The Boston Bruins have had just 3 30 goal scorers since the 2004-2005 lockout and just 2 since the Claude Julian era has begun.
By comparison it seems that every other team in hockey has snagged themselves a scorer that could be named THE guy when it comes to scoring. In Philly, that guy is named Claude Giroux, in Chicago, there are two, Johnny Toews and Patrick Kane. Fact is even Tampa Bays has their perennial star in Stephan Stamkos. In the world of heavy statistics and a fantasy sports driven sports
fan base, the guy who can belt in 50 goals in a single season is far more appealing than one who can pot 20 but assist on 40-50 additional tallies like Patrice Bergeron can. But while fantasy owners and statistic addicted hockey fans will pay more attention to teams like the Penguins who have 1 or 2 big number goal scorers that does not mean that teams like the Bruins are not just as good or even better.
It is an interesting question and one that has been answered, broken open and then answered again time and time again throughout the NHL’s near 100 year history. Is the lack of a big bucks scorer more a strength rather than a weakness?
In 2011-2012, the last complete NHL season, the Bruins top goal scorer was Tyler Seguin. In that season he finished with 29 goals and while he led the Bruins in goals, Tyler was only 32nd in the NHL in goals scored. In that season, 30 NHL’ers topped 30 goals but among those 30 names, only 1 team had more than 2 men on the list. What’s better is the fact that among the 23 teams who added to that list only 9 of them made the playoffs. That means that 7 of the 16 teams contending last summer were teams devoid of a 30 goal scorer.
Also in 2012, the league’s top goal scorer: Stephan Stamkos, played for the Lightning who finished 8 points out of the playoffs.
Judging off of the Stamkos statistic, the 60 goals he scored came at a price. In 2011-2012, the same year he scored that flood of goals, the Lightning were forced to fork over 8,000,000$ just to keep him in uniform. When you think it out, that translates to a price per goal of about 133,333$. By comparison, in that same year Benouit Pouliot of the Bruins scored 16 goals. His salary of 1,100,000 divided by those 16 goals loosely translates to a price per goal of 68,750$. That is close to 25% fewer goals for a near 50% cheaper price per goal. I don’t know about you but if I’m a GM, I’ll take 60 goals from 5 or 6 guys like Benouit Pouliot over 60 goals from 1 guy like Stephan Stamkos.
So there you have it, while having a 30, 40, 50 or even 60 goal scorer on your team is nice and while it does give you a slight edge in whether or not you will make the playoffs, it is not pivotal in making a deep run. But when you think about it, that fact does not really make sense. Why is scoring less goals better than scoring more? Because on good teams, not having a Sidney Crosby, or a Jarome Iginla does not directly translate to fewer goals. No team demonstrates that truth better than the Boston Bruins.
In that 2012 season, the Bruins who finished as the clear cut winners of their division netted no 30 goal scorers but did snag an astronomical 6 guys who potted 20 tallies. They finished the season with 269 goals. That’s was 48 more than the San Jose Sharks who led the league with 3 30 goal scores.
The Boston Bruins are a team built around the excellence of so many guys. This game plan allows them to eliminate the idea of line matching by spreading at least 1 or 2 huge scoring threats over all 4 of their lines. This was true in 2012 when 3 of Boston’s 4 lines sported a 20 goal scorer and it was true in 2013 when in a near half season of play they pounded together 6 more guys with 10 or more goals.
As was said earlier, it has been 2 years since Milan Lucic netted 30 goals in 2010-2011 but many may argue that in 2013-2014 that lack of 30 goal scores in Boston may come to an end as recent additions: Jarome Iginla and Loui Eriksson come to town boasting resumes flush with 30’s in the goal column. So okay, you do have an argument there. Brad Marchand will likely get even better in 2013-2014 and Jarome Iginla who has netted 11 30 goal campaigns all on a Flames team that is well, sub-par, could easily add to his career as he is set to play on a line that could easily be dubbed the best in the entire NHL. But the underlying facets are still there.
Even if the Bruins grab 1 or 2 spots on that 30 goals list, they will inevitably also have 5 or 6 additional spots on the list containing 20 goal scorers. Good teams distribute their wealth; good teams have more than one guy to count on. The Boston Bruins have close to 10 of them and that is why they are one of the best teams in all of the NHL.
By comparison it seems that every other team in hockey has snagged themselves a scorer that could be named THE guy when it comes to scoring. In Philly, that guy is named Claude Giroux, in Chicago, there are two, Johnny Toews and Patrick Kane. Fact is even Tampa Bays has their perennial star in Stephan Stamkos. In the world of heavy statistics and a fantasy sports driven sports
fan base, the guy who can belt in 50 goals in a single season is far more appealing than one who can pot 20 but assist on 40-50 additional tallies like Patrice Bergeron can. But while fantasy owners and statistic addicted hockey fans will pay more attention to teams like the Penguins who have 1 or 2 big number goal scorers that does not mean that teams like the Bruins are not just as good or even better.
It is an interesting question and one that has been answered, broken open and then answered again time and time again throughout the NHL’s near 100 year history. Is the lack of a big bucks scorer more a strength rather than a weakness?
In 2011-2012, the last complete NHL season, the Bruins top goal scorer was Tyler Seguin. In that season he finished with 29 goals and while he led the Bruins in goals, Tyler was only 32nd in the NHL in goals scored. In that season, 30 NHL’ers topped 30 goals but among those 30 names, only 1 team had more than 2 men on the list. What’s better is the fact that among the 23 teams who added to that list only 9 of them made the playoffs. That means that 7 of the 16 teams contending last summer were teams devoid of a 30 goal scorer.
Also in 2012, the league’s top goal scorer: Stephan Stamkos, played for the Lightning who finished 8 points out of the playoffs.
Judging off of the Stamkos statistic, the 60 goals he scored came at a price. In 2011-2012, the same year he scored that flood of goals, the Lightning were forced to fork over 8,000,000$ just to keep him in uniform. When you think it out, that translates to a price per goal of about 133,333$. By comparison, in that same year Benouit Pouliot of the Bruins scored 16 goals. His salary of 1,100,000 divided by those 16 goals loosely translates to a price per goal of 68,750$. That is close to 25% fewer goals for a near 50% cheaper price per goal. I don’t know about you but if I’m a GM, I’ll take 60 goals from 5 or 6 guys like Benouit Pouliot over 60 goals from 1 guy like Stephan Stamkos.
So there you have it, while having a 30, 40, 50 or even 60 goal scorer on your team is nice and while it does give you a slight edge in whether or not you will make the playoffs, it is not pivotal in making a deep run. But when you think about it, that fact does not really make sense. Why is scoring less goals better than scoring more? Because on good teams, not having a Sidney Crosby, or a Jarome Iginla does not directly translate to fewer goals. No team demonstrates that truth better than the Boston Bruins.
In that 2012 season, the Bruins who finished as the clear cut winners of their division netted no 30 goal scorers but did snag an astronomical 6 guys who potted 20 tallies. They finished the season with 269 goals. That’s was 48 more than the San Jose Sharks who led the league with 3 30 goal scores.
The Boston Bruins are a team built around the excellence of so many guys. This game plan allows them to eliminate the idea of line matching by spreading at least 1 or 2 huge scoring threats over all 4 of their lines. This was true in 2012 when 3 of Boston’s 4 lines sported a 20 goal scorer and it was true in 2013 when in a near half season of play they pounded together 6 more guys with 10 or more goals.
As was said earlier, it has been 2 years since Milan Lucic netted 30 goals in 2010-2011 but many may argue that in 2013-2014 that lack of 30 goal scores in Boston may come to an end as recent additions: Jarome Iginla and Loui Eriksson come to town boasting resumes flush with 30’s in the goal column. So okay, you do have an argument there. Brad Marchand will likely get even better in 2013-2014 and Jarome Iginla who has netted 11 30 goal campaigns all on a Flames team that is well, sub-par, could easily add to his career as he is set to play on a line that could easily be dubbed the best in the entire NHL. But the underlying facets are still there.
Even if the Bruins grab 1 or 2 spots on that 30 goals list, they will inevitably also have 5 or 6 additional spots on the list containing 20 goal scorers. Good teams distribute their wealth; good teams have more than one guy to count on. The Boston Bruins have close to 10 of them and that is why they are one of the best teams in all of the NHL.
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