#24 - Denis Potvin

Denis Potvin (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #24)

Adjusted Stats

1973-1974   NYI          81 GP   17 goals   37 assists   55 points   0.67 PPG
1974-1975   NYI          81 GP   19 goals   51 assists   70 points   0.86 PPG
1975-1976   NYI          80 GP   29 goals   62 assists   91 points   1.13 PPG
1976-1977   NYI          82 GP   24 goals   52 assists   76 points   0.93 PPG
1977-1978   NYI          82 GP   29 goals   61 assists   90 points   1.10 PPG
1978-1979   NYI          75 GP   28 goals   63 assists   91 points   1.22 PPG
1979-1980   NYI*        32 GP   7 goals     30 assists   37 points   1.16 PPG
1980-1981   NYI*        76 GP   16 goals   46 assists   62 points   0.82 PPG
1981-1982   NYI*        62 GP   19 goals   29 assists   48 points   0.78 PPG
1982-1983   NYI*        71 GP   10 goals   44 assists   54 points   0.76 PPG
1983-1984   NYI          80 GP   18 goals   50 assists   68 points   0.85 PPG
1984-1985   NYI          79 GP   14 goals   41 assists   55 points   0.70 PPG
1985-1986   NYI          76 GP   17 goals   30 assists   47 points   0.62 PPG
1986-1987   NYI          59 GP   10 goals   26 assists   36 points   0.61 PPG
1987-1988   NYI          74 GP   16 goals   27 assists   43 points   0.59 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1974-1975   NYI          17 GP    5 goals    8 assists     13 points    0.75 PPG
1975-1976   NYI          13 GP    5 goals    14 assists   18 points    1.42 PPG
1976-1977   NYI          12 GP    5 goals    4 assists     9 points      0.73 PPG
1977-1978   NYI          7 GP      2 goals    2 assists     4 points      0.56 PPG
1978-1979   NYI          10 GP    4 goals    6 assists     10 points    1.00 PPG
1979-1980   NYI*        21 GP    5 goals    11 assists   16 points    0.77 PPG
1980-1981   NYI*        18 GP    6 goals    12 assists   18 points    0.98 PPG
1981-1982   NYI*        19 GP    4 goals    12 assists   16 points    0.86 PPG
1982-1983   NYI*        20 GP    6 goals    9 assists     16 points    0.78 PPG
1983-1984   NYI          20 GP    1 goal      4 assists     5 points      0.27 PPG
1984-1985   NYI          10 GP    2 goals    2 assists      4 points     0.38 PPG
1985-1986   NYI          3 GP      0 goals    1 assist       1 point       0.29 PPG
1986-1987   NYI          10 GP    2 goals    2 assists      4 points     0.36 PPG
1987-1988   NYI          5 GP      1 goal     3 assists      4 points     0.75 PPG

Career - 1088 GP, 263 goals, 649 assists, 923 points, 0.85 PPG
Career-Highs - 29 goals (75-76); 63 assists (78-79); 91 points (78-79); 1.22 PPG (78-79)
Avg. (15 seasons) - 73 GP, 18 goals, 43 assists, 62 points, 0.85 PPG
Peak Avg. (73-81) - 74 GP, 21 goals, 50 assists, 72 points, 0.97 PPG, 2 Cups

Playoff Career - 185 GP, 48 goals, 90 assists, 138 points, 0.75 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 6 goals (80-81); 14 assists (75-76); 18 points (75-76); 1.42 PPG (75-76)

Accolades - 3 Norris Trophies, Calder
All-Star Teams - 5-time 1st-team, 2-time 2nd-team
4-time Stanley Cup Champion

Denis Potvin won three Norris trophies in his career. Extremely impressive. He was named to the first all-star team five times and the second twice. Also impressive. But what's perhaps most impressive is that Potvin was considered an elite defenceman in a career that contained rivals by the name of Bobby Orr, Larry Robinson, Borje Salming, Guy Lapointe, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey and Rod Langway. Not bad company to be keeping.

Potvin's career + 460 ranks him sixth all-time, but that is all the more remarkable when you consider he only played 1,060 career games. For an 80-game season, Potvin averaged a +35 (by comparison, Bourque was +27, Lidstrom +24. Bobby Orr you ask? Meh...just +73). He was the backbone of a New York Islanders team that went from expansion fodder to consistent contender to absolute dynasty, winning four championships in a row.

It's so sad looking at the Islander franchise now (only eleven more years to go in the Rick DiPietro era!) to consider how great their teams were in the early 1980s. Potvin is one of the twenty-five greatest players of all-time, and yet he was joined by two others who are in that discussion as well: Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier. All three were playing at the top of their game during the championship years as well (actually, a case could be made that Potvin's best years came before the championship years). It's unlikely that we'll see a gathering of talent like that in a 30-team league, although the Red Wings (Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Zetterberg) and Avalanche (Sakic, Forsberg, Roy, Bourque) have come close.

Potvin was always dubbed as the heir apparent to Bobby Orr, an unfair burden if ever there was one. Could he live up to those standards? Of course not...in the same way Sidney Crosby doesn't reach the level of Wayne Gretzky. But by the standards of every other defenceman to ever play the game, Potvin excelled. For longevity reasons, he's surpassed in my books by Lidstrom and Bourque, but when you look at how well a defenceman played during his peak years, Potvin is right in the discussion with any of the greats. You knew you were getting 70+ points, perhaps 90 or more in his best years, and a +/- of +40 at least. And this was going up against the greatest team of all-time, the late 70s Canadiens, on a regular basis. Bobby Orr? No. But not half-bad.