#65 - Nels Stewart

Nels Stewart (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #65)

Adjusted Stats

1925-1926   Mtl (M)*   82 GP   103 goals  24 assists   128 points    1.56 PPG
1926-1927   Mtl (M)     80 GP   49 goals    11 assists   60 points      0.75 PPG
1927-1928   Mtl (M)     76 GP   81 goals    21 assists   103 points    1.34 PPG
1928-1929   Mtl (M)     82 GP   82 goals    31 assists   114 points    1.39 PPG
1929-1930   Mtl (M)     82 GP   76 goals    31 assists   107 points    1.30 PPG
1930-1931   Mtl (M)     78 GP   60 goals    33 assists   93 points      1.19 PPG
1931-1932   Mtl (M)     65 GP   46 goals    23 assists   70 points      1.07 PPG
1932-1933   Bos           80 GP   42 goals    42 assists   83 points      1.04 PPG
1933-1934   Bos           82 GP   48 goals    37 assists   85 points      1.04 PPG
1934-1935   Bos           80 GP   44 goals    38 assists   81 points      1.01 PPG
1935-1936   Bos           82 GP   34 goals    36 assists   70 points      0.86 PPG
1936-1937   Bos/NYA  73 GP   49 goals    26 assists   75 points     1.02 PPG
1937-1938   NYA         82 GP   39 goals    35 assists   75 points     0.91 PPG
1938-1939   NYA         79 GP   33 goals    39 assists   73 points     0.92 PPG
1939-1940   NYA         60 GP   13 goals    15 assists   27 points     0.46 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1925-1926   Mtl (M)*   4 GP      0 goals      3 assists     3 points       0.85 PPG
1926-1927   Mtl (M)     2 GP      0 goals      0 assists     0 points       0.00 PPG
1927-1928   Mtl (M)     9 GP      4 goals      4 assists     8 points       0.88 PPG
1929-1930   Mtl (M)     4 GP      1 goal        1 assist      3 points       0.75 PPG
1930-1931   Mtl (M)     2 GP      1 goal        0 assists     1 point        0.70 PPG
1931-1932   Mtl (M)     4 GP      0 goals       1 assist      1 point        0.26 PPG
1932-1933   Bos           5 GP      3 goals       0 assists     3 points      0.55 PPG
1934-1935   Bos           4 GP      0 goals       2 assists     2 points      0.42 PPG
1935-1936   NYA        5 GP       1 goal        2 assists     3 points      0.67 PPG
1937-1938   NYA        6 GP       3 goals      4 assists     6 points      1.05 PPG
1938-1939   NYA        2 GP       0 goals      0 assists     0 points      0.00 PPG
1939-1940   NYA        3 GP       0 goals      0 assists     0 points      0.00 PPG

Career - 1163 GP, 799 goals, 442 assists, 1244 points, 1.07 PPG
Career-Highs - 103 goals (25-26); 42 assists (32-33); 128 points (25-26); 1.56 PPG (25-26)
Avg. (15 seasons) - 78 GP, 53 goals, 29 assists, 83 points, 1.07 PPG
Peak Avg. (25-33) - 78 GP, 67 goals, 27 assists, 95 points, 1.21 PPG, 1 Cup

Playoff Career - 50 GP, 13 goals, 17 assists, 30 points, 0.60 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 4 goals (27-28); 4 assists (37-38); 8 points (27-28); 1.05 PPG (37-38)

Accolades - 2 MVP Awards
All-Star Teams - None
1-time Stanley Cup Champion

Teemu Selanne and Mike Bossy be damned...it's fair to say we won't be seeing a better rookie season than the one enjoyed by Nels Stewart way back in 1925-1926. His adjusted numbers are mind-boggling: 103 goals and 128 points, the MVP award, and a Stanley Cup. It doesn't get much better than that for a debut. Of course, with Stewart, I have to invoke the Howie Morenz rule: it's almost impossible to judge someone who was at their best in the 1920s, which is why despite his amazing accomplishments, Stewart ranks relatively low.

With 799 adjusted career goals, Stewart ranks second all-time to Gordie Howe, and even ahead of Wayne Gretzky. Now of course, that has to be taken with a grain of salt since the era was completely different (no forward passes, strictly stand-up goaltenders, laughable equipment), but it gives you a good idea of how prolific Stewart was at the time. His legend doesn't quite live on as it does with Morenz or Shore, probably because the team that Stewart made his name with, the Montreal Maroons, no longer exists (and neither does the team he closed out his career with, the New York Americans).

Although it's strictly an apples-to-oranges exercise, when viewing the stats of the stars of the 20s and 30s, I like to just look at their point totals. The goal totals are too gaudy to be believed (100 here, 80 there), but similarly, the assist totals are far lower than they would be for a star of today's era. But the point total is a happy medium of the two, and by looking at them, we can see that Stewart had the equivalent of four 100+ point seasons in his first five years. He won two MVP awards but never made a year-end all-star team, no doubt because they didn't exist until 1931. I think it's safe to say that Stewart would have made at least four or five if they had been around.

When Stewart retired, he was second all-time in league scoring to only Howie Morenz. The fact that he played fifteen relatively healthy seasons is also impressive considering he played in an era of smoking, drinking and poor fitness. Stewart's legacy isn't as great as Morenz', and he only took home one championship ring in his career and his production dipped significantly in the playoffs. But when you're sifting through the great players of the pre-WWII era, it doesn't take long before you get to Nels Stewart.