Surfing hockeydb.com is fun, and I love catching oddball stat lines, players, etc... things to do when you are bored.

23-23-22-24-40-6

Can you guess which player had that career stat line for goals? A great deal of consistency, one big season, and then a major flameout. He must have traded his soul for a 40-goal season.

How about this stat-line for points?

Age 22: 2
Age 23: 0
Age 24: 59
Age 25: 17
Age 26: 9

He played a small part of one season, spend the next season in the minors before he had one great rookie season. After that? He flamed out quite fast...

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Here's an easier one... a stat line for goals for a defenseman with a big shot. One BIG season, and then an up-and-down line later on.

Age 21: 1
Age 22: 4
Age 23: 5
Age 24: 3
Age 25: 23
Age 26: 10
Age 27: 4
Age 28: 12
Age 29: 8
Age 30: 13

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Edit: so, "Jeffgwa" managed to find out the names of all 3 players. He gets a free drink sometime. With the food prizes I give away, I'll need to host a BBQ.

Bob Kudelski is player #1 - Everyone knew his 40-goal season (split between the Senators and Panthers, so it doesn't pop out at a 40-goal year at first) was a mirage, but nobody expected he'd flame out so quickly afterwards. Did he sell his soul to get 40 goals?

According to the Legends of Hockey site:

The slick forward was off to a blazing start in 1993-94 with 26 goals in 42 games then was traded to Florida. He scored 14 goals for the expansion Panthers to reach the 40-goal mark. That year he also played in the NHL All-Star Game. During the lockout-shortened season, his production dropped off with the defence-oriented Panthers. He retired after playing 13 games with Florida in 1996.

Hmm, a quick retirement two seasons after his 40-goal campaign. It sounds like a soul sale to me!

Player #2 is Ken Hodge Jr., son of legendary Boston Bruin Ken Hodge, who was brilliant for the Bruins for his rookie year and then just fell down a manhole. During the hockey card craze of the early 90s, I remember that his card was a bit of a hot commodity due to his rookie season. I must have had a lot of Ken Hodge cards, and I wish I had the foresight to sell high. His cards are pretty much common fodder now.

Player #3 is Adrian Aucoin, a defenseman known for his booming shot. I can remember that big year, when Aucoin seemed to score on almost every blast he took. The problem with Aucoin? He has little accuracy. The big knock, IMO, on Aucoin is that he'll take a lot of blasts and miss the net completely. I also recall that he had a big shot and little else, offensively. His assist totals were never too high. Still, he turned into a pretty solid 2-way defenseman before he reached Chi-Town.