Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Who's Better? Howe or Hull?

I am now going to discuss two Original Six era players: Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull, and try to answer the question: Who's Better?
Gordie Howe, superstar for the Detroit Red Wings in the Original Six era of the NHL, scored 801 goals, 1049 assists, and 1850 points during his incredible 26 year career. He had a GPG of .45 and an APG of .59, and a PPG of 1.05. He has 747 Goals Created, and a .46 GCPG over his entire career. His point shares are as follows: 186.6 OPS, 30.5 DPS, 217.1 PS. Per season, they average to 7.17 OPS per season, 1.17 DPS per season, and 8.35 PS per season. Over 157 playoff games, Gordie Howe amassed 68 goals, 92 assists, and 160 points. This means he had a playoff GPG of .433, a playoff APG of .585, and a playoff PPG of 1.01. He won 6 point scoring titles, led the league in goals 5 times, 3 times led the league in assists, and won 4 Stanley Cups during his career.
Bobby Hull, Chicago Blackhawks hero, scored 610 NHL goals and racked up 560 assists for 1170 total points during his career. He had 485 Goals Created as well. Over the course of 16 seasons, Bobby Hull recorded a GPG of .57, and APG of .53, and a PPG of 1.10. He also had a GCPG of .46, identical to Howe's. Bobby Hull's Point Share statistics are as follows: 115.9 OPS, 19.7 DPS, and 135.7 PS. This, per season, is 7.24 OPS per season, 1.23 DPS per season, and 8.48 PPS per season. Over the course of 119 playoff games, Bobby Hull scored 62 goals and had 67 assists for 129 points. This gives him a playoff GPG of .52, a playoff APG of .56, and a playoff PPG of 1.1. He won 3 point scoring titles, led the league in goals 7 times, and won one Stanley Cup during his career.
But what does this all  mean? Looking at all these statistics, we can see that Bobby Hull, although he did not score as many goals as Howe, had a higher GPG than Howe did. If Bobby Hull had played as many seasons as Howe did, he would have been likely to pass up Howe in total goals scored. However, Howe does have the assist advantage over Bobby Hull. The PPG advantage goes to Hull. Hull beats Howe in 2 of those 3 categories. In terms of Point Shares Per Season, the two are very close. Howe's 7.17 OPS falls short of Hull's 7.24, but only by .07. Hull has a higher average DPS per season as well as a higher PS per season, winning all 3 categories, albeit by slim margins. Looking at playoff performance, we see that Hull averages more goals and points than Howe, but not more assists, very similar to the regular season. Statistically, Hull seems to have the advantage over Howe from a per game and per season standpoint.
Now, something needs to be said of Gordie Howe's longevity. The man played 26 NHL seasons, as well as 6 WHA seasons. That is 32 professional hockey seasons. He retired from pro hockey at the age of 51, the oldest NHL player in history. He still managed to score 15 goals and have 26 assists at age 51, which is simply incredible. This being said, Hull's 16 seasons are nothing to scoff at. Howe also won 3 more Cups than Hull, but again, just like Crosby vs Ovechkin, it takes a TEAM to win the Stanley Cup, not just one player.
THE WINNER:
Gordie Howe. This one was tough. I was thinking about Bobby Hull due to his higher averages, but then I noticed: the two have the SAME Goals Created Per Game at .46. This means that over 26 seasons, Gordie Howe was able to create the same average of goals per season as Bobby Hull did over 16 seasons. This clearly show's Howe's unmatched consistency and longevity in a tough league. His 4 Stanley Cups and assisting abilities also helped him win this round, although again it was very close.

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