Best of the Best, Part One: The 60-goal scorer?
by Derek @ Cloud9 Sports
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It’s been a long time since the NHL saw a 60-goal scorer and the league is begging for this trend to be broken. Following Mario Lemieux’s ‘95-’96 season in which he buried on 69 separate occasions, the NHL has failed to produce a single-season goal scorer exceeding the 59 goals potted by Pavel Bure of the Florida Panthers in ‘00-’01. While some have ventured closely — like Jonathan Cheechoos’ Thornton-aided 56-goal campaign in ‘05-’06, and the most recent victor of the Rocket Richard Trophy, Vinny Lecavalier, with 52 — the screeching reduction in goal scoring is well documented.
Few players in the NHL have the talent, skill and determination to score 60 goals, a fact that is quite evident in the statistics collected over the last 10 seasons, in addition to the tears of every hockey purist incensed over rule changes to beef up offensive production. While the numbers represent the historical precedent by which players of the last decade have failed to score, the newest rule changes and the evolution of the leagues’ top talent may allow us present a strong argument for the emergence of a 60-goal scorer in the 2007-8 NHL season. Article continues here….
