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In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Islanders had their most successful stretches in franchise history, each winning multiple consecutive Stanley Cup titles (2x for the Flyers, 4x for the Islanders). At the forefront of these championship teams were dominant two-way centers in Bobby Clarke (Philadelphia) and Bryan Trottier (New York) – both perennial MVP candidates in their prime who scored 1,000+ career points and hold a number of franchise records, each can also stake a claim to being the best players in team history, thus bringing up an interesting debate:
Who was better – Bobby Clarke or Bryan Trottier?
The Beginning
Hailing from Western Canada, Clarke and Trottier were both good hockey prospects at the junior level and subsequently drafted in the second round, but paid immediate dividends at the NHL level and significantly outperformed their modest draft positions.
A native of Manitoba province, Clarke grew up playing hockey like every other Canadian youngster and would star with the local Flin Flon Bombers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). However, he was diagnosed with diabetes in his early teens, which made many wary of his professional hockey prospects; nevertheless, after obtaining written medical assurances from the famed Mayo Clinic that he could continue playing hockey as long as he monitored his condition, Clarke was drafted 17th overall in the second round of the 1969 NHL Entry Draft by the Flyers. As a rookie in 1969-1970, he finished fourth for the Calder Trophy as top rookie with 15 goals and 31 assists for 46 points with a -1 +/- rating.
Similarly, Trottier was born and raised in the province of Saskatchewan, where he idolized Jean Beliveau and played hockey with his siblings (two of his younger brothers also played professional hockey). As a junior, he starred for the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League (WHL), eventually winning MVP honors; at a time when the upstart World Hockey Association (WHA) was emerging as a threat to the NHL, Trottier was selected 22nd overall in the second round of the 1974 NHL Entry Draft by the Islanders. During his rookie season in 1975-1976, the 19-year-old Trottier set a then-rookie record with 95 points (32 goals and 63 assists) with a +27 +/- rating to take home the Calder Trophy.
Career Comparison
During each franchise’s respective heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, Clarke and Trottier were among the best players in the NHL, each racking up numerous 100-point seasons and winning a Hart Trophy as league MVP in their primes.
Throughout the 1970s, Clarke established himself as a superstar and the heart and soul of the Flyers despite having to deal with diabetes. After improving to 63 points (27 goals and 36 assists) and a 10th-place Hart Trophy finish in 1970-1971, he overcame a tooth abscess early in the 1971-1972 season to finish with 35 goals and 46 assists for 81 points and a +24 +/- rating, an eighth-place showing for the Hart, and the Masterton Trophy for perseverance. Moreover, at the age of just 23, Clarke was named the captain of the Flyers, which at the time made him the youngest-ever player in league history to wear the “C” on his sweater.
As the centerpiece of Philadelphia’s “Broad Street Bullies”, Clarke was just hitting his stride – over a four-year stretch from 1972-1973 to 1975-1976, he would win the Hart Trophy 3x (and finish top-five the other time) with three 100-point seasons:
- 1972-1973: a career-high 37 goals with 67 assists for 104 points and a +32 +/- rating; won both the Hart Trophy and the Pearson Award
- 1973-1974: 35 goals and 52 assists for 87 points and a +35 +/- rating; fourth for the Hart
- 1974-1975: 27 goals and a career-high and league-leading 89 assists for 116 points and a +79 +/- rating; second Hart Trophy
- 1975-1976: 30 goals and a league-high 89 assists (tying his career-high) for a career-best 119 points and a league-leading and career-best +83 +/- rating; won third and final Hart Trophy
Following this historic stretch of greatness, Clarke nearly won the Hart again in 1976-1977, posting 90 points (27 goals and 63 assists) with a +40 +/- rating to finish as runner-up to Guy Lafleur; this was followed by another top-10 showing (sixth) in 1977-1978 with 89 points (21 goals and 68 assists), as well as a fourth-place Selke Trophy finish for top defensive forward.
Entering his 30s, Clarke also became an assistant coach for the Flyers, though had to give up his captaincy in order to assume these additional duties (he later became captain once again in 1982-1983). However, while still a strong two-way player, his numbers began to decline over the next few years to the 60-70 point range. After reaching 1,000 career points in 1980-1981, he had one final great season in 1982-1983: with 23 goals and 62 assists for 85 points and a +37 +/- rating, he not only was sixth for the Hart, but also won the Selke Trophy. Upon retiring after the 1983-1984 season at age 34, having spent his entire career with the Flyers, Clarke remains the franchise career leader in games played, assists, and points.
Meanwhile, building upon his stellar rookie season, Trottier would be part of a nucleus for an ascendant Islanders team that included fellow Hall of Famers such as forwards Mike Bossy and Clark Gillies (on “The Trio Grande” line), defenseman Denis Potvin, and goalie Billy Smith. Though he dipped to 72 points (30 goals and 42 assists) in his sophomore campaign, he quickly rebounded to 46 goals and a league-best 77 assists for 123 points and a +52 +/- rating to finish second for the Hart Trophy to the aforementioned Lafleur. The next year, he was even better, posting 47 goals and a league-high and career-best 87 assists for a league-high and career-best 134 points and a +76 +/- rating to capture both the Hart and Ross Trophies.
Overall, Trottier posted five straight 100-point seasons in his prime (and 6x in seven years); this included another Hart runner-up campaign in 1981-1982 (to Wayne Gretzky), when he scored a career-high 50 goals and added 79 assists for 129 points and a +70 +/- rating. Perhaps his best all-around season may have been in 1983-1984 – with 40 goals and 71 assists for 111 points and a +68 +/- rating, it was not only his last 100-point season, but also resulted in a third-place Hart finish and a second-place Selke Trophy showing as top defensive forward. The next year, his output declined to just 59 points, then a career low, though he did reach 1,000 career points. Over the next few seasons, Trottier remained a strong two-way player, with scoring totals of 96, 87, and 82 points, respectively. However, starting in 1988-1989, his production dropped precipitously and following a combined 69 points over two seasons, he was released by the Islanders after the 1989-1990 season to make way for younger players like Pat LaFontaine; nevertheless, he did win the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1988-1989, which is awarded to the player that “best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community”, and reached 500 career goals the next year.
As a free agent, Trottier signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins to provide a leadership presence; his offensive production was limited, though, as he did not surpass 30 points in any of his three years with Pittsburgh. After a final season in 1993-1994 (he sat out the 1992-1993 season), Trottier retired at age 37 as the Islanders’ career leader in games played, assists, and points, and second in goals to only Bossy; moreover, at the time of his retirement, he was sixth overall in career points.
With their careers overlapping for roughly a decade, Trottier ultimately played more seasons and more games than Clarke, resulting in better accumulation statistics across the board (goals, assists, points, and +/-). Moreover, he generally put together more “great” seasons, whether that be 30-goal campaigns (11x vs. 4x, including 5x with 40+ goals and 1x with 50+ goals for Trottier) or 100-point seasons (6 to 3), along with a higher career points-per-game average of 1.11 vs. 1.06 (though it must also be noted that the 1980s were generally a higher-scoring era than the 1970s). In terms of awards and accolades, however, both centers were 9x All-Star Game participants and while Trottier won a Ross, Calder, and Clancy Trophy, Clarke notably took home the Hart Trophy 3x (vs. once for Trottier) and also has a Pearson Award, Selke Trophy, and Masterton Trophy in his hardware case. Given their exemplary playing careers, both Clarke and Trottier were selected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in their first years of eligibility (1987 for the former, followed a decade later in 1997 for the latter).
Regular Season Statistics
| Bobby Clarke | Player | Bryan Trottier |
| 15 (1969-1984) | Seasons | 18 (1975-1992, 1993-1994) |
| 1,144 | Games Played | 1,279 |
| 358 | Goals | 524 |
| 852 | Assists | 901 |
| 1,210 | Points | 1,425 |
| +507 | +/- | +449 |
| 9x | All-Star Games | 9x |
| 3x | Hart Trophies | 1x |
| – | Ross Trophies | 1x |
| 2x | Stanley Cups | 6x |
| – | Conn Smythes | 1x |
| 1x Pearson, 1x Selke, 1x Masterton | Other Awards | 1x Clancy, ROY |
| 1987 | Hall of Fame Induction | 1997 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
As linchpins for Philadelphia and New York, respectively, during each team’s brightest era, Clarke and Trottier were essentially annual fixtures in the playoffs, guiding their teams to multiple Stanley Cup titles and even facing off against each other in the Finals.
During the 1979-1980 season, the Islanders beat the Flyers in six games to win their first-ever Stanley Cup; Trottier won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP that year with a postseason-leading 12 goals and 29 points with a +8 +/- rating, while Clarke also posted personal playoff bests with 8 goals and 12 assists for 20 points with a +10 +/- rating.
Overall, Clarke was a postseason participant in 13 of his 15 NHL seasons with the Flyers, which was highlighted by three straight Stanley Cup Finals appearances in the mid-1970s:
- 1973-1974: beat the Boston Bruins in six games, as Clarke had 5 goals and 11 assists for 16 points with a +1 +/- rating; Philadelphia was the first expansion team in league history to win the Cup
- 1974-1975: repeated as Stanley Cup champions by defeating the Buffalo Sabres in six games; 4 goals and a playoff-leading 12 assists for 16 points and a +6 +/- rating
- 1975-1976: going for a three-peat, but were swept by the Montreal Canadiens dynasty despite Clarke’s 2 goals and playoff-best 14 assist for 16 points and a +11 +/- rating
Similarly, Trottier played in the postseason in all but one season of his career and was spectacular during the Islanders’ four straight Cup championships, scoring at least 20 points in the playoffs each time – in addition to the first title vs. the Flyers:
- 1980-1981: beat the then-Minnesota North Stars in five games; 11 goals and a playoff-leading 18 assists for 29 points and a personal-best +18 +/- rating
- 1981-1982: swept the Vancouver Canucks; a playoff-best 23 assists and 29 points (6 goals) with a +9 +/- rating
- 1982-1983: swept the Edmonton Oilers; 8 goals and 12 assists for 20 points and a +8 +/- rating
Going for their fifth consecutive title in 1983-1984, the Islanders fell to the Oilers in a Finals rematch in five games, breaking a record-streak of 19 straight playoff series won; this would effectively mark the end of one dynasty on Long Island and the beginning of a new one in Edmonton spearheaded by Hall of Famers like Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, and Grant Fuhr. Later on in his career, Trottier also won back-to-back Stanley Cups as part of the Mario Lemieux-led Penguins in 1990-1991 and 1991-1992, but was more of a role player at that point.
In terms of international play, Clarke won a gold medal at the Canada Cup and a bronze medal at the World Championships for Team Canada; additionally, he also played in the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union, as well as the 1979 Challenge Cup between NHL All-Stars and the Soviet Union. As for Trottier, he won a silver at the Canada Cup for Team Canada early on in his career, but obtained American citizenship in 1984 due to his partial Native American ancestry and would controversially represent the United States that year at the Canada Cup.
Playoff Statistics
| Bobby Clarke | Player | Bryan Trottier |
| 136 | Games Played | 221 |
| 42 | Goals | 71 |
| 77 | Assists | 112 |
| 119 | Points | 183 |
| +17 | +/- | +31 |
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; after playing at an extremely high level (i.e. MVP-caliber) during their 20s, both Clarke and Trottier saw their production drop relatively quickly as they entered their 30s. 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
| Bobby Clarke | Player | Bryan Trottier |
| 1970-1979, 1982-1983 | Decade of Dominance | 1975-1976, 1977-1984, 1985-1987 |
| 777 | Games Played | 770 |
| 278 | Goals | 382 |
| 629 | Assists | 689 |
| 907 | Points | 1,071 |
| +398 | +/- | +444 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Again, even when you normalize their playing careers to a similar number of games via decades of dominance, Trottier’s outperforms Clarke in nearly every offensive category, both on a cumulative and a per-game basis (1.39 vs. 1.17 points per game).
My Thoughts
In the annals of each team’s history, I consider Bobby Clarke to undoubtedly be the best Flyers player ever, whereas Bryan Trottier is in a three-way race with Denis Potvin and Mike Bossy for the title of best Islanders player ever. When comparing the two head-to-head, though, I would actually give the small edge to Trottier; admittedly, Clarke may have been the slightly more dominant all-around player at his absolute peak (see his three Hart Trophies) and perhaps brought a little more to the table in terms of his intangibles, but also had a shorter career prime. On the other hand, though not quite at the same level defensively, Trottier was nevertheless an outstanding two-way center (as evidenced by multiple top-10 Selke showings), a better goal-scorer and equally productive offensively at his zenith; to me, what puts him over the top was his elite championship pedigree – not only being part of six Stanley Cup-winning teams with two different franchises, but playing at an extraordinarily high level during the Islanders’ four-peat, kicking off the title run with a Conn Smythe.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Bryan Trottier
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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