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Back To The Future Day is upon us! In honor of this "official" Holiday, I will be going "back to the 2014-2015 season" at this time to show how much things evolve from game 5 to one month to game 82 in a season.
Top 5 Scorers last year:
Jamie Benn - Currently at 10 points 6 games into this year.
6 games into last season: 8points
End of October: 11 points (23rd in the league)
End of the season: 87 points (1st in the league)
John Tavares - Currently at 9 points 6 games into this year.
6 games into last season: 10 points
End of October: 12 points (11th in the league)
End of the season: 86 points (2nd in the league)
Sidney Crosby - Currently at 3 points 6 games into this year.
6 games into last season: 8 points
End of October: 15 points (1st in the league)
End of the season: 84 points (3rd in the league)
Looking at other Notables from the end of October
Tyler Seguin
End of October: 15 points (1st in the league)
End of the season: 77 points (7th in the league)
Jakub Voracek
End of October: 15 points (1st in the league)
End of the season: 81 points (6th int he league)
Corey Perry
End of October: 14 points (4th in the league)
End of the season: 55 points (62nd in the league)
Tyler Toffoli
End of October: 14 points (4th in the league)
End of the season 49 points (90th in the league)
Henrik Zetterberg
End of October: 14 points (4th in the league)
End of the season: 66 points (23rd in the league)
Top 3 Goal Scorers
Alex Ovechkin - Currently at 4 goals 4 games into this year.
4 games into last season: 5 goals
End of October: 5 goals (15th in the league)
End of the season: 53 goals (1st in the league)
Steven Stamkos - Currently at 5 goals 6 games into this year.
6 games into last season: 5 goals.
End of October: 8 goals (3rd in the league)
End of the season: 43 goals (2nd in the league)
Rick Nash - Currently at 0 goals 7 games into this year.
7 games into last season: 8 goals
End of October: 9 goals (2nd in the league)
End of the season: 42 goals (3rd in the league)
Looking from the other notables at the end of October: Corey Perry
End of October: 10 goals (1st in the league)
End of the season: 33 goals (10th in the league)
Tanner Pearson
End of October: 7 goals (4th in the league)
End of the season: 12 goals (205th in the league) over 42 games.
Gustav Nyquist
End of October: 7 goals (4th in the league)
End of the season: 27 goals (28th in the league)
James Neal
End of October: 7 goals (4th in the league)
End of the season: 23 goals (53rd in the league)
The same holds true for Goalies:
Among goalies who played at least 5 games in October these ones had the best Save Percentage:
Jonathan Quick
End of October: .942 (1st in the league)
End of the season: .918 (22nd in the league)
Jonas Hiller
End of October: .941 (2nd in the league)
End of the season: .918 (22nd in the league)
Frederik Anderson
End of October: .941 (2nd in the league)
End of the season: .914 (35th in the league)
Niklas Svedberg
End of October: .94 (3rd in the league)
End of the season: .918 (22nd in the league) 18 games played
Robin Lehner
End of October: .939 (4th in the league)
End of the season: .905 (53rd in the league)
What does all of this show? Basically just what you expect, no dire revelation here. When you see a player who does not normally score a lot of points surge early, it's just a particularly fortunate month, it is not vindicative of a full seasons success. It's a very simple, very basic fact but I stress this point so that fantasy owners do not get overly excited by the odd early success of a player who is not projected to finish in the top 20. Follow historical success. Jamie Benn who was born 4 years after the Back to the Future movie came out, is a name to trust in for a strong 2015-2016 season.
Fun Tidbits from the 1985-1986 NHL season
In 1985-1986 season the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Calgary Flames four games to one to win their 23rd Stanley Cup
The Edmonton Oilers won the Presidents Trophy
Wayne Gretzky won the Art Ross Trophy
Patrick Roy won the Conn Smythe Trophy
Mike Bossy won the Lady Byng Trophy
Mario Lemeieux won the Lester Pearson Trophy
John Vanbiesbrouck won the Vezina Trophy
Brett Hull played his first NHL game this season
This was the furthest the Hartford Whalers ever made it into the playoffs (Lost in Adams final in playoffs)
Great Scott! A few fun Back to the Future tidbits which have NOTHING to do with Fantasy Hockey:
The DeLorean DMC-12 with it's Gull-Wing doors came from the DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) which went bankrupt in 1982.
Lexus is among the companies closest to a hoverboard coming to reality, one of the main obstacles is the loud noise that the current prototypes emit.
Nike is rumored to be working on self lacing shoes for release this year much like Marty used in the movie.