Bernard Irvine Nicholls (born June 24, 1961)
Played for: Los Angeles Kings (1981–1990), New York Rangers (1990–1991),
Edmonton Oilers (1991–1993), New Jersey Devils (1993–1994), Chicago Blackhawks (1994–1996), San Jose Sharks (1996–1998)
475 goals, 734 assists, 1,209 total points, 1,292 penalty minutes in 1,127 games
3x NHL All-Star Game selection (1984, 1989, 1990)
I appreciate the quirks that come with high-point players in the National Hockey League (NHL), particularly ones that basically fell through the cracks in the high-scoring era of the 1980s. Of course, players with 1,000 points weren't going around on an insane level for a few decades (three in the 1960s, nine in the 1970s, twelve in the 1980s, and 32 in the 1990s). I want to focus my attention on a player that was one of only 26 at the time who averaged one point (whether by goal or assist on a goal) a game that played 1,000 games...Bernie Nicholls. Born in West Guilford, Ontario, he actually played a variety of sports as a kid that ranged from hockey (at the age of four) to football. All of this came with a childhood that him recover from feet that were pointed inward (pigeon toe, which had to be corrected as a youth). He played in junior league with the hometown Huskies from 1975 to 1977 and rose up to play in Woodstock (where he had 41 goals in 40 games, still a rookie record). He rose through the depths to the Kingston Canadiens of the OMJHL for major junior hockey that inspired the Los Angeles Kings to draft him with the 73rd pick in the 1980 draft (Wren Blair, who had seen Nicholls through his junior league play, was a key advisor for his selection to GM George Maguire). The 1980 training camp saw him stay with the Canadiens one more year before he was meant to play for the Kings with the 1981 training camp, but he apparently came in out of shape (evidently one could not get enough ice time in the summer), which meant he had to play with the American Hockey League affiliate in New Haven, save for one game in 1981 (November 19 in Calgary, where he remembered a player getting their teeth knocked out). Eventually, he went on a tear, scoring 41 goals in 55 games in the AHL. When the Kings hired Don Perry in the middle of the 1981-82 season, he decided to give young players like Nicholls a shot and he was called up in February 1982.
He scored his first point on an assist in February 20's game against Calgary. He had his first multi-point game with a three-assist night on March 7 versus the Hartford Whalers before finally getting a goal two days later against the Colorado Rockies. He had a fit of magic in that month where he had three hat tricks in the span of ten days (March 17, 20, and 27). He finished with 14 goals and 18 assists (32 points) in 22 games; the Kings only went 9-11-2 in that time, but the Kings actually snuck into the Stanley Cup playoffs (16/21 teams made the postseason). In the best-of-five series vs Edmonton (3rd best team in points), he had a goal in each of the first two games before going cold in the next two (Game 3, memorably called "Miracle on Manchester" for the Kings scoring 6 unanswered goals in the third period/OT saw Nicholls record 21 penalty minutes). In the decisive Game 5, Nicholls scored the go-ahead goal in the 7-4 win that got the Kings to the second round; the Kings lost to Vancouver in five games, with Nicholls limited to one goal. Nicholls stayed with the NHL for good and in the 1982-83 season, a knee injury hindered him to 71 games with 28 goals and 22 assists (50 points) that saw him take a career-high 124 penalty minutes. He improved in the 1983-84 season with his first All-Star selection in a season where he had his first 40-goal season (41) with 54 assists for a near-100-point season with 95. Nicholls played every game of the next three seasons, which saw him record his first 100-point season in 1984-85 and a 90-point season the next year. In his first seven seasons from 1982 to 1988, he had 533 points (230 G, 303 A) in 476 games. And then came Gretzky. The August 1988 acquisition of Wayne Gretzky saw Nicholls put on the second line that ultimately gave Nicholls an unprecedented season, which saw him named to the All-Star Game before finishing with 70 goals and 80 assists for 150 points; 21 of his goals came on the powerplay and he recorded a career high in plus-minus at 30. Sure, his season was overshadowed by guy likes Mario Lemieux and Gretzky having 150-point seasons as well, but, well, so it goes. 17 players have had 150-point seasons, but it should be noted that no player has recorded a 70-goal & 150-point season since Nicholls did so. Nichills had 75 points in 47 games for the Kings in the 1989-90 season, but the team, feeling that they needed some grit despite having a now three-time All-Star...traded him to the New York Rangers (for Tony Granato and Tomas Sandström), a move that Nicholls hated (incidentally, Nicholls was only the second player to be traded in the midst of a 100-point season)
Nicholls wound up playing for three teams in the span of four years. After closing the 1990 season with 31 points in 32 games, he had 65 points in the 1990-91 season before the Rangers decided they wanted Mark Messier so bad that they traded Nicholls and two others for Messier in October 1991. With his wife expecting twins, Nicholls only returned to play in December and played 49 games. The 1992 playoffs actually saw the Oilers make the Conference Final with eight goals and 11 assists for Nicholls in the playoff run. And yet the Oilers traded him to the Devils in the middle of the 1992-93 season; he endured personal tragedy in the latter part of the season but rebounded in the 1993-94 season, the only full one with New Jersey. With regimented control that focused on defense and support, he had 19 goals and 27 assists in 61 games (for a +24, his second highest for a season) and reached the Conference Final once again with 13 points in 16 games. His 1,000th career point (407 goals, 593 assists) came off a goal on February 13, 1994 versus Tampa Bay in his 858th game. At the time, he was the 16th fastest player to 1,000 points (now he ranks at 27th). He signed as a free agent with Chicago in 1994 and recorded 111 points in 107 games and made one more Conference Finals. He closed his career out with two seasons in San Jose before recording two assists in ten games of the 1998-99 season before the team announced his retirement in November 1998 (he didn't exactly want to retire, but so it goes).
From 1981 to 1999, 28 people had 1,000 points, and 25 of them are in the Hall. But the charact I wanted to share comes here among 1,000 games people (as demonstrated here - Nicholls is one of the 16 centers on here)
So yes, one can't go "compiler" or "-39", because in that list, one should know that all but Nicholls and Steve Larmer* were inducted into the Hall of Fame. To expand further, now the list of one-point-a-game for 1,000 games played is now a list of 37 with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jaromír Jágr, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos alongside Larmer, Nicholls...and Theo Fleury (who probably is unfairly snubbed from the Hall). Nicholls and his points ranks as 42nd of the 98 people with 1000+ points in an 18-season span, ahead of Hall of Famers such as Dino Ciccarelli and Bernie Federko. Regardless of how the story of Nicholls sounds, it had a storybook type of ending in one way. In late 2011, Nicholls asked the Los Angeles Kings (specifically Darryl Sutter, who had just been hired as head coach to replace Terry Murray) if he could work for the team as a coaching consultant (specifically in lending aid in practice). He even worked the first few months for free. When the Kings made the 2012 Stanley Cup Final and won it all, Nicholls received a Stanley Cup ring and got his day with the Cup, which saw him bring it to his hometown. In 2021, he was inducted into the Haliburton Highlands Hall of Fame while remaining true to his community, so in that sense, he really did win at life.
On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Bernie Nicholls to the Hall.
N O T E S
Photo credit: File:Nicholls.png - Wikimedia Commons, 1986 trading card
*Speaking of Unsung cases, Steve Larmer. We'll make a case for him this year - he never missed the playoffs in any full season of his career, true story. Maybe Fleury or Bellows gets a look too. Also, we don't knock people out of the HOF to get others in. Except Bill Wirtz and Harold Ballard, those people suck and never deserved to be in.
*Call me a contrarian, but I always thought it was silly they didn't just induct Jaromír Jágr into the Hall of Fame already. Oh, but he still plays hockey as a 50-year old...LAME, they inducted Gretzky immediately after he retired, they wanted to wait for Jagr to stop playing? Really? Besides, I always think obvious HOFers should be elected separately from the others because hey, let's spend time talking about less-obvious guys.
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