Career
- NHL: 1926-37; 11 seasons, 5 quality[1. By modern PPG standards]
- 127G, 85A for 212P in 463 games (22nd)
- Era: Oliver is 12th in Goals and GPG, 18th in Assists, 19th in APG, 14th in Points and PPG, 11th in OPS, 13th in PS and 17th in Games[2. Of the 22 players to play in at least 450 games between 1926 and 1937]
- 82-game average: 22G, 15A for 38P
- 3-year peak (1928-31): 44-game average of 17G, 7A for 26P
- Playoffs: 10G, 6A for 16P in 35 games
- Adjusted: 241G, 294A for 535P
- Adjusted 82-game average: 43G, 52A for 95P]
- Traded into the NHL, traded near the end of his career.
Accomplishments
- Top 10 Player[3. by Point Shares] once (’29)
- Top 5 Offensive Player[4. By Offensive Point Shares] once (’29), Top 10 twice (’27)
- Top 5 in Goals twice
- Top 10 in Points twice.
- Non-NHL:
- WCHL 1st Team All Star twice.
Great Teams
- Best Skater[5. Led the playoffs in points] on one Runner Up (’27 Bruins), Best Skater[6. By points] on one Final Four (’28 Bruins), Top 6 Forward[7. By points] on one Champion (’29 Bruins), one Runner Up (’30 Bruins) and two Final Fours (’31, Bruins, ’36 Americans).
Oliver made a poor choice about which pro league to enter, but was among the stars in the WCHL/WHL. He came to the NHL at a late age but managed to be briefly dominant.
I really don’t know that he belongs. He never dominated the lesser pro leagues like some of his contemporaries and his strong NHL seasons were still not so dominant to compare with some of the other non-NHL stars who entered the NHL when those leagues collapsed.