Joe Nieuwendyk as an elite goal-scoring centre who transitioned into one of the great two-way forwards of his era. But did he really deserve his Conny Smythe Trophy? If he didn’t, what does that do to his Hall of Fame case?
Listen to us talk about Nieuwendyk here:
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Warning! This episode contains an extremely hot take about Nieuwendyk’s Conn Smythe.
If you would like to listen on iTunes, instead, click this link.
Nieuwendyk’s stats:
Career:
- 1986-2007; 20 seasons, 18 quality
- 564G (19th All Time at his retirement, now 23rd), 562A for 1126P, +155 in 1257 games; 16:11 ATOI (since 1998-99); 120 PS
- Draft: 27th overall in 1985, Nieuwendyk is
- 1st in Goals, Assists, Points, Plus/Minus, Games Played
- 2nd in Point Shares
- Era: Of the 32 players to play in at least 1250 games between 1985 and 2007, Nieuwendyk is
- 7th in Goals
- 5th in GPG
- 23rd in Assists
- 21st in APG
- 17th in Points
- 15th in PPG
- 11th in Offensive Point Shares
- 17th in Point Shares
- 8th in Plus/Minus
- 82-game average: 37G, 37A for 74P, +10
- 3-year peak (1987-90): 82-game average of 54G, 43A for 95P, +28
- No possession stats as Nieuwendyk retired the year before the NHL started tracking them
- Playoffs: 66G (19th All Time), 50A for 116P, -5 in 158 games
- Adjusted: 560G, 564A for 1124P
- Adjusted 82-game average: 37G, 37A for 73P
- Obviously Nieuwendyk is not on any Adjusted PG leaderboards
- Traded once in his prime and once after:
- Traded at 29 for Corey Millen (31) and Jarome Iginla (18)
- Traded at 35 with Jamie Langenbrunner (26) for Jason Arnott (27), Randy McKay (38) and a 1st round pick (Daniel Paille).
Accomplishments:
- Conn Smythe (‘99)
- Calder (‘88)
- Clancy (‘95)
- Top 10 Offensive Player (by OPS) once (‘98)
- Scored 50 goals tice, 45 goals four times, 35 goals seven times, 30 goals eight times, 25 goals twelve times, 20 goals fifteen times
- Tallied 50 assists once, 40 assists three times
- Scored 90 points twice, 80 points four times, 70 points six times, 60 points seven times, 50 points fifteen times
- Top 5 in Goals twice, Top 10 five times
- Top 10 in Plus/Minus once
- 1st Team All Rookie
- 4 All Star Game appearances
- Three Stars: Rookie of the Month once.
Great Teams:
- NHL:
- MVP (led playoffs in goals but not in points or minutes) on one Champion (‘99 Stars) Relevant: https://medium.com/@riley.haas/50-years-of-misawarding-the-conn-smythe-a7c542d99d92
- Top 6 Forward on one Runner Up (‘00 Stars)
- Top 6 Forward (by points) on one Champion (‘89 Flames)
- Top 9 Forward on one Champion (‘03 Devils)
- Olympics:
- Top 9 Forward (by points) on one Olympic Champion (‘02 Canada)
- World Championships:
- Top 3 Forward (by points) on one Runner Up (‘86 Canada)