Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

[Video] Debunking Many Misconceptions About Pavel Bure's Game. And Why He Was Amazing.


Guest

Recommended Posts

There has always seemed to be some confusion regarding what Pavel Bure contributed to the play of his team when he wasn't scoring.

While Pavel Bure's amazing goal scoring ability is well documented, some people still do not realize why he is considered to be one of the most electrifying players to watch in the history of the NHL. I decided to investigate for myself whether Pavel really was as exciting as we remember -- and he certainly was.

I combed through three randomly selected games from arguably his least successful seasons (1996-97 and 1997-98) and discovered that nearly every time Pavel touched the puck, something exciting happened. His explosiveness made him so elusive, and defenders had no idea how to contain him. The footage below is from arguably his worst seasons as a Canuck. Imagine him when he was at his best.

This is footage from just three games, enough to produce a 5-minute highlight reel. The Devils and Red Wings were at the height of their success, and Pavel was still able to accomplish some incredible feats against them.

October 25, 1995 vs the New Jersey Devils

October 5, 1996 vs the Calgary Flames

October 26, 1997 vs the Detroit Red Wings

Contrary to what many believe, Pavel backchecked and frequently stayed in his own zone until the Canucks regained possession of the puck. His favorite play was to start from his own goal line, pick up speed, and go end-to-end with the puck a la Bobby Orr. Often, he would be the last player to leave his defensive zone. He wanted to dazzle his audience, and as a result was not the constant cherry picker many believe him to be. He was so fast he could start at his own goal line and catch up to the play.

There are no goals featured in this highlight reel. Instead, this footage showcases a number of great plays that did not necessarily result in goals. Pavel Bure truly was a human highlight reel, as even his regular shifts were exhilarating to watch. As evidenced in the footage provided, he had at least 6 or 7 deadly rushes every game, and many more chances when moving the puck in the offensive zone; along with a goal or two every second game, this made Pavel Bure one of the most exciting players to play in the NHL. Every time he had the puck, fans gasped with excitement, as there was always a chance that he would score.

Hopefully, this is enough to curb the opinions of those who believe Pavel Bure was nothing more than a lazy cherry picker. He is, without a doubt, the greatest player in Canucks history. Never again will we see such an electrifying player with as much intensity and offensive ability as he had.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He scored 60 goals in a era of goltending that had them standing stright up most of the time.

For all we know, if the sedins played back then they could be averaging like 6 points a night EACH.

And pure snipers like ovi, stamkos, crosby could be getting like 100 goals easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He scored 60 goals in a era of goltending that had them standing stright up most of the time.

For all we know, if the sedins played back then they could be averaging like 6 points a night EACH.

And pure snipers like ovi, stamkos, crosby could be getting like 100 goals easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He scored 60 goals in a era of goltending that had them standing stright up most of the time.

For all we know, if the sedins played back then they could be averaging like 6 points a night EACH.

And pure snipers like ovi, stamkos, crosby could be getting like 100 goals easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He scored 60 goals in a era of goltending that had them standing stright up most of the time.

For all we know, if the sedins played back then they could be averaging like 6 points a night EACH.

And pure snipers like ovi, stamkos, crosby could be getting like 100 goals easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice effort,OP.The similiarities of Orr and Bure are highly evident in style and stats.

Imagine if the Canucks had a Bobby Orr or Bourque,Coffey,Potvin,MacInnis equivelant to play with him?

I was looking at Pavel's shots on goal statistics.

Pavel led not just the team but the entire league in shots on goal many times.

Despite playing in only 65 games his rookie year he outscored all his team mates and led the team with 34 goals in those 65 games.

In Pavel's first,full NHL campaign he tallied 407 regular season SOG.

The closest to him was again Geoff Courtnall but Pavel near doubled his count of 214 SOG.

Pavel led the team in scoring and assists and SOG again in 93-94.

Same story in 94-95.

Pavel was injured in 95-96 and in 96-97 he played a short campaign but managed to lead the team in SOG again.

In 1997-98 he tallied a remarkable 329 SOG and led the team again in goals,assists and SOG,of course.

Bourque and Marcel Dionne are the all time leaders for SOG in NHL history.

If we look at DIonne's record the highest shot total he ever achieved in one campaign was 378.

Bourque's most prolific shooting year garnered 340 SOG.

Gretzky,in his highest goal scoring year ever had his highest tally of 369 SOG.

Lemieux had a maximum of 382 SOG as his highest SOG record.

Orr tallied 413 SOG in 1969-70.

No other Canuck makes the top 250 list.Not one.

Pavel made it four times-three top 45 campaigns-all time-all players-entire NHL history.

Bure is ranked amongst the very elite in NHL history in this category:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/leaders/shots_season.html

NHL Leaders

Rank Player SOG Season 1. Phil Esposito* 550 1970-71 2. Alex Ovechkin 528 2008-09 3. Alex Ovechkin 446 2007-08 4. Paul Kariya 429 1998-99 5. Phil Esposito* 426 1971-72 6. Alex Ovechkin 425 2005-06 7. Bobby Hull* 414 1968-69 8. Bobby Orr* 413 1969-70 9. Phil Esposito* 411 1972-73 10. Brett Hull* 408 1991-92 11. Pavel Bure 407 1992-93 12. Phil Esposito* 405 1969-70

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pavel ranks 18th all time NHL and WHA players combined for the even handed goals scored record in one season.

Pavel did it twice at 45 goals and once with 44 even strength goals.

He makes the top list at 35 goals and again at 32 goals and again at 31 even handed goals scored campaigns.

Pave has five campaigns in the top 231 listed-all time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...