Production by Top 6 Wingers: How Do the Leafs Stack Up?

During my interview with Scott Gordon, the Leafs assistant coach said something that caught my attention when he noted: “This year our top six is [made up of] guys who have had pretty good track records of scoring goals.”

The injury to Joffrey Lupul for the majority of the shortened season really put the lineup out of whack. As Grabovski played a shutdown role, the Leafs second scoring line was basically MacArthur-Kadri-Frattin for quite some time until Lupul returned and the line turned into Lupul-Kadri-Kulemin, a unit which no doubt did some serious damage.

This summer the Leafs threw big money at David Clarkson to round out the top six forwards while adding some jam to the group, and it’s pretty safe to say the Leafs top six wingers will be Kessel, JVR, Lupul and Clarkson to start the season.

I thought it was interesting of the Leafs to allocate so much cap space to the wings and for Gordon to then bring up their track record with us at MLHS. With that, I wanted to see how the Leafs stacked up against teams across the league. Here are the results based on the 2011-12 and 2013 seasons (max GP/player within these parameters is 130):

Teams	Top Six Wingers	Goals/Points/Games	Total Goals	Total Points	Games	PPG	Total Cap Hit
Pittsburgh	Neal	61/117/120	179	395	510	0.77	$14,600,000
	Kunitz	48/113/134
	Dupuis	45/97/134
	Jokinen	25/68/122
Boston	Eriksson	38/100/134	163	379	508	0.75	$20,750,000
	Lucic	33/88/127
	Marchand	46/91/121
	Iginla	46/100/126
Chicago	Kane	46/121/129	149	365	471	0.77	$23,775,000
	Hossa	46/108/121
	Sharp	39/89/102
	Bickell	18/47/119
New Jersey	Elias	40/114/129	146	364	491	0.74	$17,850,000
	Jagr	35/89/118
	Clowe	20/64/116
	Ryder	51/97/128
Winnipeg	Wheeler	36/105/128	161	354	497	0.71	$18,250,000
	Kane	47/90/122
	Ladd	46/96/130
	Setogouchi	32/63/117
Toronto	Kessel	57/134/130	167	345	431	0.8	$20,150,000
	JVR	29/56/91
	Lupul	36/85/82
	Clarkson	45/70/128
Edmonton	Hall	43/103/106	143	339	444	0.76	$20,812,500
	Eberle	50/113/126
	Perron	31/67/105
	Hemsky	19/56/107
Capitals	Ovechkin	70/121/126	151	337	485	0.69	$17,705,129
	Johansson	20/68/114					Johansson RFA
	Brouwer	37/66/129
	Erat	24/82/116
Dallas	Benn	28/96/112	124	336	459	0.73	$17,500,000
	Whitney	35/106/114
	Cole	44/74/129
	Peverley	17/60/104
Colorado	Tanguay	24/76/104	115	330	460	0.72	$16,075,000
	O'Reilly	24/75/110
	Parenteau	36/110/128
	Landeskog	31/69/118
Flyers	Hartnell	45/78/114	163	325	488	0.67	$13,875,000
	Simmonds	43/81/127
	Voracek	40/95/126
	Read	35/71/121
Detroit	Zetterberg	33/117/128	131	324	497	0.65	$17,337,878
	Alfredsson	37/85/122
	Franzen	43/87/118
	Abdelkader	18/35/129
Tampa Bay	St. Louis	42/134/125	110	310	384	0.81	$15,500,000
	Purcell	35/101/129
	Malone	26/56/92
	Killorn	7/19/38
Minnesota	Parise	49/107/130	136	302	414	0.73	$20,518,462
	Heatley	35/74/118
	Pominville	44/107/129
	Coyle	8/14/37
NYR	Nash	51/101/126	144	300	467	0.64	$15,625,000
	Callahan	45/85/121
	Hagelin	24/62/112
	Pouliot	24/52/108
San Jose	Marleau	47/95/130	136	288	489	0.59	$18,660,000
	Burns	20/57/111
	Torres	22/44/118
	Pavelski	47/92/130
Calgary	Cammalleri	33/73/110	132	284	448	0.63	$15,050,000
	Hudler	35/77/123
	Stempniak	23/60/108
	Glencross	41/74/107
Carolina	Semin	34/98/121	119	283	433	0.65	$19,075,000
	Tlutsy	40/74/127
	Ruutu	22/43/99
	Skinner	23/68/86
Vancouver	Sedin	42/107/119	131	282	449	0.63	$16,200,000
	Burrows	41/76/127
	Booth	17/33/74
	Hansen	26/66/129
Ottawa	Ryan	42/87/128	134	280	470	0.6	$13,500,000
	Michalek	39/74/100
	MacArthur	28/63/113
	Greening	25/56/129
NYI	Moulson	51/113/129	132	277	459	0.6	$10,933,333
	Bouchard	17/42/80
	Okposo	28/69/127
	Grabner	36/53/123
Kings	Brown	40/83/128	135	270	442	0.61	$12,585,227
	Williams	33/92/130
	Carter	47/67/103
	Frattin	15/28/81
Columbus	Gaborik	53/103/129	123	269	449	0.6	$21,600,000
	Umberger	28/58/125
	Dubinsky	12/54/106
	Horton	30/54/89
Phoenix	Vrbata	47/90/111	123	265	486	0.55	$10,800,000
	Doan	35/77/127					Boedker RFA
	Boedker	18/50/130
	Korpikowski	23/48/118
Montreal	Pacioretty	48/104/123	117	257	409	0.63	$16,833,333
	Briere	22/65/104
	Gionta	22/41/79
	Bourque	25/47/103
Buffalo	Vanek	46/102/116	107	246	416	0.59	$18,455,357
	Stafford	26/48/126
	Leino	10/31/79
	Ennis	25/65/95
Florida	Fleischman	39/96/130	103	244	386	0.63	$15,094,167
	Versteeg	25/58/81
	Kopecky	25/59/127
	Huberdeau	14/31/48
Nashville	Stalberg	31/66/126	102	225	435	0.52	$11,250,000
	Hornqvist	31/57/100
	Wilson	22/54/93
	Smith	18/48/116
St. Louis	Steen	23/55/83	90	214	358	0.6	$12,854,167
	Oshie	26/74/110
	Stewart	33/66/127
	Tarasenko	8/19/38
Anaheim	Perry	52/96/124	85	174	330	0.53	$12,991,667
	Palmieri	14/28/60
	Silfverberg	10/19/48