Jonathan Cheechoo: From 50-Goal Scorer to Tryout Contract

Five years ago Jonathan Cheechoo led the NHL with 56 goals as a member of the San Jose Sharks. Injuries have helped to derail his career in the years since, as he's seen his production fall off in a stunningly consistent decline, going from 56 goals to 37, to 23, to 12 and all the way down to the five he tallied in 61 games with the Ottawa Senators last season.

Seemingly unable to find a guaranteed roster spot elsewhere in the NHL, Cheechoo accepted a tryout contract with the Dallas Stars on Saturday, in what appears to be one more shot for the 29-year-old forward.

He's still one of just 89 different players in the history of the league that have ever scored 50 or more goals in a single NHL season, which obviously puts him in some select company. Even if that one season was an outlier from the rest of his career.

Of the players to reach the 50-goal milestone, 32 of them did it just once, including Cheechoo. It's also the only time he scored more than 40 goals in a single season. His career average of 27.8 goals per 82 games is one of the lowest of all-time for a 50-goal scorer, as only 11 of them averaged fewer than 30 goals per 82 games played. Here's the list ...

One-time 50-goal Scorers: Career Averages Per 82 Games
Player	Best Season	Average Per 82	Difference
Bob Carpenter	53	22.1	30.9
Jacques Richard	52	23.7	28.3
Adam Graves	52	23.7	28.3
Gary Leeman	51	24.6	26.4
Vic Hadfield	50	26.2	23.8
Jonathan Cheechoo	56	27.8	28.2
Guy Chouinard	50	28.7	21.3
Danny Grant	50	29.5	20.5
John Buyck	51	29.5	21.5
Gary Roberts	53	29.5	23.5
Al Secord	54	29.5	24.5

Cheechoo's 56-goal effort came during the 2005-06 campaign, which was the highest-scoring season in the NHL (6.17 goals per game) since 1995. It was also the year San Jose acquired Joe Thornton -- one of the league's best passers and play-makers -- from the Boston Bruins, and instantly placed him on a line with Cheechoo, who then proceeded to score goals at an historic pace, filling the net an incredible 49 times in just 57 games.

After an All-Star season in 2006 (37 goals), he signed a five-year extension with the Sharks, and that was when the injuries started to mount and the steady decline soon followed.

Can he earn a spot with the Stars at this point in his career? Well, working against him is the fact Dallas already has an impressive collection of wingers, including Loui Eriksson and youngsters James Neal and Jamie Benn.

Working in his favor is the fact he's a right-handed shot, something the Stars are lacking at the forward positions.

Even if Cheechoo fails to make the team or regain any of the scoring touch he showed earlier in his career with the Sharks, it's a not a bad low-risk move for a team like Dallas that's working against its own self-imposed salary cap.