NHL Hockey Comparisons During Our Stanley Cup Finals - by Moses

Mats Sundin versus Mike Modano

Both Sundin and Modano were NHL breadwinners throughout their careers. Enormous talents, both were 1st Overall picks, one year apart. They both reached their potential throughout their careers.
Sundin started his career with the Quebec Nordiques franchise. Alongside Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Owen Nolan, Quebec looked poised to win Cup after Cup for years to come before re-locating to Colorado, where they fulfilled the Cup dream. Unfortunately, Sundin was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in his Quebec years’ before he could see the Avalanche Cup successes led by the aforementioned, and Hall of Fame Goalie Patrick Roy.
In Toronto, Sundin was the focal point for the majority of his career. While Sundin was never able to drink from the Cup, he did lead the Leafs to three Semi-Final Appearances in the late 90’s, early 00’s. Over his career, Mats was a consummate pro, scoring 31+Goals in a season 13 times!!! Sundin finished his career with the Vancouver Canucks and amassed 1349 Points (564 Goals and 785 Assists) in his storied career. He was the Maple Leafs Captain for just over ten years, the longest tenure of all the infamous Toronto Captains over the years.
Mats was only a +73 over the duration of his career, however, his 82 Points in 91 Playoff Games (38 Goals and 44 Assists) is more indicative of his worth to the Maple Leafs Chain. He is the ‘buds All-Time leading scorer, both in Goals, Assists, and Points.
Mike Modano was fortunate enough to win Lord Stanley’s’ Cup, and displayed grace throughout his career. Over 1499 Games, Modano scored 561 Goals and had 813 Assists for a total of 1374 Points. He scored 33+Goals in a year 9 times, and had 1-50 Goal Campaign to boot. During playoff matches, Modano notched 146 Points, scoring 58 Goals and drawing 88 Assists, over 176 Games. Mikey Mike was a +114 over his career, but compared to Sundin this figure is skewed as Modano’s Dallas Stars were a perennial playoff team, more-so than the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Modano started his career with the Minnesota North Stars, and when they re-located to Dallas, Mikey Mike became their Captain and unsung hero.
The mirror image of each-other in many ways, it would be unfair to rank one higher than the other. Oh, by the way, in international matches Modano led U.S.A to the Gold Medal in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, while Sundin led Team Sweden to Gold in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. These two men are truly class acts, and both will surely be enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame on their first ballots, soon to come.

Peter Stastny versus Dale Hawerchuk

Stastny and Hawerchuk were great players during the expansion of 1979, when Quebec, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Hartford joined the NHL. In 1980, a phenom from the Czechoslovakian League joined the NHL (alongside his brother), and we saw the Stastny’s in Quebec with the Nordiques. Peter was the more skilled, however, Anton and brother Peter (and later Marian Stastny) formed quite a duo (eventually a trio). All Peter did in his rookie campaign was score 39 Goals and add 70 Assists for a total of 109 Points and he took home the Calder Trophy that year. Peter Stastny went on to accumulate 6 consecutive 100+ Seasons between 1980/81-1985/86 (seven in his storied career). During Stastny’s career in the NHL he amassed 1239 Points in 977 Games (450 Goals and 789 Assists. When including his 263 Points accumulated in the Czechoslovakian League and Olympic play (in just 212 Games) we see that Peter Stastny totaled 1189 Games with 593 Goals and 909 Assists for 1502 Points!!! During his years in the NHL playoffs, Stastny tallied 105 Points in 93 Games, and adding that figure to his regular League stats, we see that Peter Stastny had 1607 Points in Elite League, and NHL Playoffs in just 1282 Games!!! Stastny was duly voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998.
It was in 1981 that the Winnipeg Jets signed Dale Hawerchuk as the 1st Overall pick in the Entry Draft. Hawerchuk did not disappoint. In 1981/82, Hawerchuk scored 45 Goals and added 58 Assists, his rookie year, and he took home the Calder Trophy, as Peter Stastny had done the year prior. Slipping a little off his pace in his soft-more year Dale still managed to score 91 Points (40 Goals and 51 Assists). The next 5 years saw Hawerchuk score 100+ in each year, each year scoring 37+ Goals, and neigh the 37 Goal season he was 40+ Goals each year.
Dale finished his career with 1409 Points, scoring 518 Goals and adding 891 helpers. When including the 99 Points he scored in the Playoffs (in 97 Games), we see Hawerchuk had 1508 Points in 1285 Games Played. Hawerchuk was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001. The figures he put up may be slightly behind the numbers that Stastny put up, however, Stastny may not have had the success in the NHL that he did, had he not had seasoning in the Czech League. For that reason, I would rank Stastny and Hawerchuk on par.

Now that Winnipeg finally got it's team back, let's hope that we get another team in Quebec. All I can say for this years Hockey Playoffs is GO CANUCKS!!!