[Dion]

"There are very, very few players who can totally control a game,'' the rugged Willi Plett once said of enigmatic linemate Kent Nilsson.

"Usually, even very good players need someone else in order to shine. Kent didn't need anyone else to shine.

"And he made everyone around him - no matter who they were - shine, too."

Think of the impact this way: The 131 points Nilsson stockpiled that year are a full 21 more than any other single individual season by a Flame (Joey Mullen, 110, '88-89). The 82 assists stand 16 better than the next best (Theo Fleury, 66, '92-93).

Finishing third in league scoring behind the inevitable Wayne Gretzky (164 points) and Marcel Dionne (135), the aptly-dubbed Magic Man outpaced the second most prolific Flame, Guy Chouinard, by a gobsmacking 48 points.

Nilsson's assist total trailed Chouinard's point total that season by one.

"Yeah,'' recalls Chouinard, "I finished a ways behind, didn't I?

"I can still remember Kent's hands, like a surgeon's, the way he handled the puck. The way he moved. Most of us had to slow down before we made a play, looking to the left or to the right, but Kent he could do everything full (steam). At that time, it wasn't as common as it is now.

"That year, it seemed everything he touched ended up the net, whether by him or someone he'd given the puck to."

Leave the final word to Al MacNeil, a first-hand witness.

"You were never sure how much of Kent Nilsson you were getting,'' he said once, looking back on '80-81.

"That year, I think we saw as much as he was willing to let any of us in on."

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/37-f...on/c-289239918