Back Check

Before the Hart: Who Should Have Been MVP?

If the Hart had existed throughout the entirety of the NHL, these guys should have won in the years it didn’t actually exist:

Newsy Lalonde: 2 Harts
Joe Malone, Punch Broadbent, Georges Boucher: 1 Hart each
1 year where we have no fucking clue who deserved it

Here are the details:

Reevaluating the Hart Trophy Part 1: Introduction

Welcome to our series on the NHL’s Hart Trophy, its MVP award.

The MVP trophy is the most important trophy for any league; for better or worse it is how we determine who was the “best” player and, when we look at league history, it’s one way we use to judge players against each other, and, ultimately, it’s part of how we decide whether or not someone belongs in the greatness canon (whether that is the Hall of Fame or something else).

Does Vaclav Nedomansky Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Vaclav Nedomansky was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. Perhaps you’re wondering why. We know we were.

In this episode, we look at his case for induction and try to come up with an explanation as to why he is in and numerous other WHA and European stars are not.

Listen here:

Does Ulf Nilsson Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

By some metrics, Ulf Nilsson was the Greatest Player, or at least Greatest Forward, in WHA history. (APG and PPG, specifically.) But when he moved to the NHL he saw his numbers plummet and his career fall apart due to injuries.

In this episode we discuss whether or not Ulf Nilsson did enough in the WHA for us to say he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Listen here:

Does Ty Arbour Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Ty Arbour might be the All Time leader in Games Played for the WCHL. Does that mean he belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

We discuss his case in our latest episode:

Does Guy Carbonneau Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Guy Carbonneau was inducted in 2019. His induction is virtually unprecedented as Carbonneau has probably the worst offensive stats of any forward inducted to the HOF to have played since the league expanded in 1968. (Bob Gainey would be the only other forward in the Hall with comparable offensive numbers.)

Of course, Carbonneau is not in because of his offense. He’s in because of his three Selke trophies and numerous Top 5 Selke voting finishes.

So, does he belong? And what kind of precedent does he set for the Hall of Fame going forward? Listen to us talk about him here:

Does Jere Lehtinen Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

It might seem like a silly question. However, as if this writing, Jere Lehtinen is the only eligible player with at least three Selke trophies not in the Hall of Fame. (If Datsyuk doesn’t get in once he’s eligible, there will be two.)

In this episode we discuss Lehtinen’s case in light of Guy Carbonneau’s induction in 2019.

Listen to us talk about Jere Lehtinen here:

Does Tommy Smith Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Tommy Smith is a player we really had never heard of.

Why? Because he played 10 games in the NHL. He scored 1 point.

But Tommy Smith is one of the best players in the history of the NHA.

Additionally, he dominated every amateur and semi-pro and early pro league he was in.

He probably belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Listen to us talk about Tommy Smith:

Does Henrik Zetterberg Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

by JamesTeterenko assumed (based on copyright claims). [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]

Before we recorded this episode, one of us was pretty convince he did belong and the other was skeptical. Somehow, talking about his case, we both changed our minds!

Zetterberg was undoubtedly one of the best two-way forwards of his era; overshadowed in awards voting by his teammate, he actually performed better in the playoffs than Datsyuk.

So does he belong?

Listen to our latest episode here:

Does Luc Robitaille Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Of course the real question is, “is Luc Robitaille the Greatest Left Wing of All Time?” That’s the real question because, of all left-shooting Left Wings in NHL history, Robitaille is first in both goals and points.