Housley's first stint was uber-impressive: 43 pts in 43 games lockout year, with 9 pts in 7 playoff games. Then 52 pts in 59 games before getting traded.
The subsequent stretch started when he was 34; still produced decent points, but Fleury and 35 year old Steve Smith played 2-3 mins more per game in his first year back. The next year Morris played an additional 80 seconds per game; Werenka and Darryl Shannon also exceeded Housley's 23:30ish per game, albeit in fewer games played. Albelin and Smith weren't far off. In his final year in Cgy, he dropped to 18:10 per game, 9th most of any player who played at least 50 games.
I guess my point is that he wasn't much more than a solid 2/3 d-man on the 2nd stint. Obviously the criteria here is loose, and one could make a similar argument about Brodie's entire tenure here, but I value his longevity.
It would be interesting to do this again as a 'wine bottle' team - where we are talking specifically about a single season for each player. Housley's 94-95 would merit serious consideration, whereas it might be harder to pick a standout year for a guy like Regehr. Would still be dominated by '86, '89, and '04 though.
|