With eight goals in his first 15 games, St. Louis Blues defenseman Al MacInnis is on pace for a 40-plus goal season. Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey (twice) are the only two NHL defenders to score 40. The Blackhawks Doug Wilson fell one goal short but that didn’t prevent him from winning the Norris trophy as the league’s top defenseman in the 1981-82 season. Below are the highest-scoring defenseman in one season: %% %%
%% Goals Defenseman Team Year
48 Paul Coffey Edmonton 1985-86
46 Bobby Orr Boston 1974-75
40 Paul Coffey Edmonton 1983-84
39 Doug Wilson Chicago 1981-82
37 Bobby Orr Boston 1970-71
37 Bobby Orr Boston 1971-72
37 Paul Coffey Edmonton 1984-85
%%
HURRY UP & WAIT
St. Louis left winger Tony Twist scored his second goal of the season and 10th of his career in a 3-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks in Anaheim Nov. 4th. Goals are scarce for this tough guy who holds the distinction of having waited the longest from the start of his NHL career to score a goal (181 games) from 1989 to 1995.
ANTICIPATION
Vancouver Canucks Mike Keenan became the sixth NHL coach to win 500 games Thursday night. Below are the NHL coaches of the 500 win club: %%
Coach Games Wins Losses Ties % Wins Cup Wins
Scotty Bowman * 1,835 1,067 491 278 0.657 8
Al Arbour 1,606 781 577 248 0.564 4
Dick Irvin 1,442 693 522 227 0.559 4
Billy Reay 1,102 542 385 175 0.571 0
Toe Blake 914 500 255 159 0.634 8
Mike Keenan * 967 500 356 112 0.574 1
* Active
(Results through Thursday) %%
