Two league records set in Season 14

*Sam Bennett of Helsinki set a EURO League record this year with 84 assists in a season.*

Helsinki’s Sam Bennett now has a very impressive EURO League record to brag about.

He assisted on 84 goals, which is two more than John Tavares had when he set the league assists record in Season 9. Not only has Bennett never come close to that total in the past, he hasn’t had that many assists plus goals in a season. His career-best point total was 78 entering this season.

Bennett, who scored 78 points a year ago and 27 the season before that, won the Season 14 individual scoring crown tonight with 121 points and came 8 points from tying the league record that Steven Stamkos has held since Season 1. Stamkos’ linemate in Lisbon, John Tavares, tied the mark in Season 10.

The 120-point mark has been reached just 8 times in league history, three of those times by Tavares:

Season 1: Steven Stamkos, Frankfurt (129)
Season 2: Ryan Kesler, Dublin (121)
Season 3: Evgeny Malkin, Paris (121)
Season 5: John Tavares, Lisbon (121)
Season 6: Nicklas Backstrom, Minsk (128)
Season 8: John Tavares, Lisbon (122)
Season 10: John Tavares, Lisbon (129)
Season 14: Sam Bennett, Helsinki (121)

Bennett’s teammate Alex Debrincat plays left wing on the team’s third line, but Coach Brent Sutter might think about moving him up to play with Bennett more after the season the winger had. Debrincat’s 21.2 shooting percentage came within one shot of tying the league record that Sidney Crosby set in Season 3. Debrincat entered tonight’s game tied with Crosby, but when Sandro Zurkirchen of Geneva stopped his only shot of the game, Debrincat’s shooting percentage dipped a tenth of a percent. He finished the season with 29 goals and 55 points, both of which are personal bests.

Also close to tying a record this season was Nathan MacKinnon of Belfast, who came one takeaway short of tying the league record of 183 that Tyler Seguin of Oslo set in Season 8.

But that was the only other league record that was in danger of falling this season.

Oh, wait.

Unfortunately for Nick Schmaltz of Hanover, he also broke a league record this season. Through 13 seasons, Milan’s Tyler Johnson and Kyle Okposo were tied for worst plus/minus rating, thanks to the -80 mark they set in Season 5. This season, Kirill Kaprizov tied that awful stat and Schmaltz zoomed past it to end up -84. He played 21 minutes per game, most often with veteran Mikko Lehtonen and rookie Valentin Nussbaumer on his line.