Ron Francis The Most Underrated Player in NHL History

Ron Francis Most Underrated NHL Player in History

 

So when thinking of the NHL all-time leading scorers do you think of Ron Francis?  Most people do not. Francis was not a flashy player during his consistent NHL career but what he did was produce at a level that most players would dream of over his 23 NHL seasons.  Francis was drafted 4^th overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1981 draft.  Francis made his debut during the 81-82 season and in only 59 games had 25 G 43 A 68 Pts.  Francis got to play with Dave Keon as a rookie. Keon the classy long time Toronto Maple Leafs Hall of Fame player helped shape Francis to what he would become.  Even though the Whalers were a horrible team at the time, they started to build a core that at least got them competitive and had some mild success in the mid to late 1980s. Francis scored 31 goals and had 90 points in 82-83 season as a 19 year old.  Francis showed in his first seasons that he would be great playmaker and this would be the hallmark of his career.   Francis alongside Kevin Dineen, Pat Verbeek, Ray Ferraro and others finally made the playoffs in the 85-86 season. The Whalers were 12 points behind the Buffalo Sabres in early March in the old Adams division when they caught fire. These players long with Mike Liut did their job and made the playoffs on the last game of that season. Francis broke his leg in Janurary of 86 and missed some time, however when he come back he had a fantastic finish ending up with 24 goals and 77 points in only 53 games. Francis did not have a strong playoff but the team felt his presence as they upset the Quebec Nordiques 3-0.  Francis had 3 pts in 10 games.  Kevin Dineen the fireplug was awesome then.  The Whalers took the powerful Montreal Canadiens to game 7 in the 2^nd round and lost in overtime when Claude Lemieux shot a high backhander over Liut to win in. Dineen was great by scoring in Overtime in game 4 to tie the series on a great rush which was one of the most exiciting plays in their history as most of the success their franchise has had is in Carolina. Dineen also scored the only goal in Game 6 to force that ultimate game 7. 

After a few more consistent seasons even giving the Bruins a huge scare in 1990 taking them to 7 games, Francis would keep plugging along usually scoring about 25 goals and 85 points with Harford Career high of 32 goals and 101 points in 1990.  In 1991 Francis had some things happen to him that to me helped get the Whalers moved to Carolina eventually.  In 67 games,  Francis had 21 goals and 76 points but the horrible GM Eddie Johnson decided to first strip Francis of the captaincy and then trade the best player that ever played in Hartford to the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 4, 1991.  Francis along with Ulf Samuelsson (the dirty player I Have NO respect for) and Grant Jennings for John Cullen, Jeff Parker and Zarley Zalapski.  Cullen did okay in Harford but never was as good as he was in Pittsburgh. Francis flourished and provided Mario Lemieux with the 2^nd line center and all-around player that was needed to propel the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup in 1991.  Francis had 11 points in 14 games but had also 17 points in the playoffs with 7 goals.  I wonder how he felt to go from a mediocre team to the best team in the NHL. It killed me but for the only time in my life, I rooted for Pittsburgh during this time because of my admiration for Francis.  The Whalers would get worse each year, miss the playoffs for 5 years and then move to North Carolina.  More on that in a bit.

In 91-92 Francis had an average regular season by his standards with 21 goals and 54 points but when the playoff started, he showed what a leader he was.  In the first round against the NY Rangers the Penguins were down 2-1 and Adam Graves slashed Mario Lemieux with a viscious chop that to me was very dirty that put Lemieux on the Shelf for a few weeks. So what happened was Ron Francis stepped his game up to his level he had when he was younger in Hartford. He dominated the Rangers series and scored an OT game winner which topped off a hat trick to tie the series at 2.   Francis showed his leadership at his best in this series because he knew that with no Lemieux in the rest of the game, he would have to fill the void.  The Penguins would sweep both the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks to win their 2^nd consecutive Stanley Cup. Francis for good measure scored the Cup Winning goal in one of my favorite stadiums Chicago Stadium.  Mario Lemieux won the Conn Smythe as he came back and was unstoppable but Francis had an excellent playoff with 8 goals and 27 points in 21 games.  

For the rest of his time in Pittsburgh, Francis would top 100 points 2 times with a career high of 119 in 95-96.  Francis had 92 assists that season which was one of the 9^th most in NHL history.  Francis also won the Selke Award in 1995 for the best defensive forward the league and the Lady Byng in 1995 as well as the most gentlemanly player in the league. 

After the 97-98 season Francis went home sort of. He went back to his original franchise that is now the Carolina Hurricanes. Francis became captain again like he should have been always (Thanks Eddie Johnson for being a fool) and helped get the Hurricanes on the map.  Francis led the Canes to their first ever playoff birth there and helped them become consistent, something they never were in Harford. He would get his 20 goals and about 65 to 70 points per season topping out at 77 in 2001-2002. The 2002 playoff were a dream for an upstart franchise. They went on to beat the Devils, Canadiens and Maple Leafs for the first playoff series wins in Franchise history.  Led by Francis, Rod Brind’Amour, Erik Cole and Jeff O’Neil, the Canes had some great moments.  The Series vs. the Canadiens had some really memorable games. In game 4 with Montreal up 2-1 and leading 3-0 the Canes came back with goals from Sean Hill, Bates Battaglia and Eric Cole in the last minute before winning in overtime with a goal from Nic Wallin of all people. The Leafs series was also memorable. 2 more ot wins, one from Nic Wallin and then on a great pass from Ron Francis, Jeff O’Neil scored in ot after he was hit in the face with a puck earlier in the game. It was so gutsy from what I remember.

In the finals the Canes were overmatched by the Detroit Red Wings but did put up somewhat of a fight. Francis scored the game winner at Joe Louis arena in game 0 on a nice tip in front over Dominik Hasek.  The series was tied at 1 going back to Carolina when an epic game happened. The Canes were up 2-1 late when Brett Hull scored to tie it at 2.  In overtime the goalies were great for both teams Arturs Irbe and D Hasek stopped everything. Finally in the 3^rd OT, Igor Larinov scored a goal top shelf on a backhanders to break Caniacnation (including my own at 3 am approx.) heart. The Wings won 4-1.  This however was successful on what was accomplished by a team that so little was expected of and Francis led them. Francis had a couple of more seasons and then slowed down at age 40.  At the end of his last year, he was traded to the Maple Leafs and had 10 points in 12 games. In the playoffs he struggled and had only 4 pts in 12 games.  After this he decided to retire and had nothing to be ashamed about.

Francis has accomplished a lot with scoring 549 Goals, 1249 Assists for 1798 points in 1731 games.  Francis is the 4^th leading scorer of all-time and the 2^nd leading player with assists.  He scored 20 goals or more 20 times in his career and had more than 70 points 16 times yet he played in only 4 all-star games (83, 85, 90 and 96) in 23 years. Are you kidding me 4? Talk about being overlooked in your career.  Ron Francis is a class act on and off the ice.  Thank you for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.

 

 

Ron Francis NHL Statistics

Denver Broncos 51 Dallas Cowboys 48 and Epic Game

Denver 51 Dallas 48 A Game for the Ages

 

I have followed the NFL since 1979 when I was a kid and there have been some really wild games that I have enjoyed. Sunday when the Denver Broncos outlasted the Cowboys 51-48 was one of them.  This game had everything except very little defense.  Tony Romo had the most passing yards in Dallas Cowboys history.  He was 25-36 for 506 yards and 5 TD and 1 Int Peyton Manning was fantastic as well 33-42 for 414 yards 4 TD, 1 Int and a rushing TD for the first time since 2008. 920 total passing yards is like playing a video game.  This game only featured 1 punt by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2^nd quarter. It is unheard of even in the post 2003 era of the NFL when the pass interference and illegal contact rules become more strictly enforced. You can’t basically even sneeze on the WR without a pass interference being called. I love the NFL but hate this part of it. It cheapens the game in my opinion.  As a good friend of mine would say, it’s the arena league at times.

The Cowboys came out flying taking the opening kickoff and scoring on a nice 11 play 79 yard drive.  Romo came out firing the ball all over the place and looked very comfortable doing so. He used Jason Whitten and Terrance Williams to have set the Cowboys up in scoring position. Dez Bryant finished off the drive with a nice catch in the back of the end zone to give them the lead 7-0,

After a fumble by Eric Decker on a nice strip by E Sims the Cowboys pounced again.  Using the run and the passes to Jason Witten Romo set up Demarco Murray with a 4 yard TD to give Dallas a 14-0 lead. The Dallas offense would be basically unstoppable all day long for the most part.

Down 14-0 Peyton Manning did not panic as he lead the Broncos on a 3 play 80 yard drive to get the Broncos back to 14-7.  Even though Decker fumbled earlier, Manning still had confidence in him and he hit Decker on a big play of 57 yards to the Dallas 4 yard line. On the scoring play, Manning hit Julius Thomas with a little shuffle pass that seemed to surprise the Cowboys defense. Thomas would go on to catch 9 passes for 122 yards and was a force to be reckoned with the whole game. Thomas in his 3^rd season and before this year was mainly hurt. Manning has made good use of him and he is playing the Dallas Clark role that was so deadly in Indianapolis in the mid-2000s.

Dallas came right back with another good drive to get a FG to make it 17-7.  Romo mixed his passes up by hitting Witten with more passes of the middle and some nice runs including a 9 yard run by Murray.  After reaching the Denver 8 yard line, the first big play of the game for the Broncos defense was a sack by Shaun Phillips that Romo lost 17 yards on and forcing the FG.

The Broncos would take advantage of the good fortune of Dallas only getting a FG. Manning used some nice runs and receptions by Knowshon Moreno. Ever since Moreno came back last year when Willis McGahee got hurt, he has been a different player. He runs with a mean streak. He might not be the fastest in the world but he knows how to be fundamentally sound, not dance around like when he was younger and seems to always get positive yardage. Moreno plays the Joseph Addai/Edegerrin James part quite well in the Manning offense.  Moreno finished the day with 19 carries for 93 yards and a TD. He also caught 5 passes for 57 yards.  Him along with Ronnie Hillman who caught 4 passes for 42 yards always keep the defense honest. You can’t just focus on Wes Welker, Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker.  The RBs are a nice weapon and Julius Thomas just rounds out all the options that Manning has.  Julius Thomas caught passes of 16 and 5 yards and then caught a 9 yard slant to finish the drive off.  This made the score 17-14

On the next possession Romo hit Dez Bryant for a 12 yard gain that turned out to be a big play in the game because as Bryant was going upfield, D Ihenacho forced a fumble that the Broncos recovered.  Giving Manning fantastic field position at the Dallas 41 yard line is a recipe for disaster for a Defense, especially in 2013.  The key player on this drive was Julius Thomas once again.  Thomas caught 3 passes for 30 yards and a nice 9 yard TD to make it 21-17 Denver. They scored two touchdowns in less than 4 minutes of play. The quick strike offense is very difficult for any defense to handle. The amazing part at this point of the game is the Broncos basically only had used Eric Decker for the WR. Wes Welker and D Thomas were mainly decoys.  This would change later on in the game but the WR here have proven to be unselfish as Manning is going to throw the ball to the open player and not force to keep a WR happy.

In the next possession the rarest thing happened. The Broncos stopped Dallas and they actually had to punt.  Malik Jackson sacked Romo as this is the big play of the drive.  This turned out to be the only punt during this wild and crazy game. Denver took over at their own 36 yard line and with a nice run by Knowshawn Moreno for 15 yards and 10 yards the Broncos were on the Dallas one yard line. The next play was the most surprising play of the game. Manning faked to Moreno and then did a naked bootleg wide around left end for a TD. This even faked out the CBS cameras as they did not catch it right away. As I wanted this, I was shocked that Manning could pull of a play that he has not done in years.  This takes to the smarts of Manning.  He is prepared for just about anything a defense can throw at him.  This TD put Denver ahead 28-17.

The Cowboys would not go away easily as Romo made some fantastic plays to get the Cowboys to 28-20 at halftime.  The big play was a 30 yard pass to Terrance Williams to get to the Denver 30 yard line with about 2 seconds left in the half. Dan Bailey hit the 48 yard FG as time expired in the half.

Denver took the 2^nd half kickoff and left off right where they were in the first half.  By mixing runs by Moreno and the first big pass play to Demaryius Thomas of 27 yards, the Broncos were in business at the Dallas 36 yard line.  Another short pass over the middle to D Thomas led Denver inside the 20 yard line. A couple of runs and short passes to Moreno and Hillman led Denver to the 2 yard line. Manning then hit Wes Welker with a TD pass to get the lead to 35-20. Welker who had been very productive with the NE Patriots, usually did not catch more than 6-9 TD passes per season. Well this season in 5 games he has 7 TD catches and seemingly will set a career high of TD receptions.

The next drive proved why the Cowboys and Tony Romo were going to fight this game to the very end.  I had been so impressed with Dallas at this point on how Romo had used Witten, Bryant and Williams.  After a short run by D Murray, Romo went deep to Terrance Williams for about a pass that was 40 yards in the air.  The Broncos defensive back then missed the tackle which led to Williams eventually scoring on an 82 yard TD reception.  The lead was cut to 35-27.

On the following possession by the Broncos, Manning led them again with his precision passing. The big play was a 29 yard throw to J Thomas to get the Broncos in Dallas Territory. Another short pass to R Hillman that went for 19 yards that eventually led to a Matt Prater 48 yard FG that stretched the lead to 38-27 from what we learned earlier in this game, do not count the Cowboys out on this date.  The big plays in the drive were throws to Dez Bryant for 27 yards and pass to C Beasley of 23 yards.  Romo through his 4^th TD of the day to Bryant to make it 38-33. Dallas went for a 2 point conversion and did not get it.

Once Manning got the ball you thought it may be a nice long drive to extend the lead. This was not the case. Manning underthrew a pass to Decker on the left sideline on a deep route and M Claiborne picked him off to set up in great field position at the Dallas 49 yard line.  At the start of the 4^th quarter the Cowboys were primed to take the lead back.  A couple of nice throws to Witten for 15 and 16 yards set up Dallas in prime position. Witten would have a fantastic game catching 7 passes for 121 yards and a TD. Witten has been so consistent over the years and Romo always looks for him in any tough situation when he needs a 3^rd down conversion.  Terrence Williams caught a 10 yard TD and a 2 pt. conversion to give the Cowboys a 41-38 lead.

After the Cowboys took the lead, Manning went back to work. He used some short passes to Knowshawn Moreno and then finally used Welker with a nice 13 yard completion.  After a short pass to Decker to get the ball to the Dallas 37 yard line, the drive stalled. Matt Prater hit a 50 yard FG to tie the game at 41. When I was watching this, I would not remember the last time I saw an NFL game that had it tied at 41.  This was unbelievable at how good both quarterbacks played. It was pure artistry in my opinion.

Romo took over and just as the game seemed like it was going he led them down the field to take the lead 48-41. After a couple of short passes it seemed like Dallas was stalling and with a 3^rd and 6 at their 17, Romo hit Bryant with a laser for 79 yards to go all the way to the Bronco 4 yard line.  Bryant was dominant with 6 catches for 121 yards and 2 TD. The next play Romo hit C Beasley with a 4 yard TD.

Manning got the ball back with 7:19 left to try to tie the game.  Manning was still very patient using his running backs both Moreno and Hillman with some short passes to move the ball to midfield.  Wes Welker who did not have a big game came up with a nice catch of 14 yards to move to the Dallas 36 yard line.  Welker did catch 5 passes for 49 yards and a TD.  Next were passes to Damaryius Thomas for 26 yards and then a pass to Welker to move it to the 1 yard line.  Knowshawn Moreno then scored a 1 yard TD to tie the game at 48.  This was so unbelievable on how each defense had no answers for the other team’s offense.

Dallas took the ball with 2:39 left in the game. The first play Romo got sacked by S Phillips which was a huge play.  The next play Romo was under huge pressure and LB D Trevathan made a diving interception at Dallas 24 yard line.  I hate when people call Romo a choker. He is not a choker. This was a nice defensive play to set up Denver in prime position to win.

Manning took over and then hit D Thomas for 13 yards to the Dallas 11 yard line.  Then hit him again for 8 yards to the 2 yard line. Denver then had 3^rd and 1 with 1:35 left. Moreno got the 1 yard and Dallas used their last time out.  I had a discussion with a good friend of mine and he said that they should let Denver score a TD with that amount of time left to give Romo a chance. As it turned out Manning kneeled down 3 times before Matt Prater hit a 28 yard FG to win the game 51-48. 

As a long time Bronco fan I was on the edge of my seat in this exciting game.  I gained such a large amount of respect for the Cowboys and Romo after this game. The hung with the best offense in the NFL and no one else has even come close this season.  The Cowboys are clearly the best team in the NFC East and should run away with it as the Giants and Redskins have struggled and Philly has been okay and it tied with Dallas.

I wonder if we will see a game as wild and exciting this year. This was truly and epic game and reminded me a lot of the 1982 playoff game between the Dolphins and Chargers which SD won 41-38 in OT.  Thank you all for taking the time for reading the blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.

 

Ray Bourque an All Time Great On and Off the Ice

Ray Bourque one of the All Time Greats

 

I have to say through the years the Boston Bruins have been a very consistent bunch. I have followed them and enjoyed their play since 1979 when my favorite Bruin of all time started his illustrious career. The classy Ray Bourque was drafted in the 1^st round 8^th overall in the 1979 draft.  A little known fact was that Harry Sinden stole him. He traded backup goaltender Ron Grahame to the LA Kings in 1977 for the LA Kings first round pick. Think LA would have loved to have Bourque play with Marcel Dionne and then eventually Wayne Gretzky? Although it is unfair for the fans to expect him to be the next Bobby Orr, Bourque came on the scene and scored 17 goals with 48 assists for 65 points. This was at the time was a rookie for defenseman, that Larry Murphy eventually broke in 80-81 with 76 points.  Bourque had excellent speed as an 18 year old but what was most amazing was his ability to be good in his own end.  Bourque with that blistering shot helped the PP as soon as he got there. Each year Bourque got better, Scoring usually about 20 goals and 70 points. In 1982-1983 the Bruins had a very good team winning 50 games with 110 points. Pete Peeters was tremendous winning 40 games 2.36 GAA and the Vezina Trophy.  The Bruins were led by a tremendous group of forwards that had both grit and skill.  The famous Barry Peterson (46 goals 107 points), Rick Middleton 49 goals 96 points and Mike Krushelnyski (23 goals and 65 points) line led the team. The Bruins had 8 guys have 20 plus goals. Keith Crowder had a career year with 35 goals and 74 points as well.  Once the playoffs came around many though this team could get to the Stanley Cup Finals. They fell a bit short of that but it was no fault of Bourques.  Bourque had 8 goals and 23 points in only 17 games. He really was maturing as a player.  The NY Islanders beat Boston in 6 and won their 4^th Stanley Cup in a row that season beating the Edmonton Oilers.  The next season was an excellent one for Bourque.  Bourque set career highs with 31 goals and 96 points. This is tremendous for any player, but especially a defenseman.  The Bruins however had playoff disappointments and seemed to always lose to Montreal in those years. 

 

Two things changed all of that. First was another fleecing trade by Harry Sinden in 1986. The Bruins traded Barry Pederson to Vancouver for Cam Neely and the Canucks first round pick in 1987, which turned out to be Glen Wesley.  Pederson after 3 tremendous seasons in Boston had an injury. He had some decent seasons for the Canucks but was not like he was in Boston. Cam Neely however came to Boston and was a fantastic Bruin from the get go.  He scored 36 goals in his first season with Boston and then 42 in his 2^nd.  1987-1988 was one of the best overall seasons for Bourque both on and off the ice.  Remember when Bourque came into the league Harry Sinden gave him #7. Bourque never felt comfortable with 7 but wore it well. Phil Esposito a Hall of Famer in his own right, wore #7 for the Bruins from 1967-1975.  On December 3, 1987 the Bruins were finally going to retire Esposito’s number. Espo was expecting to see #7 up in the Garden rafters but Bourque would continue to wear it. Bourque being probably the most classy respectful player in all of sports, decided to give Esposito his sweater #7 and surprisingly changed to #77.  This was probably the most speechless Espo ever was.  It ranks to me one of the warmest moments ever I have seen in sports.  Bourque wore 77 the rest of his career.  Now 1987-1988 was good for many other reasons too. The Bruins went on a nice run in the playoffs and after 18 times in a row, Finally Finally beat the Canadiens 4 games to 1. Cam Neely and Ray Bourque along with Reggie Lemelin were key to his.  My fondest memory is game 5 when the Bruins already up 3-1 in the Series and 3-1 in the game, Cam Neely broke in from the right wing all alone and shot it upstairs over Patrick Roy.  God rest his soul, I can hear Fred Cuisick, saying “Neely in, HE SCORES and Boston leads 4-1” Let me tell you, this was so much fun to see.  I hated the Canadiens back then, I was so sick of them winning but it was nice to slay the dragon.

Boston went on to beat an upstart Devils team but in the Finals they were overmatched by the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 when Wayne Gretzky won his Final Cup as a player there.  That was okay. This was a huge success for a team that always lost to MTL and beat them to get to a Final.  Bourque was excellent that playoff getting 3 goals and 21 points and was a true leader on the ice and off as well.  87-88 was the 2^nd of Bourque’s 5 Norris Trophies with the last one being 93-94.  

1988-89 was a disappointing year for the Bruins in the playoffs but 89-90 may have been Bourques best all-around season in his career. He had 19 goals 84 points and led Boston to a fantastic season of 46 wins and 101 points.  Neely was a force scoring 55 goals for his career high and other balanced scoring had Craig Janney with 24 goals and 62 points in only 55 games, Bob Carpenter with 25 goals and Bob Sweeny with 22 goals.  The playoffs started and the Bruins played a scrappy Hartford Whalers team that was not as bad as everyone thought. They had Ron Francis, Kevin Dineen, Pat Verbeek and good team speed. The Whalers were up in the series 2-1 and in game 4 up 5-2 in the 3^rd period, when coach Mike Milbury made a goaltending switch from Reggie Lemelin to Andy Moog. Whatever he did he sparked one of the best comebacks in the Bruins playoff history. First Dave Poulin scored to make it 5-3, then Bob Beers on a breakaway off of the inside of the post to make it 5-4 and then Dave Christian on a one timer blast to make it 5-5.  I thought this game was going to OT but then Dave Poulin struck again on a scramble in front to make it 6-5. Good teams find a way to win. This was the case.  The next round the Bruins wiped out Montreal 4-1 and in the Conference Final the Capitals 4-1.

Next came the finals and another classic game that I saw. Game 1 vs the Edmonton Oilers seemed to be one of the best and lasted a long time. The Oilers took an early 2-0 lead in the game but Ray Bourque scored 2 late goals to tie it up and send it to overtime.  The Bruins had tons of chances in the overtime to win this game as they outshot the Oilers 52-31 for the game. Bill Ranford robbed Cam Neely on a shot that trickled behind him.  Glen Wesley had a chance with an empty net but was on his backhander and shot it high. Wesley gets criticized for this over the years but to me, he was a defenseman and to score from that far out on a backhander is very hard.  Bourque, Neely or for the other side Glen Anderson or Mark Messier would score but most would not.

This game even had a partial power outage as well in the overtime and I distinctly remember Andy Moog sitting on the corner of the net. Once play resumed in the 3^rd overtime little used Peter Klima shot a weak shot that beat Andy Moog between the pads and just like that the Oiler won.  This game deflated Boston and they were not the same after that. The did win game 4 in Edmonton but ultimately the team with a lot of Stanley Cup veterans won another one for the oilers.  This is the closest Bourque ever got to winning a Cup in Boston.

Bourque would still be a great player for the Bruins in the 90s but the team kind of got stuck in mediocrity after a while. Another big highlight though was in the 1996 All Star game at the FleetCenter (now TD Garden) Bourque scored on a Backhander under the crossbar to have the East beat the West 5-4.  It was nice to see the hometown hero win the game.  Bourque would usually get about 20 goals and 80 points until the mid-1990s. His last really big productive season was 95-96 when he scored 20 goals and 82 points.  In 1999-2000 Bourque asked Harry Sinden to trade him to a team that would have a chance to in a Cup. As a good GM would do, after 21 years of loyalty to his player he showed Bourque the respect and did trade him to the Colorado Avalanche for Brian Rolston and 2 other non- descript prospects.  Rolston was pretty good in Boston but Bourque would finally get his wish and have a legit chance to win a Cup for the first time since 1990.

It did take the first year disappointment losing in the Conference Finals to the Dallas Stars. Bourque decided to come back for a 22^nd season with the Colorado Avalanche. Although he was not the Norris Trophy candidate anymore, he still had a very good season with 7 goals and 59 points.  The playoffs started and the Avalanche rolled vs the Canucks in the first round 4-0. In Round 2 the LA Kings gave them all they could handle taking it to a game 7 but the Avs outlasted them and coasted in Game 7 with a 5-1 win. The Avs beat the Blues 4-1 with game 5 being an overtime winner by Joe Sakic I believe.  The Finals were going to be very difficult as the NJ Devils who had won the season before were a very good team and would be ready.  The Finals were a see-saw battle. Bourque scored the game winner in Game 3 to put the Avs up 2-1 but the Devils would not go away. The Devils were up 3-2 in the series when the leaders stepped up for them. Patrick Roy when he knew that he could not lose again or the Cup was the Devils, was locked in and shutout the Devils in NJ 4-0.  Adam Foote of all people a stay at home defenseman had 1 goal and 2 assists.  In Game 7, Joe Sakic and Alex Tanguay both had huge games. Sakic scored a big goal to take the pressure off and then Tanguay helped finish off the Devils. Roy shut the door and the Avs won the elusive Stanley Cup for Bourque.  Joe Sakic showed class himself by taking the Cup from Gary Bettman and then handing it to Bourque to skate around with it first.  Patick Roy had a nice quote that said the Stanley Cup had one name missing from it but now it is back to normal. Roy won his 4^th Cup in 2001.

Bourque would retire after the Finals with a complete career. He scored 410 goals 1169 assists for 1579 points in 1612 games played.  In the playoffs he had 41 goals and 139 assists for 180 points in 214 games. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004.  To sum it up, Ray Bourque is a true professional both on and off the ice and no other player embodied class and dignity than him.

To all that read this, Thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time to do so. I hope it brings back some memories for you as it did for me.

 http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/b/bourqra01.html

Eric Lindros, Is he a Hall of Famer?

In 1991, Eric Lindros was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques. He knew that he was going to get a big first contract as he was the consensus number 1 pick.  He did not want to play for the Nordiques because at the time the Canadian Exchange rate was not beneficial to him.  So he basically forced one of the biggest trades in NHL History.  On June 30, 1992 he was traded from the Nordiques to the Flyers for Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchene, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall and Philadelphia’s #1 pick in 1993.  Lindros went on to a great injury plagued career but the Nordiques and then eventually the Colorado Avalanche made out with this trade as the cornerstone and future Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg was part of it.  They also got good NHL players in Mike Ricci and Steve Duchene and that number 1 pick in 93.

Lindros had a fantastic rookie season scoring 41 goals and 34 assists on a very mediocre Flyers team in only 61 games played. This was a sign of things to come as Lindros as talented as he was, always had trouble staying healthy.  In 93-94 Lindros improved to 44 goals 53 assists for 97 points in only 65 games played. Lindros was dominant in these early years and every bit the equal as some of his contemporaries in Cam Neely and Rick Tocchet.  In 1995 the season of the lockout that was only 48 games, Lindros was truly outstanding scoring 29 goals 41 assists

for 70 points in 46 games played.  He won the Hart Trophy for MVP of the NHL this season.  The Flyers improved by finally making the playoffs and getting to 2^nd round.  Lindros chipped in with 15 points in 12 playoff games.  95-96 was Lindros best season for point totals. With the Help of John LeClair and Mikael Renberg the famous Legion of Doom line was formed.  Lindros had 47 goals and 115 points, LeClair had 51 goals and 97 points and Renberg had 23 goals and 43 points in limited action.

The core of this Flyers team also had some excellent all-around players as well. Rod Brind’Amour who throughout his whole career was always an excellent faceoff man and defensive player, added 26 goals and 81 points.  The Flyers kept improving and 96-97 felt like they were ready to take the next step. The Flyers did get to the Stanley Cup Finals this season and Lindros had 32 goals and 79 points in only 52 games. As we can see Lindros basically never played more than 80 games except for one season.  John LeClair had another 50 goal season and Rod Brin’Amour and his gritty performance with 27 goals to add to his stellar all-around game.  Lindros played at his best in the postseason scoring 12 goals and 26 points in 19 games in eventually losing to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final. He was not afraid to hit anyone and this always contributed to his injuries and eventually shortened his career.  In 97-98 Lindros added 30 goals and 71 points in 63 games.  This season was the beginning of the Flyers not making any deep playoff runs, but Lindros was his ever consistent self.  98-98 was another excellent showing with 40 goals and 93 points in 71 games played.  The next season what basically to me what changed Lindros that affected the rest of his career.  He still had 27 goals and 59 points in 55 games.  The playoffs is what defined Lindros this season. In the 2^nd game of the playoffs, Lindros was skating over the middle and did not see Scott Stevens who lined him up for basically a knockout pitch.  Lindros did suffer one of his many concussions in this game.  After this monster hit and a contract dispute, Lindros missed the whole season of 2000-2001. The Stevens hit in the playoffs was the last play Lindros had in a Flyer uniform, which in my opinion is sad.

After healing from the concussion, Lindros was signed as a free agent by the New York Rangers for the 2001-2001 season.  He performed quite admirably by scoring 37 goals and 73 points.  He also still had 138 penalty minutes, so even though he came off of a potentially career ending injury, Lindros was still not afraid to hit and play physical. He should be commended for that.  Unfortunately the Rangers missed the playoffs that season and in his 2 others with the Rangers. In 02-03 Lindros slowed down to 19 goals and 53 points in a career high 81 games.  This was his last full season.  He would play a few more uneventful seasons with scoring an average of about 10 goals and 30 points with the Maple Leafs in 05-06 and Dallas Stars in 06-07. 

Now in my humble opinion Lindros by scoring 372 goals and 493 assists for 865 points in only 760 games, should make him a Hall of Famer.  He basically scored a goal ever other game and which would be close to 40 goals per season.  Now Cam Neely who is a contemporary of Lindros is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Neely had 395 goals 299 assists and 694 points in 726 games. Neely did score more than 50 goals in a season 3 times which more than Lindros, but Lindros was a much better play maker.  I do not think Neely should not be in the HOF, but Lindros should be there too.  Another comparable to me is Steve Shutt who played with a ton of great payers with the Montreal Canadiens had 424 goals 393 assists for 817 points.  Yes Shutt was an excellent scorer but he played with 3 of the best defenseman of all time in Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, and Guy Lapointe.  He also had the pleasure of playing with the flower, Guy LaFleur.  He won Stanley Cups because of this and both Neely and Lindros did not have the great fortune to do so. They should not be penalized for this.

Thank you all for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Feel free to make any comments or suggestions for future blogs. I am open to anything that is football, hockey or baseball, which are my favorite sports.