Dennis Maruk: A Forgotten NHL Great
Filed Under (NHL) by admin on 18-01-2009
Tagged Under : Dennis Maruk, NHL
Despite having a career and some single-season achievements that wouldn’t leave him out of place in preliminary Hall of Fame discussions, few hockey fans seem to even remember the name of Dennis Maruk, one of the most prolific scorers of the early 1980s.
It certainly didn’t help matters that, of the four NHL teams for which he played, three of them no longer exist: the California Seals, Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars. However, in his five seasons with the Washington Capitals, Maruk never had a season with less than a point per game. He had 80 or more points in four, 90 or more in three, and his finest season remains one of the best seasons in NHL history by any player.
In 1981-82, Maruk scored 60 goals and 76 assists for an astounding 136 points. The number of players in NHL history who have scored either 60 goals or 130 points in a single season (much less both) is indeed quite an exclusive club.
Maruk had two stints with the North Stars, though the first in the late 1970s lasted only two games. After four strong seasons in Minnesota in the mid-1980s, his career quickly fizzled out with a combined 28 games played in his final two years with the team, to which was added a five-game run with Kalamazoo of the IHL.
The light that burned twice as bright burned half as long, but Dennis Maruk had left his mark on the scoring books of the NHL. He retired after the 1988-89 season with career totals of 878 points in only 888 games.