Read: Team Gaborik
In the New York Times, Jeff Z. Klein writes today about the Rangers and how Marian Gaborik has had a hand in over 25% of the teams goals this season.
…Its an expanded version of this piece from last week.
Since 1931, only nine players have gone through a full season scoring as many as a quarter of their team’s goals. The list is topped by Pavel Bure, who in 2000-1 scored 59 of the Florida Panthers’ 200 goals, or 29.5 percent. The next highest scorer on the Panthers that season was Viktor Kozlov with 14.
Ryan Callahan is second on the Rangers with nine goals.
…It’s hard to believe that the Rangers will have as big a disparity as those Panthers did. Ryan Callahan’s offense has emerged enough to think that he could net the 20 goals people set out for him. Vinny Prospal could also get 20 goals, but who really cares if Gaborik breaks the Rangers single season record for goals, (54 by Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06) and the team makes the playoffs. As long as the Rangers make the playoffs, it shouldn’t matter how many other players scored.
When it comes down to it, Gaborik will probably still lead the league in factoring into his team’s goals, but it doesn’t really matter.
