Given what he's on now, if Kessel doesn't end up with 35-40 goals, he will view the season as a disappointment.
I wouldn't though and neither will the coaching staff - he's become a far better player this season, and while his goal scoring exploits look much improved, so do his set up and overall play.
No idea about elite company as far as consecutive 30-goal seasons go. But for ****s sake, he's 24 years old, lay off the Hall of Fame crap.
Given what he's on now, if Kessel doesn't end up with 35-40 goals, he will view the season as a disappointment.
I wouldn't though and neither will the coaching staff - he's become a far better player this season, and while his goal scoring exploits look much improved, so do his set up and overall play.
No idea about elite company as far as consecutive 30-goal seasons go. But for ****s sake, he's 24 years old, lay off the Hall of Fame crap.
he's on pace for around 43-44; it wouldn't be that much of a dropoff to fall below 40 (just like he'd only need one really good streak to make a run at 50.) 35 shouldn't be a problem unless he gets hurt.
and i'll be very happy if Kessel's in the Hall of Fame a couple decades from now (and has torn a whirlwind through the Leafs record books) but it's silly to worry about that yet. he'll need to score a lot of goals to get there since he's a star based on his offensive production.
i don't know offhand how many players have done 30 goals for four years in a row, but it's definitely a small group.
Other players who have scored 30+ goals in the last three seasons:
Carter (27 years old)
Crosby (24 years old) Iginla (34 years old) Kovalchuk (28 years old) Marleau (32 years old) Nash (27 years old) Ovechkin (26 years old) Ryan (24 years old)
Bolded are the ones likely to hit that threshold again this year.
I gave the benefit of the doubt to Iginla (on pace for 30), Marleau (on pace for 30) and Nash (on pace for 29).
Very select company. And impressive considering Kessel is the youngest of them all.
I sincerely hope the HoF stuff was tongue-in-cheek.
Last edited by Duke Silver: 01-25-2012 at 12:06 AM.
Some of those players have scored 30 goals more then 4 years straight ..
OV has never been under 32 goals in the NHL. Kovy first year was 29 and has been over 30 since. This would be Nash's 5th consecutive year.
BTW Nash is underrated. lol
Look at his stats and the team he has had to play with.
Some of those players have scored 30 goals more then 4 years straight ..
OV has never been under 32 goals in the NHL. Kovy first year was 29 and has been over 30 since. This would be Nash's 5th consecutive year.
This is true.
For the sake of including Kessel, many journalists and broadcasters have capped it at 3 years when bringing up this stat.
Other players who have scored 30+ goals in the last three seasons:
Carter (27 years old)
Crosby (24 years old) Iginla (34 years old) Kovalchuk (28 years old) Marleau (32 years old) Nash (27 years old) Ovechkin (26 years old) Ryan (24 years old)
Bolded are the ones likely to hit that threshold again this year.
I gave the benefit of the doubt to Iginla (on pace for 30), Marleau (on pace for 30) and Nash (on pace for 29).
Very select company. And impressive considering Kessel is the youngest of them all.
I sincerely hope the HoF stuff was tongue-in-cheek.
I don't see Nash making it, being one of 6 players to score 30 that consistently is pretty good company.
Ovechkin 158
Stamkos 151
Marleau 136
Kovalchuk 134
Perry 131
Iginla 128
Carter 125 Kessel 124
Nash 122
Sedin 122
Heatley 119
Ryan 119
Vanek 119
Kessel could probably move past Carter and Iginla this year.
While potentially moving past Perry as well.
Kovalchuk seems unlikely, since I don't see Kessel outscoring Kovalchuk by 10 more goals than he currently is (by 7). Kessel would need to finish with 17 more goals than kovalchuk on the year, which is highly unlikely since Ilya is on pace for about 30 goals.
Out of those guys only Nash and Iginla have had little help, but none as little as Kessel.
You really are kidding right? Nothing Kessel has done in the NHL is "Hall of Fame worthy"
Gotta admit, it made me smirk too
Exactly. Stop with the HOF garbage.
When Kessel puts together 10 consecutive 30 goal seasons, then maybe, just maybe, mentioning his name in the same sentence as "hall of fame" wouldn't be completely ridiculous.
If crosby has not yet earned a spot in the HHOF and is questionable at this point to say the least then kessel is definitely not in the equation. hahaha only in leaf land, but hey i love kessel...
