Does Babe Dye Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Cecil “Babe” Dye quickly became one of the NHL’s early stars and, to this day, if the qualifier is low enough, he remains the all time leader in adjusted GPG.

But he also played relatively few games, his career was basically over by age 29 and he only ever won one Cup.

Listen to us talk about Babe Dye’s Hall of Fame case here:

Babe Dye’s Career

• NHL: 1921-1931; 11 seasons, 8 quality
• Totals:
  • 201G (3rd All Time at his retirement – Denneny, Morenz),
  • 47A for
  • 248P (4th – Denneny, Morenz, Noble) in
  • 271 games (13th);
  • 46.6 PS (10th)
  • At his retirement, Dye was 5th All Time in Offensive Point Shares (Morenz, Nels Stewart, Joliat, Denneny)
• Per Game:
  • Dye is 4th All Time in GPG (Bossy, Lemieux, Denneny)
  • Dye doesn’t qualify for the APG or PPG leader-boards. However, if the qualifier is set at 82 games
    • Dye was 9th All Time in PPG at his retirement
• 82-game average of 61G, 14A for 75P
• 3-year peak (1920-23): 24-game average of 31G, 8A for 39P
• Playoffs:
  • 2G for 
  • 2P in 
  • 10 games
  • Per Game: Dye scored 2 points in 10 games so there is no point
  • Era: Of the 77 skaters who played in at least 10 playoff games between 1919 and 1931, Dye is
    • T-34th in playoff Goals
    • T-21st in obviously GPG (a joke, obviously)
    • T-last in playoff Assists (obviously)
    • T-51st in playoff Points
    • T-47th in playoff PPG
    • T-68th in playoff Games
• Adjusted:
  • Hockey-Reference:
    • 326G, 
    • 241A for 
    • 567P
  • Adjusted 82-game average: an absurd 99G, 73A for 171P
  • Per Game:
    • Dye is 1st All Time in Adjusted GPG
    • Dye does not qualify for the APG and PPG leader-boards. However, if the qualifier is set to 82 games,
      • Dye is 11th All Time in Adjusted PPG
  • VsX: Dye doesn’t qualify for the adjustment
• Trades:
  • Traded at 28 for cash
  • Traded at 30 for cash
  • Traded out of the NHL (to the minors) at 31

Babe Dye’s Accomplishments

• Top 5 in Hart voting once (’25)
• Back Check Best Player (’23)
• Top Player:
  • Set the single season record in PS in 1924-25 (which he held for a season)
  • Best Player (by Point Shares) once (’25),
  • Top 5 four times (’21, ’22, ’23),
  • Top 10 six times (’24, ’27)
  • Set the single season record in OPS in 1924-25 (which he held for two seasons)
  • Best Offensive Player (by OPS) twice (’23, ’25),
  • Top 5 six times (’21, ’22, ’24, ’27),
  • Top 10 seven times (’26)
• Goals:
  • Leader-boards:
    • Led the league in Goals three times (t-10th most ever),
    • Top 5 six times,
    • Top 10 seven times
  • GPG leader-boards:
    • Led the league in GPG three times (t-8th most ever),
    • Top 5 six times,
    • Top 10 seven times
  • Single-season totals:
    • 35 goals twice (1 of only 2 players to do so at his retirement – Malone)
    • 30 goals three times (only player ever at his retirement)
    • 25 goals four times (1 of only 2 players to do so at his retirement – Morenz)
• Assists:
  • Leader-boards:
    • Top 5 in Assists once
  • APG lead-boards:
    • Top 5 in APG once
• Points:
  • Leader-boards:
    • Led the league in Points twice (t-10th most time),
    • Top 5 five times,
    • Top 10 six times
  • PPG leader-boards:
    • Led the league in PPG once,
    • Top 5 five times,
    • Top 10 six times
• VsX Peak: Dye doesn’t qualify for the adjustment

Babe Dye’s Great Teams

• NHL:
  • Best Player (by points) on one Stanley Cup Champion (’22 St. Patricks),
  • Top 3? Forward (by points) on one NHL Runner Up (’21 St. Patricks) and one NHL Final Four (’25 St. Patricks),
  • Top 6 Forward (by Points) on two Final Fours (’27 Black Hawks (‘29 Americans)