1257 NHL games. 564 goals 562 assists 1126 points.
Joe Nieuwendyk was a classy centreman for the Flames, Stars, Devils, Maple Leafs and finally the Panthers. His years as a Flame, though, were his most productive, here's his Flame line: 577GP 314G 302A 616Pts. Playoffs: 66 GP 32G 28A 60pts. Joe hit the NHL and the Flames with a bang. His official rookie year he scored 51 goals (he had played 9 games at the tail of the 86/87 season) in 87/88 . That puts him in a group with Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Teemu Selanne and Alex Ovechkin as rookies in the 50 goal club. In his first full 4 seasons Joe scored 51,51,45, and 45 goals: 197 goals in his first 319 games. After this period Joe settled more into a comfortable 75 pt/season guy who supplied leadership and timely scoring. Noticeably for a centreman, his goal/assist ratio is very high. Most centre's have considerably more assists than goals, but Joe consistently scored more. I think this is partly explained by his size, (6'2", 195) which was a large centre for the time, his slashing style which got him a little deeper in the offensive zone than most centre's, his background in lacrosse, I think, gave him a great eye/hand coordination and allowed him to get a lot of tips, and deflections. He was also a PP monster and was frequently in the top ten of the league in the stat.
Some of his career highlights:
- 3 Stanley Cups with 3 different teams, Calgary '89, Dallas '99 and New Jersey '03
- 564 goals, 19th all time.
- 1126 points, 50th all time.
- 215 power play goals, 10th all time.
- 93 game winning goals, 8th all time.
- played in 4 all star games, all as a Flame
- won the Calder trophy in 87/88
- won the King Clancy trophy in 95
- won the Conn Smythe in 99
Represented Canada in international play:
- 1986 World Junior Tournament (Silver Medal)
- 1990 World Championships
- 1998 Olympics
- 2002 Olympics (Gold Medal)
