Simon Gagne: Best "Acquistion"?

There were many big name free agents this off season, but Simon Gagne's return to the Flyers roster may be the biggest "new" boost for any team this season. Gagne is off to a remarkable start, notching 31 points in in 23 games, and only missing one game because of the flu.

Gagne is scoring at a rate of 1.34 points per game. The only season that he put up similar numbers was in 2005-2006 when he had 1.10 points per game. Gagne is on a 81-game pace for a 109 point season, with 46 goals and 63 assists. By far the best output of his career. Gagne has topped the 45 goal mark once and has never dished out more than 35 assists in any season. He was always noted as a sniper, but now he's becoming more of a complete player.

Gagne has already set a career-high for shorthanded goals and points with 4 and 6, respectively. He is also a +15 and that places him second in the entire NHL. He's on pace for an amazing +53 season. His best ever was a +31 in both 2001-2002 and 2005-2006.

Below are some stats to compare his seasonal output.

1999-2000 - 20G/28A/48P, +11, 0.60 PPG
2000-2001 - 27G/32A/59P, +24, 0.86 PPG
2001-2002 - 33G/33A/66P, +31, 0.84 PPG
2002-2003 - 09G/18A/27P, +20, 0.59 PPG
2003-2004 - 24G/21A/45P, +12, 0.56 PPG
2005-2006 - 47G/32A/79P, +31, 1.10 PPG
2006-2007 - 41G/27A/68P, +02, 0.89 PPG
2007-2008 - 07G/11A/18P, -08, 0.72 PPG
2008-2009 - 13G/18A/31P, +15, 1.34 PPG