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The 2011 Hockey Hall of Fame class featured four highly-decorated NHL players: goalie Ed Belfour, defenseman Mark Howe, and centers Doug Gilmour and Joe Nieuwendyk. Among the illustrious foursome, perhaps it is only fitting that Gilmour and Nieuwendyk were inducted together – each was an elite center in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, scored over 1,000 career points, served as a team captain, and the duo even played on the same team and won a Stanley Cup together. Given the similarities, let us look at these parallel Hall of Fame careers and examine the question:
Who was better – Doug Gilmour or Joe Nieuwendyk?
The Beginning
Like many Canadian youth, Gilmour and Nieuwendyk grew up playing hockey, though neither was immediately viewed as a top-notch prospect; nevertheless, both persevered and would go on to have impactful NHL rookie seasons.
Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, Gilmour was undersized even as a youngster and thus, initially struggled in the country’s highly competitive junior hockey system. After being cut and/or getting little playing time with numerous teams, he latched on with the Cornwall Royals in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and slowly developed into a legitimate prospect; undrafted in 1981, he was selected 134th overal in the seventh round of the 1982 NHL Entry Draft by the St. Louis Blues, though would return to Cornwall and win the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the league’s leading scorer and the Red Tilson Trophy as the most outstanding player in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Eventually, Gilmour made his NHL debut in 1983-1984 as a 20-year-old and had a solid rookie season with 25 goals and 28 assists for 53 points with a +6 +/- rating.
Likewise, Nieuwendyk was a native of Ontario and played both hockey and lacrosse growing up (his cousin Jeff Beukuboom and best friend Gary Roberts were both also future NHL players), arguably showing greater promise in lacrosse. Nevertheless, following a solid, but unspectacular junior hockey career in which he went undrafted, he attended Cornell University to play both sports before turning his focus to hockey full-time. Following a 1984-1985 season in which he was named Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Rookie of the Year, Nieuwendyk was selected 27th overall in the second round of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames (they acquired the pick on draft day by trading Kent Nilsson to the then-Minnesota North Stars). Before joining the Flames, he played two more years of NCAA hockey, earning ECAC First Team All-Star and NCAA All-American honors both seasons. After playing nine NHL games in 1986-1987, he had a breakout rookie season, scoring 51 goals with 41 assists for 92 points and a +20 +/- rating, becoming just the second rookie ever to score 50 goals (after Mike Bossy) and winning the Calder Trophy as top rookie while finishing third for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for “sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability”.
Career Comparison
Over the course of two decades apiece, Gilmour and Nieuwendyk were multi-faceted players who each made numerous career stops (in fact, with many of the same teams and even together on the same team) while consistently producing at a high level en route to the Hall of Fame.
During his first few years in St. Louis, Gilmour remained a tough-nosed and steady two-way center (50-60 points annually) before doubling his scoring in a breakout 1986-1987 season to a career-high 42 goals with 63 assists for 105 points with a -4 +/- rating, finishing fifth for the Hart Trophy as MVP and sixth for the Selke Trophy as best defensive forward. Despite another excellent campaign the next year (86 points on 36 goals and 50 assists), he became embroiled in legal troubles and was consequently dealt to the Flames with Mark Hunter, Steve Bozek, and Michael Dark for Mike Bullard, Craig Coxe, and Tim Corkery. Nevertheless, Gilmour continued his strong play in Calgary, scoring at least 80 points in each of his three full seasons with the team and finishing top-10 for the Selke 2x while eventually becoming a team captain; notably, in the team’s 1988-1989 Stanley Cup season (more on that later), he posted 26 goals and 59 assists for 85 points, a career-best +45 +/- rating, and a sixth-place Selke finish.
Midway through the 1991-1992 campaign, Gilmour was on the move again due to a salary dispute, this time traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 10-player deal that was the largest in league history; it turned out to be a franchise-altering deal for both teams, with Gilmour having some of the best seasons with the Maple Leafs. Notably, following a ninth-place Hart finish and fifth-place Selke showing in his season split across the two teams, he had the two highest-scoring years of his career:
- 1992-1993: 32 goals and a career-best 95 assists for a career-high and franchise-record 127 points with a +32 +/- rating; won the Selke Trophy and finished second for the Hart behind Mario Lemieux
- 1993-1994: 27 goals and 84 assists for 111 points with a +25 +/- rating; second for the Selke to Sergei Fedorov and fourth for the Hart
After being named captain ahead of the strike-shortened 1994-1995 season, he continued to produce at close to a point-per-game pace and would reach 1,000 career points, but as Toronto struggled, he was dealt in 1996-1997 to the New Jersey Devils for Steve Sullivan, Alyn McCauley, and Jason Smith.
Entering his mid-30s, Gilmour remained a strong two-way center, but no longer a dominant player as his path became more nomadic. Following one-and-a-half seasons in New Jersey, he signed as a free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks, though was traded midway through the next season to the Buffalo Sabres; overall, his 73 points (25 goals and 48 assists with a -9 +/- rating) across Chicago and Buffalo in 1999-2000 was his highest scoring output since his Toronto days. After bouncing around for a couple more seasons with the Sabres and Montreal Canadiens, he was ultimately traded back to the Maple Leafs in 2002-2003, but only played one game before tearing his ACL, eventually retiring after the season at age 39.
Building on his standout rookie campaign, Nieuwendyk once again scored 51 goals in 1988-1989, along with 31 assists for 82 points and a +26 +/- rating, thus becoming the third player in league history to start off his career with back-to-back 50-goal seasons (after Bossy and Wayne Gretzky) and the third-fastest player to reach 100 career goals (after Bossy and Maurice Richard). This was followed by consecutive 45-goal seasons in 1989-1990 (95 points) and 1990-1991 (85 points). Though he would then be named Flames captain, Nieuwendyk would never again reach these scoring heights, though he remained a point-per-game producer in Calgary, including a pair of 75-point seasons in 1992-1993 (38 goals and 37 assists with a +9 +/- rating) and 1993-1994 (36 goals and 39 assists with a +19 +/- rating). In his final year with the team during the lockout-shortened 1994-1995 season, he posted 21 goals and 29 assists for 50 points and a +11 +/- rating in 46 games played, also winning the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player “who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community”.
Looking for a new contract, Nieuwendyk held out during the 1995-1996 season until he was traded to the Dallas Stars for Jarome Iginla (who would become the team’s new franchise player) and Corey Millen. As a member of the Stars, he was no longer the dominant scorer of his Calgary days, but consistently put up 50-60 points per season. During six-and-a-half years in Dallas, his best individual season came in 1997-1998, when he scored 39 goals with 30 assists for 69 points and a +16 +/- rating to earn seventh-place for the Lady Byng and also 12th for the Hart. At the turn of the century and in his mid-30s, Nieuwendyk still managed 52 points (29 goals and 23 assists) in 69 games in his final full season with the team. Midway through the 2001-2002 season, he was traded to the Devils alongside Jamie Langenbrunner for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first-round draft pick.
Overall, Nieuwendyk only spent one-and-half seasons with the Devils, but reached the milestones of both 500 career goals and 1,000 career points with the team. He then joined the Maple Leafs for the 2003-2004 season and tallied 50 points; following the next lockout in 2004-2005, he signed with the Florida Panthers to play alongside his childhood friend and former NHL teammate Gary Roberts, notching a highly respectable 56 points in his first year with his new team at age 39; however, chronic back injuries finally caught up to him and after just 15 games in 2006-2007, Nieuwendyk missed the rest of the season and would retire at year’s end at age 40.
Though each center played 20 NHL seasons, better durability and health resulted in 200+ additional games for Gilmour. This in turn led to more career assists and points for the gritty pivot with a higher points-per-game average of 0.96 to 0.90, though his counterpart Nieuwendyk scored more goals with a better career +/- rating. Similarly, these trends are reflected in each player’s “great” seasons: the former leads in 80, 90, and 100-point seasons (9 vs. 4, 4 vs. 2, and 3 vs. 0, respectively), but the latter notched more 30, 40, and 50-goal campaigns (8x to 4x, 4x to 1x, and 2x to none, respectively). Interestingly, Nieuwendyk is the one with more awards and accolades in terms of more All-Star Game selections (4 vs. 2) plus a Calder Trophy and Clancy Trophy vs. Gilmour’s Selke; as mentioned at the onset, the two entered the Hall of Fame together in 2011, but the wait for Gilmour was ultimately four years longer.
Regular Season Statistics
| Doug Gilmour | Player | Joe Nieuwendyk |
| 20 (1983-2003) | Seasons | 20 (1986-2007) |
| 1,474 | Games Played | 1,257 |
| 450 | Goals | 564 |
| 964 | Assists | 562 |
| 1,414 | Points | 1,126 |
| +129 | +/- | +155 |
| 2x | All-Star Games | 4x |
| – | Hart Trophies | – |
| – | Ross Trophies | – |
| 1x | Stanley Cups | 3x |
| – | Conn Smythes | 1x |
| 1x Selke | Other Awards | 1x Clancy, ROY |
| 2011 | Hall of Fame Induction | 2011 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
As the type of players any winning team needs, both Gilmour and Nieuwendyk were near-annual fixtures in the Stanley Cup playoffs, notably winning the Cup together during their time in Calgary – in the 1988-1989 season, the Flames won their first (and to-date, only) title by beating the Patrick Roy-led Montreal Canadiens in six games; Nieuwendyk contributed 14 points (10 goals and 4 assists) during the run, while Gilmour had 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points with a +12 +/- rating, including two goals in the clinching Game 6, one of which was the game-winner.
Overall, Gilmour made the playoffs in 17 of his 20 seasons, with at least one appearance for each team he played for except for Chicago. While his only Cup came with Calgary in 1988-1989, other notable moments included leading the playoffs with 21 points (9 goals and 12 assists) while guiding the Blues to the Conference Finals in 1985-1986 and then, setting a Toronto-record in 1992-1993 with 35 postseason points (10 goals and a playoff-leading 25 assists with a league-best +16 +/- rating) as the Maple Leafs advanced all the way to the Conference Finals as well.
Similarly, Nieuwendyk was a postseason participant 16x in his two decades in the NHL across every team except for the Panthers, winning three Cups with three different teams. Following his triumph with the Flames, as part of a loaded Stars team in 1998-1999 that included Hall of Fame classmate Belfour, Mike Modano, Sergei Zubov, etc., he helped Dallas win their first title by beating the Sabres in six games, with the win clinched by Brett Hull’s controversial Game 6 game-winner in the third overtime; for his part, Nieuwendyk took home the Conn Smythe as postseason MVP with 11 goals (including 6 game-winners) and 10 assists for 21 points and a +7 +/- rating. The next year, Dallas would return to the Stanley Cup Finals, but fell in six games to Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils (7 goals and 3 assists for Nieuwendyk). Finally, following his trade to New Jersey, he was part of the 2002-2003 Devils team that beat Paul Kariya and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in seven games for his third and final title, contributing 9 points (3 goals and 6 assists) in the triumph.
Internationally, Nieuwendyk was the more decorated performer, winning a gold medal for Team Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City after being part of the disappointing fourth-place team at Nagano in 1998; meanwhile, Gilmour also won a Canada Cup gold medal for his country.
Playoff Statistics
| Doug Gilmour | Player | Joe Nieuwendyk |
| 182 | Games Played | 158 |
| 60 | Goals | 66 |
| 128 | Assists | 50 |
| 188 | Points | 116 |
| +27 | +/- | -5 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; post their lengthy heydays with multiple teams, both Gilmour and Nieuwendyk were somewhat nomadic veterans towards the tail ends of their careers. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Doug Gilmour | Player | Joe Nieuwendyk |
| 1986-1996 | Decade of Dominance | 1987-1995, 1996-1998 |
| 749 | Games Played | 707 |
| 275 | Goals | 378 |
| 603 | Assists | 352 |
| 878 | Points | 730 |
| +147 | +/- | +146 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
In looking at the better halves of each player’s career, i.e. their decades of dominance, the same overall career trends hold: Nieuwendyk was the superior goal-scorer, but Gilmour was the better passer and scored more points overall on both an absolute and relative basis, with each player averaging over a point-per-game at his peak (1.17 points per game for Gilmour vs. 1.03 for Nieuwendyk).
My Thoughts
Given how stacked the center position is from a historical context, Doug Gilmour and Joe Nieuwendyk rarely come up in discussions of the greatest centers in NHL history. Nevertheless, both were terrific pivots for a very long time, not just statistically, but also in terms of being leaders and winning players and as a result, their Hall of Fame selections are very well-deserved. Between the two, I think Nieuwendyk was clearly the superior goal-scorer, particularly in his early days with the Flames, and was no doubt a winner, as his name is engraved on Lord Stanley with three different franchises and he was also called upon by his country to represent Team Canada in the Olympics on multiple occasions . However, overall, I would say that Gilmour was the better all-around player; despite his relatively diminutive size, he was pugnacious and played well above his size with a nasty streak – not only could he put up 100+ points in a season at his peak (something Nieuwendyk never achieved), but he was also a great two-way player, as evidenced by his Selke Trophy win and top-10 showings year in and year out as the league’s best defensive forward.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Doug Gilmour
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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