#117 - Steve Shutt

Steve Shutt (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #117)

Adjusted Stats

1972-1973   Mtl*       53 GP   8 goals      8 assists      16 points     0.30 PPG
1973-1974   Mtl         74 GP   15 goals    20 assists    35 points     0.48 PPG
1974-1975   Mtl         79 GP   28 goals    32 assists    60 points     0.76 PPG
1975-1976   Mtl*       82 GP   42 goals    31 assists    73 points     0.89 PPG
1976-1977   Mtl*       82 GP   57 goals    43 assists    100 points   1.22 PPG
1977-1978   Mtl*       82 GP   47 goals    35 assists    82 points     1.00 PPG
1978-1979   Mtl*       74 GP   33 goals    36 assists    69 points     0.94 PPG
1979-1980   Mtl         79 GP   42 goals    38 assists    80 points     1.01 PPG
1980-1981   Mtl         79 GP   29 goals    31 assists    60 points     0.76 PPG
1981-1982   Mtl         58 GP   24 goals    19 assists    43 points     0.74 PPG
1982-1983   Mtl         80 GP   29 goals    18 assists    46 points     0.58 PPG
1983-1984   Mtl         65 GP   11 goals    18 assists    30 points     0.46 PPG
1984-1985   Mtl/LA   71 GP   15 goals    20 assists    35 points     0.49 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1972-1973    Mtl*      1 GP      0 goals      0 assists      0 points      0.00 PPG
1973-1974    Mtl        6 GP      5 goals      3 assists      8 points      1.30 PPG
1974-1975    Mtl        9 GP      1 goal        5 assists      6 points      0.71 PPG
1975-1976    Mtl*      13 GP    7 goals      8 assists      15 points    1.12 PPG
1976-1977    Mtl*      14 GP    7 goals      9 assists      16 points    1.13 PPG
1977-1978    Mtl*      15 GP    9 goals      8 assists      17 points    1.10 PPG
1978-1979    Mtl*      11 GP    4 goals      6 assists      10 points    0.91 PPG
1979-1980    Mtl        10 GP    5 goals      3 assists       8 points     0.77 PPG
1980-1981    Mtl        3 GP      1 goal        1 assist        2 points     0.71 PPG
1982-1983    Mtl        3 GP      1 goal        0 assists       1 point      0.26 PPG
1983-1984    Mtl        11 GP    6 goals      2 assists       8 points     0.73 PPG
1984-1985    LA         3 GP      0 goals      0 assists       0 points    0.00 PPG

Career - 958 GP, 380 goals, 349 assists, 729 points, 0.76 PPG
Career-Highs - 57 goals (76-77); 43 assists (76-77); 100 points (76-77); 1.22 PPG
Avg. (13 seasons) - 74 GP, 29 goals, 27 assists, 56 points, 0.76 PPG
Peak Avg. (74-82) - 77 GP, 38 goals, 33 assists, 71 points, 0.92 PPG, 4 Cups

Playoff Career - 99 GP, 46 goals, 45 assists, 91 points, 0.92 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 9 goals (77-78); 9 assists (76-77); 17 points (77-78); 1.30 PPG (73-74)

Accolades - None
All-Star Teams - 1-time 1st-team, 2-time 2nd-team
5-time Stanley Cup Champion

Let's be honest: Steve Shutt probably benefited from his circumstances and surroundings more than almost any other player on the Pyramid...even more than a Jari Kurri or Johnny Bucyk. Shutt was a short, pudgy man with limited defensive abilities and a slow skating style, but he struck gold by being on the Montreal Canadiens right as Guy Lafleur was entering his prime, providing Lafleur and Lemaire with a premier finisher who was stealthy and potted goals at just the right time.

Talent wise, Shutt doesn't belong on the Pyramid. His final career numbers are middling because he only played for thirteen seasons, of which only five were particularly good. The adjusted averages of 29 goals and 56 points are quite lame, especially when one considers he only played for thirteen years (not that there was ever any question of him playing longer...his conditioning was so mediocre that it would have been sad to see a mid-30s Shutt lumbering around).

But Shutt belongs here for the same reason that Serge Savard and Bob Gainey do: because I have a lot of time for someone who peaked during a run in which their team won four straight Championships. From 1975 to 1980, Shutt averaged 44 goals for the Habs as they were in the midst of their dynasty. Like so many of his teammates, Shutt reached his peak during the 1976-1977 season, scoring 60 goals (57 when adjusted) and earning first-team all-star honours at LW. Shutt was also particularly reliable come playoff time, stepping up his already-impressive scoring average and recording nearly a point a game over 99 playoff games.

Perhaps due to conditioning or possibly simply due to a lack of sustained motivation, both Shutt and Lafleur saw their production plummet after Lemaire retired in 1979. The Habs wouldn't win another Cup during Shutt's career, and sadly he ended as a Los Angeles King, not with the Montreal team that he had spent his entire career with. It's still a hall-of-fame career merely because Shutt was the premier finisher on one of the best teams ever assembled. And if I were in doubt, Shutt would make it onto my Pyramid simply because he's such a likeable personality: laidback, relaxed and always willing to joke about his own shortcomings as a player.

That's what it comes down to with Shutt: you can criticize the shortcomings in his game or claim that he was lucky to have been in the right place at the right time, but he would probably just shrug off those criticisms. And with five Stanley Cup rings, I would to.