) 79-51-86-137
B.MacDonald (26) 80-46-48-94
B.Callighen (26) 59-23-35-58
D.Lumley (25) 80-20-38-58

 Hartford 79/80
M.Rogers (25) 80-44-61-105
M.Howe (24) 74-24-56-80
J.Douglas (22) 77-33-24-57

The last two teams on this list were transferred from the WHA and these "rookies" had played multiple previous professional seasons prior to their NHL debuts. The Edmonton quartet had played 10 pro seasons and Hartford's, 12 seasons. Each of these groups average age was 24 years. With WHA participation disqualifying most of these players, only Dave Lumley was considered a rookie by the NHL for the 79/80 season. The Leaf trio can make these semantics moot if they can all get to 60 points, if so they will be only the second team in history with three 60 point rookies (after Quebec).
Toronto's other rookies cannot be forgotten. In addition to Nikita Zaitsev, Zach Hyman, Nikita Soshnikov, there is Connor Brown who has 18 goals and 32 points. The number of teams with four first-year players with at least 17 goals is also a very short one. Again, we have to disregard the Oilers of 79/80 for their lack of actual rookie qualifications.
Four Rookies 17 Goals (Age in Brackets)

 Toronto 16/17
A.Matthews (19) 34
W.Nylander (20) 21
C.Brown (23) 18
M.Marner (19) 17

Winnipeg 92/93
T.Selanne (22) 76
E.Davydov (25) 28
A.Zhamnov (22) 25
K.Tkachuk (20) 23

Edmonton 79/80
W.Gretzky (19) 51
B.MacDonald (26) 46
B.Callighen (26) 23
D.Lumley (25) 20
R.Chipperfield (25) 18

Minnesota 76/77
R. Eriksson (22) 25
G.Sharpley (20) 25
S.Jensen (21) 22
A. Pirus (22) 20

Montreal 51/52
B.Geoffrion (20) 30
P.Meger (22) 24
D.Gamble (23) 23
D.Moore (21) 18

As with the other list, Toronto's quartet is the youngest on average. Perhaps the most comparable in production, experience and age is the Montreal group of 65 years ago. Also, the fact that era had only slightly less goals scored per game than today makes them an interesting comparison. If Toronto can produce two Hall of Famers out of their four as Montreal did (Geoffrion and Moore), I'm certain Leaf fans will be ecstatic.



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