#108 - Darryl Sittler

Darryl Sittler (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #108)

Adjusted Stats

1970-1971   Tor        52 GP   10 goals   8 assists     19 points      0.36 PPG
1971-1972   Tor        78 GP   16 goals   18 assists   34 points      0.43 PPG
1972-1973   Tor        82 GP   29 goals   47 assists   76 points      0.93 PPG
1973-1974   Tor        82 GP   38 goals   47 assists   85 points      1.04 PPG
1974-1975   Tor        74 GP   33 goals   40 assists   74 points      1.00 PPG
1975-1976   Tor        81 GP   38 goals   55 assists   92 points      1.14 PPG
1976-1977   Tor        75 GP   36 goals   49 assists   85 points      1.14 PPG
1977-1978   Tor        82 GP   43 goals   69 assists   112 points    1.36 PPG
1978-1979   Tor        72 GP   32 goals   46 assists   78 points      1.09 PPG
1979-1980   Tor        75 GP   36 goals   51 assists   87 points      1.16 PPG
1980-1981   Tor        82 GP   35 goals   43 assists   79 points      0.96 PPG
1981-1982   Tor/Phi  75 GP   25 goals   30 assists   55 points      0.73 PPG
1982-1983   Phi         82 GP   35 goals   33 assists   68 points     0.83 PPG
1983-1984   Phi         78 GP   22 goals   29 assists   50 points     0.65 PPG
1984-1985   Det        63 GP   9 goals     13 assists   22 points     0.35 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1970-1971   Tor         6 GP    2 goals     1 assist       3 points      0.46 PPG
1971-1972   Tor         3 GP    0 goals     0 assists      0 points     0.00 PPG
1973-1974   Tor         4 GP    2 goals     1 assist       3 points     0.73 PPG
1974-1975   Tor         7 GP    2 goals     1 assist       3 points     0.39 PPG
1975-1976   Tor         10 GP  5 goals     7 assists     12 points   1.16 PPG
1976-1977   Tor         9 GP    4 goals     14 assists   18 points   2.05 PPG
1977-1978   Tor         13 GP  3 goals     8 assists     11 points   0.82 PPG
1978-1979   Tor         6 GP    5 goals     4 assists     8 points     1.36 PPG
1979-1980   Tor         3 GP    1 goal       2 assists     3 points     0.85 PPG
1980-1981   Tor         3 GP    0 goals     0 assists     0 points     0.00 PPG
1981-1982   Phi          4 GP    2 goals     1 assist       3 points    0.78 PPG
1982-1983   Phi          3 GP    1 goal       0 assists     1 point     0.26 PPG
1983-1984   Phi          3 GP    0 goals     2 assists     2 points    0.59 PPG
1984-1985   Det         2 GP    0 goals     2 assists     2 points    0.75 PPG

Career - 1133 GP, 437 goals, 578 assists, 1016 points, 0.90 PPG
Career-Highs - 43 goals (77-78); 69 assists (77-78); 112 points (77-78); 1.36 PPG (77-78)
Avg. (15 seasons) - 76 GP, 29 goals, 39 assists, 68 points, 0.90 PPG
Peak Avg. (73-81) - 78 GP, 36 goals, 50 assists, 87 points, 1.11 PPG, 0 Cups

Playoff Career - 76 GP, 27 goals, 43 assists, 69 points, 0.91 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 5 goals (78-79); 14 assists (76-77); 18 points (76-77); 2.05 PPG (76-77)

Accolades - None
All-Star Teams - 1-time 2nd-team
Never Won Stanley Cup

We arrive now at another Maple Leaf legend who many may suspect is slightly overrated since he happened to play in hockey-mad Toronto. While there's no doubt that Sittler's accomplishments don't place him anywhere near the conversation of the league's greatest centers, he still had over 1,000 career points, and for a period in the 1970s, was one of the top scorers in the league.

Sittler is trotted out at least once annually at the Air Canada Centre, often honoured for his record-breaking 10-point game (a record that still stands). That game occurred during Sittler's peak, the late-1970s, when he and Borje Salming had to suffer through the mismanagement of a truly inept Maple Leafs front office, led by notorious owner Harold Ballard. Anyone who had to endure Harold Ballard as their owner has my outmost sympathy...surviving is difficult enough, but Sittler thrived.

His peak average of 36 goals and 87 points is right in the area with other high scorers like Hawerchuk and Sundin. So why isn't Sittler a tad higher on the Pyramid? He only played fifteen seasons, and of those fifteen, the first two and the final four weren't anything to write home about (although Sittler did have 35 goals and 68 points in 1982-1983, his first full season with the Flyers). And Sittler only made one second all-star team at center, and he played before Gretzky entered the league. But more to the point with Sittler, as with any Maple Leaf, there's the issue of the lack of team success. While the Maple Leafs weren't the complete joke they turned into in the 1980s, they only once made the Conference finals once during Sittler's tenure, losing to the Canadiens' dynasty.

None of this was necessarily Sittler's fault. In the 1977 playoffs, the Maple Leafs were ousted in the second round, but not before Sittler managed to put up a remarkable 18 adjusted points in just 9 playoff games. For his career, Sittler averaged nearly a point a game in the playoffs, so it's not like he pulled a disappearing act. Unfortunately though, he was a Maple Leaf in the post-Original Six era, and as with Sundin and Salming, two other excellent players, he will be remembered fondly by fans in Toronto, but won't be remembered as a winner anywhere else.