Pavel Bure (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #98)
Adjusted Stats
1991-1992 Van 67 GP 31 goals 24 assists 54 points 0.82 PPG
1992-1993 Van 81 GP 50 goals 41 assists 91 points 1.12 PPG
1993-1994 Van 74 GP 56 goals 44 assists 99 points 1.34 PPG
1994-1995 Van 75 GP 35 goals 40 assists 76 points 1.01 PPG
1995-1996 Van 15 GP 6 goals 7 assists 13 points 0.85 PPG
1996-1997 Van 63 GP 24 goals 34 assists 58 points 0.92 PPG
1997-1998 Van 82 GP 59 goals 45 assists 105 points 1.28 PPG
1998-1999 Fla 11 GP 15 goals 4 assists 19 points 1.70 PPG
1999-2000 Fla 74 GP 65 goals 40 assists 105 points 1.42 PPG
2000-2001 Fla 82 GP 66 goals 37 assists 103 points 1.25 PPG
2001-2002 Fla/NYR 68 GP 40 goals 41 assists 81 points 1.19 PPG
2002-2003 NYR 39 GP 22 goals 13 assists 35 points 0.89 PPG
Adjusted Playoff Stats
1991-1992 Van 13 GP 5 goals 3 assists 9 points 0.67 PPG
1992-1993 Van 12 GP 4 goals 6 assists 10 points 0.82 PPG
1993-1994 Van 24 GP 16 goals 15 assists 30 points 1.27 PPG
1994-1995 Van 11 GP 6 goals 5 assists 11 points 1.04 PPG
1999-2000 Fla 4 GP 1 goal 4 assists 5 points 1.20 PPG
Career - 731 GP, 469 goals, 370 assists, 839 points, 1.15 PPG
Career-Highs - 66 goals (00-01); 105 points (99-00); 45 assists (97-98); 1.42 PPG (99-00)
Avg. (12 seasons) - 61 GP, 39 goals, 31 assists, 70 points, 1.15 PPG
Peak Avg. (93-01) - 60 GP, 41 goals, 31 assists, 72 points, 1.21 PPG, 0 Cups
Playoff Career - 64 GP, 32 goals, 33 assists, 65 points, 1.02 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 16 goals (93-94); 15 assists (93-94); 30 points (93-94); 1.27 PPG (93-94)
Accolades - 2 Richard Trophies, Calder
All-Star Teams - 1-time 1st-team, 2-time 2nd-team
Never Won Stanley Cup
Pavel Bure's demise is less of a tragedy than most players who fall into the "What Might Have Been" camp. Unlike with most players whose career is cut short by injuries or bad luck, Bure could sometimes owe the failure to live up to his potential to his own lack of consistent effort. Still, there's no doubt that unfortunate knee injuries also contributed to Bure's shortened career, and in doing so robbed us of one of the best pure goal scorers to play the game.
For proof of Bure's goal-scoring prowess, consider that he has five 50+ goal seasons to his credit, as well as back to back years in which he put up 65 goals and then 66. While it's true that Bure was a bit of a puck hog, particularly in his 60-goal Florida Panther years, there's also no doubt that his production helped out the team...the last time the Panthers made the playoffs was the year Bure finished runner-up for the MVP award, 1999-2000.
From a team perspective, Bure's peak was in his early years with Vancouver, particularly 1993-1994, when he helped lead them to the Stanley Cup finals (along with Trevor Linden). But after that, injuries and then a seeming disinterest seemed to set in for Bure, and it wasn't until he was traded to Florida that he rediscovered his scoring touch (in more than one way...he was dating Anna Kournikova for a while).
No one will know why Bure chose to retire so early. It may have been the knee injuries, a frustration with the debacle that was the New York Rangers in the early 2000s, or perhaps a simple lack of motivation. Now we're left with the question of whether or not Bure is a hall-of-famer. In my opinion, yes. Even with all of his the games he missed, he still has almost 500 adjusted career goals, and his GPG ratio is one of the highest in history. Was he one-dimensional? Sure. Was he essentially like Ilya Kovalchuk now? Yup. But he was also electrifying for fans in both Florida and Vancouver when he was at his best, and I'll take that over the plodding numbers of a Dino Ciccarelli.
Plus he was having sex with Anna Kournikova on a regular basis. That has to be worth something.
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