My favorite forward tandem was Poulin and Propp. Current players are Draper, Maltby, Grier. On defense, no shots could get past Craig Ludwig's shin pads.
I'm going to go all homer and suggest Doug Smail -- I am not saying he was the best of all time, but he was very good. With the open ice, a player of his size and speed could be very dangerous. He still holds a club record for SH goals.
Just to throw some more names out, I took the team that had the best penalty killing percentage each year since expansion and listed the centre and winger who had the most PK ice time with that team. It doesn't tell the whole story; for example Buffalo's high marks in the 90s were more due to Hasek than their skaters. Also, many of these teams had centres who's PK icetime was almost as high as the centre listed who conbtributed almost as much (i.e. Messier with Edmonton, Fisher with Ottawa). However it's interesting to see some names come up multiple times. For this, I subtracted SH goals for from PP goals against before calculating the PK percentage. After all, scoring a shorthanded goal is a pretty effective way of killing a penalty:
The highlighted text is one problem in judging PK players, the goalie is by far the most important PKer.
Which is why the most valuable PK defenders are ones who win the battles in front of the net and insure that the goalie can see all incomming shots. Recently, Derian Hatcher is probably the best.
__________________
Every post comes with the Nalyd Psycho Seal of Approval.
`06 Ottawa: Chris Kelly, Peter Schaefer
`07 Ottawa: Chris Kelly, Daniel Alfredsson
Since Ottawa is there the last couple of seasons it seems relevant to discuss their PK
The pairings were Kelly-Vermette and Schaefer-Fisher and Alfredsson with Fisher or Heatley or McAmmond or he would pair with whomever form the other pairing had his partner in the penalty box. Havlat was also used at the start of 2005/06 on the PK some. He got injured after 20 games and didn't really end up on the PK when he got back. I forget who he was paired with....but I remember a game he played that I saw live where Havlat got 4 complete PK breakaways in one game yet failed to score on any of them. He really waited for the chance to get set up on a breakaway when he was on the PK. Like Bure did.
The Kelly-Vermette and Schaefer-Fisher pairings were very consistently together and they almost always played on the same ES line so they were easy to keep paired on the PK. Kelly and Vermette were usually the first PK unit sent out but that is likely due to the fact they got less icetime then the other players (4th line in 05/06 and 3rd in 06/07) and they were fresh and as effective as the other pairings. Really there was no 1st PK and 2nd PK and 3rd PK unit. The team had total faith in any of the units and it was about who was fresh. On defence however the coach did have favorites and Chara/Phillips in 05/06 and Phillips/Volchenkov in 06/07 were definately the top PK defence paitings. Redden and whomever his partner was ended up on the 2nd defence PK pairing. Often Meszaros or Volchenkov (in 05/06). Sometimes Pothier was on the PK in 05/06 as well.
Alfredsson was ALWAYS the first choice to be the forward when the team was down to 3 skaters.
This year and in 06/07 the Sens had an interesting strategy of playing Schubert on the PK as a D-Man though he was a 4th line forward most of the time. If one of the top 4 PK D-Men was the one that got the penalty then Schubert would fill in for whomever it was. So if Volchenkov got a penalty then Schubert would be Phillips partner or vice versa. Same with Meszaros or Redden. The Sens would NEVER play Corvo or Priessing on the PK last season. Schubert would always be picked to play on the defence PK over them though he dressed for most games as a forward.
Every Sens PK pairing the last 2 years had a very, very good offensive component and they got a ton of scoring chances. You could tell that the team was totally trying to force mistakes and get a breakaway when ever possible. Fisher, Vermette, McAmmond, Alfredsson, Havlat were extremely fast at getting down the ice and used their speed to blow by the point guys. All of the D-Men were very aware of where the forwards were as well and rarely panicked and when they got possession often tried to make breakout passes.
As a Sens fan I have been lucky to see this PK. When the Sens get a penalty it is not time for me to panic or worry, I actually expect a good scoring chance or 2 and for them to kill off the penalty. Some of the most enjoyable aspects of the 2005/06 regular season was watching Hasek in goal and watching the PK.
Two guys that are often overlooked in today's game are Ryan Kesler and Alexandre Burrows. They're the reason that the Canucks had the number 1 PK in the league last year.
Two guys that are often overlooked in today's game are Ryan Kesler and Alexandre Burrows. They're the reason that the Canucks had the number 1 PK in the league last year.
Willie Mitchell is also pretty great.
LOL ***.
You make it sound like these guys are elite hockey players. There decent penalty killers and nothing more. Luongo is the reason that the Canucks had the number 1 PK last year.
You make it sound like these guys are elite hockey players. There decent penalty killers and nothing more. Luongo is the reason that the Canucks had the number 1 PK last year.
The Canucks had an excellent PK last year. Not just because of Luongo. Not saying their PK is an all-time great one but it was among the best last season.
This is quickly turning into a super-homer thread.
Curtis Brown and Mike Grier are the all-time greatest penalty kill tandem to play on the Sharks last year. Ever.
LOOOOOOOOL
Back in my playing days, I don't think there was a role I relished more than killing penalties. The battles along the boards, diving facefirst at pointshots, scrums around the net, cutting off backdoor passes, scoring shorties.
Just to throw some more names out, I took the team that had the best penalty killing percentage each year since expansion and listed the centre and winger who had the most PK ice time with that team.
Great work,but I'd like to see the inclusion of defenseman as I maintain that Orr was the best penalty killer of all time. Sometimes he made it look as if the power play team was actually 2 men down.
Does anyone have all time shorthanded scoring records for goals, assists and points?
Sadly hockey stats aren't the easiest to find, but this list I think is pretty accurate:
Most Shorthand Goals, One Season
13 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
12 - Wayne Gretzky (1983-84)
11 - Wayne Gretzky (1984-85)
10 - Marcel Dionne (1974-75)
10 - Mario Lemieux (1987-88)
10 - Dirk Graham (1988-89)
Most Shorthand Goals, One Game
3 - Theoren Fleury (3/9/1991)
Career numbers have been harder to find so far. Most assists and points I don't know if I'll be able to dig up.
Sadly hockey stats aren't the easiest to find, but this list I think is pretty accurate:
Most Shorthand Goals, One Season
13 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
12 - Wayne Gretzky (1983-84)
11 - Wayne Gretzky (1984-85)
10 - Marcel Dionne (1974-75)
10 - Mario Lemieux (1987-88)
10 - Dirk Graham (1988-89)
Most Shorthand Goals, One Game
3 - Theoren Fleury (3/9/1991)
Career numbers have been harder to find so far. Most assists and points I don't know if I'll be able to dig up.
Back in 57-58 when seasons were only 70 games Jerry Toppazzini set the record of 7 at that time.
The best penalty killer that i ever seen was Mario Lemieux. When he "tried" i have yet to see a penalty killer that the opposition feared more. His play-off penalty killing (against Boston and Minnesota) are a thing of beauty.
He had that long reach, seemed to always be in the right place at the right time, and basically made you pay for your mistakes.
People view Lemieux as a great offensive threat (which he was), but he was the best i have seen on the PK.
It's so hard to judge PK ability of players you haven't seen live. For example, I know Lionel Conacher was a top shotblocker and one of, if not the strongest player in the NHL in his day. So, logically, he was an amazing penalty killer. But, I don't think I even have a living relative from his playing days. So I can't say for certain.
I will say this though, my father raves about Stan Mikita's abilities on the PK. Views him as the best he's ever seen.
Location: Writing an Haiku or watching an habs game
Posts: 2,847
vCash: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chazz
The best penalty killer that i ever seen was Mario Lemieux. When he "tried" i have yet to see a penalty killer that the opposition feared more. His play-off penalty killing (against Boston and Minnesota) are a thing of beauty.
He had that long reach, seemed to always be in the right place at the right time, and basically made you pay for your mistakes.
People view Lemieux as a great offensive threat (which he was), but he was the best i have seen on the PK.
****cough cough****
when he tried offcourse...
Absolutely. He cared more about defence during the playoffs and he was better than any Madden, Lehtinen, Peca, etc...
Does anyone have all time shorthanded scoring records for goals, assists and points?
In Total NHL by Dan Diamond, there is a top ten type list for each season and the SHG leaders are noted starting with 1964-65. I'm not sure of the most recent edition but my copy runs through 2003.
In the 60s, Eric Nesterenko was near the top often. Guys like Derek Sanderson, Ed Westfall, and Dave Keon appear a few times among the leaders. Some other league leaders over time: Chuck Lefley had 8 in 1975-76, Larry Patey had 8 in 1980-81 and Dave Reid 1990-91. Brian Rolston had 9 for Boston in 2001-02.
Steve Yzerman was at the top or close to the lead a few times.
Unless someone did this in last season's playoffs (I don't have those numbers), the only two players to score three SHG in one playoff series are Bill Barber (1980 Philly vs. Minnesota) and Wayne Presley (1989 Chicago vs. Detroit).
In 1985-86, two d-men topped the list: Paul Coffey had 9 and Mark Howe had 7.
