Friday, March 4, 2011

#110 - Glenn Anderson

Glenn Anderson (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #110)

Adjusted Stats

1980-1981   Edm       59 GP   25 goals   19 assists    43 points     0.73 PPG
1981-1982   Edm       82 GP   30 goals   53 assists    82 points     1.01 PPG
1982-1983   Edm       74 GP   39 goals   46 assists    85 points     1.15 PPG
1983-1984   Edm*     82 GP   43 goals   36 assists    79 points     0.96 PPG
1984-1985   Edm*     82 GP   34 goals   32 assists    66 points     0.80 PPG
1985-1986   Edm       74 GP   43 goals   38 assists    81 points     1.10 PPG
1986-1987   Edm*     82 GP   30 goals   33 assists    63 points     0.76 PPG
1987-1988   Edm*     82 GP   32 goals   42 assists    75 points     0.91 PPG
1988-1989   Edm       81 GP   13 goals   40 assists    54 points     0.67 PPG
1989-1990   Edm*     75 GP   29 goals   33 assists    62 points     0.82 PPG
1990-1991   Edm       76 GP   22 goals   28 assists    50 points     0.66 PPG
1991-1992   Tor         74 GP   22 goals   30 assists    52 points    0.70 PPG
1992-1993   Tor         74 GP   18 goals   36 assists    54 points    0.73 PPG
1993-1994   Tor/NYR* 83 GP   19 goals   19 assists   38 points  0.46 PPG
1994-1995   Stl           62 GP   21 goals   25 assists   46 points    0.74 PPG
1995-1996   Edm/Stl   32 GP   6 goals     8 assists     14 points    0.43 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1980-1981   Edm        9 GP     4 goals     5 assists      8 points     0.94 PPG
1981-1982   Edm        5 GP     2 goals     4 assists      5 points     1.09 PPG
1982-1983   Edm        16 GP   8 goals     8 assists      16 points   0.98 PPG
1983-1984   Edm*      19 GP   5 goals     10 assists    15 points   0.80 PPG
1984-1985   Edm*      18 GP   8 goals     12 assists    20 points   1.08 PPG
1985-1986   Edm        10 GP   7 goals     3 assists      10 points   0.95 PPG
1986-1987   Edm*      21 GP   13 goals   12 assists    24 points   1.15 PPG
1987-1988   Edm*      19 GP   7 goals     12 assists    19 points   0.99 PPG
1988-1989   Edm        7 GP     1 goal       2 assists      3 points     0.37 PPG
1989-1990   Edm*      22 GP   8 goals     10 assists    19 points   0.85 PPG
1990-1991   Edm        18 GP   5 goals     6 assists      11 points   0.62 PPG
1992-1993   Tor          21 GP   6 goals     9 assists      15 points   0.70 PPG
1993-1994   NYR*     23 GP   3 goals     3 assists      6 points     0.26 PPG
1994-1995   Stl           6 GP     1 goal       1 assist        2 points    0.29 PPG
1995-1996   Stl           11 GP   1 goal       4 assists      5 points    0.43 PPG

Career - 1174 GP, 426 goals, 518 assists, 944 points, 0.80 PPG
Career-Highs - 43 goals (85-86); 46 assists (82-83); 85 points (82-83); 1.15 PPG (82-83)
Avg. (16 seasons) - 73 GP, 27 goals, 32 assists, 59 points, 0.80 PPG
Peak Avg. (81-89) - 80 GP, 33 goals, 40 assists, 73 points, 0.92 PPG, 4 Cups

Playoff Career - 225 GP, 79 goals, 101 assists, 178 points, 0.79 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 13 goals (86-87); 12 assists (84-85); 24 points (86-87); 1.15 PPG (86-87)

Accolades - None
All-Star Teams - None
6-time Stanley Cup Champion

Glenn Anderson gets a bit of the Yvan Cournoyer/Jacques Lemaire treatment, in that a very good player moves up the Pyramid because he was so consistently part of Stanley Cup championship teams. Offensively, there isn't much to separate Anderson at right-wing from my cutoff point for the Pyramid (and favourite whipping boy) Dino Ciccarelli. Neither of them won any notable award or were named to a year-end all-star team. The difference is Anderson won six Stanley Cups while Ciccarelli won zero.

His peak numbers throughout the 1980s aren't as impressive after adjustment. There are no 100+ point seasons or 50-goal years left on the resume...in fact, there are just two 40-goal campaigns and three 80-point years when the high-scoring decade that Anderson thrived in is factored in. Perhaps this is why it took Anderson a few years to get into the Hall of Fame.

But even if the numbers aren't incredible, there's no doubt that Glenn Anderson was the premier second-line right-winger of his era. Who knows...if Jari Kurri hadn't been an Oiler, Anderson's numbers might have been off the charts by virtue of him getting a chance to play with Wayne Gretzky. But Kurri earned his spot alongside Gretzky with his excellent two-way play, while Anderson (like his linemate Messier) wasn't exactly known for being superb at both ends of the ice.

It's a measure of how the league has evolved (or devolved) that a common setup for a team now is to have one scoring line, two checking lines and a goon line, while the Oilers of the 1980s had one of the best lines ever (Gretzky-Kurri-Messier/whoever) and then relied on their second-line to be instant offense (Anderson-Messier-whoever). What an exciting team they were, and an exciting era. Anderson benefited from that era, just as Coffey, Kurri and Messier did...but they were also integral contributors to it as well.

Perhaps because Anderson was known as being more mercurial and aloof, he never got much credit for being a key part of the leadership core of the Oilers. Nonetheless, while Messier hogs the glory as "greatest leader in hockey history", Anderson was still a key contributor to the Oilers' Gretzky-less championship in 1990. He went to the Maple Leafs and was a decent second/third-liner on what was probably their best team of the past forty years (the 92-93 Conference final team). And after being traded to the Rangers and reunited with Messier, Anderson earned his sixth Stanley Cup ring with the Rangers, albeit in nowhere near as important a role as Messier had.

Anderson finally got his due and is part of the hall-of-fame now. He's earned it...his 93 playoff goals and 214 points are among the highest of all-time (although anyone who was a key contributor for the Oilers is high on the list...the actual adjusted numbers are 79 goals and 178 points), and he could always be counted on to score key goals for the Oilers on those rare nights when Gretzky, Messier, Coffey or Kurri weren't clicking. Was he ever anywhere near the best player on a great team? No. Instead, he was a provider of instant-offense for one of the most dynamic and successful teams ever assembled.

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