#71 - Peter Stastny

Peter Stastny (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #71)

Adjusted Stats

1980-1981   Que        79 GP   32 goals   57 assists   89 points     1.13 PPG
1981-1982   Que        82 GP   36 goals   73 assists   109 points   1.33 PPG
1982-1983   Que        77 GP   38 goals   63 assists   101 points   1.32 PPG
1983-1984   Que        82 GP   37 goals   58 assists   95 points     1.16 PPG
1984-1985   Que        77 GP   26 goals   55 assists   81 points     1.06 PPG
1985-1986   Que        78 GP   33 goals   64 assists   97 points     1.24 PPG
1986-1987   Que        66 GP   21 goals   46 assists   66 points     1.01 PPG
1987-1988   Que        78 GP   39 goals   55 assists   94 points     1.21 PPG
1988-1989   Que        74 GP   29 goals   42 assists   72 points     0.97 PPG
1989-1990   Que/NJ   76 GP   25 goals   38 assists   62 points     0.82 PPG
1990-1991   NJ           79 GP   16 goals   38 assists   55 points    0.69 PPG
1991-1992   NJ           68 GP   22 goals   34 assists   56 points    0.83 PPG
1992-1993   NJ           61 GP   14 goals   19 assists   33 points    0.55 PPG
1993-1994   Stl           17 GP    5 goals     10 assists   15 points    0.89 PPG
1994-1995   Stl           10 GP    2 goals     2 assists     4 points      0.34 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1980-1981   Que         5 GP      1 goal      6 assists      7 points     1.42 PPG
1981-1982   Que         12 GP    5 goals     9 assists     14 points    1.17 PPG
1982-1983   Que         4 GP      2 goals     2 assists      4 points     0.98 PPG
1983-1984   Que         9 GP      2 goals     6 assists      8 points     0.89 PPG
1984-1985   Que         18 GP    3 goals     14 assists   17 points    0.96 PPG
1985-1986   Que         3 GP      0 goals      1 assist       1 point      0.29 PPG
1986-1987   Que         13 GP    5 goals      8 assists    13 points    1.03 PPG
1989-1990   NJ           6 GP      2 goals      2 assists     4 points     0.70 PPG
1990-1991   NJ           7 GP      3 goals      3 assists     6 points     0.85 PPG
1991-1992   NJ           7 GP      3 goals      6 assists     9 points     1.25 PPG
1992-1993   NJ           5 GP      0 goals      2 assists     2 points     0.33 PPG
1993-1994   Stl           4 GP      0 goals       0 assists    0 points     0.00 PPG

Career - 1004 GP, 375 goals, 654 assists, 1029 points, 1.02 PPG
Career-Highs - 38 goals (82-83); 73 assists (81-82); 109 points (81-82); 1.33 PPG (81-82)
Avg. (15 seasons) - 67 GP, 25 goals, 44 assists, 69 points, 1.02 PPG
Peak Avg. (80-88) - 77 GP, 33 goals, 59 assists, 92 points, 1.18 PPG, 0 Cups

Playoff Career - 93 GP, 26 goals, 59 assists, 85 points, 0.91 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 5 goals (81-82); 14 assists (84-85); 17 points (84-85); 1.42 PPG (80-81)

Accolades - Calder
All-Star Teams - None
Never Won Stanley Cup

Stastny would appear to be a chartered member of the Oh Yeah, That Guy group of players who amassed a ton of points throughout the high-scoring 1980s (Savard, Hawerchuk), except in Stastny's case, he seems to be quite fondly remembered by today's generation of fans. Part of this may be due to the fact that he ushered in an era of European immigration (previously helped by Borje Salming and others), and was one of the first ultra-successful European forwards in NHL history.

The highest-scoring player of the 1980s was, wait for it...Wayne Gretzky. But a distant second on the list was Peter Stastny, who from the time he burst onto the scene in 1980 was one of the elite point-getters in the league (he was 24 when he joined and already in his prime, so we can assume his career numbers may have been even gaudier if he had played for a longer period). In real-life points, Stastny put up six 100-point seasons...in adjusted terms, he's down to two, but his stretch from 1980 to 1988 in which he averaged 92 adjusted points is extremely impressive.

The problem with Stastny, as it was with Hawerchuk, is that he was playing for Nordiques' teams that ranged from respectable (i.e. 83-84, when they finished with 94 points and lost in the second round) to dreadful (i.e. 88-89, when they were one of the worst teams in the league). I don't put Stastny in the Joe Thornton category when it comes to shouldering the responsibility, though, he's more like a Marcel Dionne-lite. Stastny had 85 adjusted playoff points in 93 career games, and in 1985 he was part of a Nordiques' squad that made a somewhat unlikely run to the Conference finals, with Stastny scoring 17 in 18 along the way.

Stastny, much like his son Paul (currently a very good player for the Colorado Avalanche), was more of an elite playmaker than sniper...he let Michel Goulet pot most of the goals. It is unfortunate that Stastny came into the league during one dynasty (the Islanders) and thrived during another (the Oilers). And, like many of the other centers of the 1980s, he's a victim of the Gretzky/Lemieux overshadowing that occurred. Still, Stastny is fondly remembered as one of the first great European centers, someone who paved the way for players like Mats Sundin (whose career is essentially Stastny's fifteen years later). Bob McCown ranked Stastny as the 2nd-best European player ever...obviously I don't think he deserves to be that high (better than Jagr, Selanne, Forsberg...really?), but Stastny does deserve to be remembered with respect, and he's in the conversation with the better centers of his era who couldn't quite push through to superstardom.