Every NHL player's case analyzed
Harry Cameron was a dynamic offensive player from the blue line well before that was a common feature of NHL D.
Was he one of the greatest D of his era or of all time or is it more likely that the position had yet to be defined properly?
Listen to us talk about Harry Cameron:
Harry Oliver was a WCHL star who mostly didn’t have the same kind of success in the NHL, except during the 1927 playoffs when he led the Bruins to a Stanley Cup.
When we discuss Harry Oliver’s Hall of Fame case, the big thing we struggle with is, was he a big enough star in the WCHL?
Listen to us talk about it here:
Continue reading “Does Harry Oliver Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?”
Neil Colville was one of the great passers of his era and a member of the last Ranger team to win a Stanley Cup for half a century. He was likely on pace to be one of the better forwards of his era, at least in terms of total assists. When he got back from WWII, however, he was converted to D, and his offensive production fell off a cliff.
We’re a little mystified why Colville is in the Hall of Fame. Listen to us discuss his Hall of Fame case here:
Continue reading “Should Neil Colville Be in the Hockey Hall of Fame?”
Walter “Turk” Broda was a workhorse with some decent regular season goalie stats. But, when it came to the post-season, especially after Broda returned from World War 2, there was no better goalie in the NHL. Broda’s post-war run is among the greatest playoff performances of any NHL goalie, winning four Stanley Cups in five years, and leading the playoffs in shutouts every year, including the year the Leafs didn’t win the Cup. Broda’s playoff record from when he returned from WWII to his retirement is 32-12. He led the playoffs in GAA four years in a row. There aren’t many other goalies to have dominated in the playoffs like he did.
Listen to us talk about Broda’s GOAT case and Hall of Fame case here:
Continue reading “Is Turk Broda a GOAT Goalie?”It’s easy to look at Bill Cowley’s numbers and think he might be one of the greatest offensive NHL players ever, and certainly one of the league’s greatest passers.
But his best years came during World War II when a number of NHL players were in the military and so competition wasn’t as good. Also, Cowley sometimes wasn’t even the first line centre on his own team.
The question isn’t just, does Bill Cowley belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame? It’s how do we evaluate his gaudy numbers given when he played and his role when Milt Schmidt was on the team? And why did it take the Hall 20+ years to induct him?
Listen here:
Continue reading “Is Bill Cowley one of the GOAT?”
Roy Worters had the unfortunate luck of playing for the Pirates and the Americans for the vast majority of his career. He never advanced out the semi finals in the NHL playoffs.
But he won a Hart and a Vezina (when it was the Jennings) and was nominated for the Hart three more times. He was also a star goalie in Junior and in an amateur league before his amateur went pro. It’s possible he was a great goalie on bad teams.
Listen to us discuss Roy Worters’ Hall of Fame case here:
Continue reading “Does Roy Worters Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?”Red Kelly was one of the best D of the 1950s and possibly the greatest offensive D to yet play in the NHL. And then he was traded to the Leafs and famously switched to centre. Throughout his career he won more Stanley Cups than any other non-Canadien player. He is one of only 10 players to ever have the three-year Hall of Fame waiting requirement waived.
So where does Red Kelly rank all time?
Listen to us talk about Red Kelly’s Hall of Fame and GOAT case here:
Continue reading “Is Red Kelly one of the Greatest NHL Players of All Time?”Grandfather of Ron, Bryan Hextall was one of the offensive stars of his era. And he was pretty good. If you fiddle with the VsX adjustment and do look at his per game numbers – something it’s not designed for – it paints Hextall as the best offensive player in NHL history in terms of adjusted PPG. That’s obviously not true and just exposes flaws in adjusted stats. But he must have been pretty good, right?
Listen to us talk about Bryan Hextall’s Hall of Fame case here:
Continue reading “Does Bryan Hextall Belong in the Hockey”Sid Abel won the Hart and made a number of end-of-season All Star teams. But he was often not the best player on his team – especially in the playoffs – and a lot of his regular season success came centering Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay.
Did Sid Abel deserve his Hart trophy? And does he belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame? Listen to us discuss his case here:
Continue reading “Does Sid Abel Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?”
Tom Johnson won 6 Stanley Cups and he was the only D to break up Dough Harvey’s Norris streak.
But he has few Norris nominations outside of his win and only two end-of-season All Star Team appearances in a sixteen season career. There’s a chicken-or-egg question here: Did Johnson win all these Cups because he played for one of the greatest teams of all time or did the Canadiens win all these Cups in part due to a player like Tom Johnson?
So, we wonder, does Tom Johnson belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?
Listen here:
Continue reading “Does Tom Johnson Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?”
