The correct answer is "when you transfer a player out of the purged database through the team screen the match data for that player isn't zeroed out if you forget to tab through the player before posting your changes."
Perfectly! He had earned 23 top shooter points in his most recent season of play before this one... and the lack of tabbing through meant that bit of info remained when he was 'un-purged'! I...think...
I think the worst time to have a heart attack would be during a game of charades... or during a game of fake heart attack.