Jean Beliveau is one of the rare NHL stars to combine regular season dominance with playoff dominance. Many of the centres who have scored more regular season points than Beliveau both haven’t done so relative to the league – Beliveau would have been the best offensive player of his era had it not been for Gordie Howe – and very few of them have Beliveau’s long history of success in the playoffs.
So where does he rank all time? Is he a Top 5 Centre? Is he a top 5 Player?
Listen to us discuss Jean Beliveau’s career here:
Jean Beliveau’s Career
- NHL: 1950-51, 1952-71; 20 seasons, 18 quality
- Totals:
- 507G (4th All Time at his retirement – Howe, Hull, Richard),
- 712A (3rd All Time at his retirement – Howe, Delvecchio) for
- 1219P (2nd All Time at his retirement – Howe),
- +117* (t-21st All Time at his retirement) in
- 1125 games (16th All Time at his retirement);
- 138.1 PS (3rd All Time at his retirement – Howe, Kelly);
- Beliveau is 24th All Time in Offensive Point Shares, 2nd All Time at his retirement (Howe)
- At his retirement, among Forwards, Beliveau was 7th/3rd All Time in Defensive Point Shares (Howe, Delvecchio)
- Per Game: At his retirement, Beliveau was
- T-13th All Time in GPG
- 4th All Time in APG (Mikita, Esposito, Cowley)
- 4th All Time in PPG (Esposito, Hull, Mikita)
- Era: Of the 18 skaters to play in at least 1066 Games (13 modern seasons) between 1950 and 1971, Beliveau is
- 2nd in Goals (behind by nearly 200)
- 2nd in GPG
- 3rd in Assists
- T-1st in APG
- 2nd in Points (behind by over 400)
- 2nd in PPG
- 4th in Plus/Minus
- 2nd in Offensive Point Shares (behind by over 50)
- 3rd (pure) Forward in Defensive Point Shares
- 2nd in Point Shares (behind by nearly 60)
- 82-game average: 37G, 52A for 89P, +9*
- 3-year peak (1958-61): 70-game average of 40G, 52A for 92P, +11*
- Playoffs:
- 79G (10th All Time, 2nd at his retirement – Howe),
- 97A (22nd All Time – Beliveau was 1st All Time in playoff assists from 1971 until 1984) for
- 176P (14th All Time – Beliveau was 1st All Time in playoff points from 1971 until 1987) in
- 162 games
- Per Game:
- 25th All Time in playoff GPG (1st All Time in playoff GPG in 1956 only, 4th All Time at his retirement – Richard, Hull, Drillon)
- 5th All Time in playoff APG at his retirement (Mikita, Blake, Pilote, Lach – 1st All Time from 1958 to 1959)
- 21st All Time in playoff PPG (2nd All Time at his retirement – Hull – 1st All Time from 1957 until 1970)
- Era: Of the 39 skaters to play in at least 82 playoff games between 1950 and 1971, Beliveau is
- 1st in playoff Goals (by 21!)
- 3rd in playoff GPG
- 1st in playoff Assists (by 10)
- 4th in playoff APG
- 1st in playoff Points (by 31)
- 3rd in playoff PPG
- 2nd in playoff Plus/Minus
- 1st in playoff Games
Adjusted:
- Hockey-Reference:
- 575G,
- 810A for
- 1385P (25th All Time)
- Adjusted 82-game average: 42G, 59A for 101P (+9P per 82 games)
- Per Game: Beliveau is
- 17th All Time in Adjusted APG
- 16th All Time in Adjusted PPG;
- If the qualifier is set to 820 games played, Beliveau is
- 12th All Time in Adjusted GPG
- 11th All Time in Adjusted APG
- 7th All Time in Adjusted PPG
- VsX:
- 726G (9th All Time)
- 1078A (15th All Time
- 1519P (t-12th All Time)
- Per Game: Beliveau is
- T-23rd All Time VsX Adjusted APG
- T-24th All Time VsX Adjusted PPG;
- If the qualifier is set at 820 games, Beliveau is
- 6th All Time in VsX Adjusted GPG
- 4th All Time in VsX Adjusted APG (Gretzky, Lemieux, Howe)
- 5th All Time in VsX Adjusted PPG (Gretzky, Lemieux, Richard, Howe)
- Never traded.
Jean Beliveau’s Accomplishments
- Hart (’56, ’64)
- Top 5 in Hart voting a further seven times
- Conn Smythe (‘65)
- Art Ross (’56)
- Richard* (‘56, ‘59)
- Back Check MVP (’56)
- Back Check Best Player (’56, ’59, ’60)
- All Star:
- 1st Team All Star six times – (t-2nd most by a centre ever – Gretzky)
- 2nd Team four times (2nd most total appearances by a centre ever – Gretzky)
- Thirteen All Star Game appearances
- Top Player:
- Top 5 Player (by Point Shares) four times (’56, ’57, ’59, ’61),
- Top 10 nine times (’55, ’60, ’64, ’66, ’68)
- Best Offensive Player (by Offensive Point Shares) twice (’56, ’59),
- Top 5 eight times (’55, ’57, ’60, ’61, ’64, ’66) – t-6th most ever
- Top 10 eleven times (’58, ’68, ’69) – t-6th most ever
- Goals:
- Leaderboards:
- Led the league in Goals twice
- Top 5 seven times (t-10th most all time)
- Top 10 ten times (t-6th most all time)
- GPG leaderboards:
- Led the league in GPG twice
- Top 5 nine times (t-5th most all time – Howe, Ovechkin, Richard, Hull)
- Top 10 twelve times (t-5th most ever – Howe, Ovechkin, Richard, Hull)
- Single-season totals:
- Scored 45 goals twice (1 of only 6 players to do so at his retirement)
- 35 goals three times (1 of only 9 players to do so at his retirement)
- 30 goals eight times (1 of only 6 players to do so at his retirement)
- 25 goals twelve times (1 of only 4 players to do so at his retirement – Howe, Richard, Hull)
- 20 goals thirteen times (1 of only 4 players to do so at his retirement – Howe, Richard, Ullman)
- Leaderboards:
- Assists:
- Leaderboards:
- Led the league in Assists twice
- Top 5 seven times (t-10th most all time)
- Top 10 eleven times (6th most all time)
- APG leaderboards:
- Led the league in APG twice
- Top 5 seven times (4th most all time – Gretzky, Howe, Lemieux)
- Top 10 thirteen times (t-3rd most all time – Howe, Gretzky)
- Single-season totals:
- Set the single-season record in Assists (in 1960-61, held record until 1964-65)
- Tallied 50 assists four times (1 of only 2 players ever at his retirement – Mikita)
- 40 assists ten times (1 of only 3 players ever at his retirement – Howe, Mikita)
- Leaderboards:
- Points:
- Leaderboards:
- Led the league in Points once
- Top 5 eight times (t-8th most ever)
- Top 10 twelve times (t-3rd most all time – Howe, Gretzky)
- PPG leaderboards:
- Led the league in PPG three times (t-9th most all time)
- Top 5 nine times (t-8th most all time)
- Top 10 thirteen (3rd most all time – Howe, Gretzky)
- Single-season totals:
- Scored 90 points twice (1 of only 7 players to do so at his retirement)
- 80 points five times (1 of only 4 players to do so at his retirement – Howe, Hull, Mikita)
- 70 points ten times (1 of only 3 players to do so at his retirement – Howe, Mikita)
- 60 points twelve times (1 of only 2 players to do so at his retirement – Howe)
- 50 points thirteen times (1 of only 6 players to do so at his retirement)
- Leaderboards:
- Plus Minus:
- Top 10 in Plus Minus twice
- VsX Peak:
- Best 7 Seasons:
- Goals: 9th All Time
- Assists: 17th All Time
- Points: 9th All Time
- Best 10 Seasons:
- Goals: 8th All Time
- Assists: 13th All Time
- Points: 8th All Time
- Best 7 Seasons:
Jean Beliveau’s Great Teams
- NHL:
- MVP on one Champion (’65 Canadiens)
- Best Player (tied single-playoff record in goals, led playoffs in points) on one Champion (’56 Champions)
- Best Player (led the playoffs in assists) on one Champion (’69 Canadiens)
- Best Player (by points) on one Final Four (’63 Canadiens)
- Best Player? (by points) on one Runner Up (’67 Canadiens),
- Top 3 Forward (led the playoffs in assists) on one Champion (’71 Canadiens) and one Runner Up (’54 Canadiens),
- Top 3 Forward (by points) on four Champions (’57, ’58, ’66, ’68 Canadiens), one Runner Up (’55 Canadiens) and one Final Four (’61 Canadiens),
- Top 6 Forward (by points) on one Champion (’60 Canadiens) and two Final Fours (’62, ’64 Canadiens),
- Injured on one Champion (’59 Canadiens)