Borderline – Probable – Page 5 – Who really belongs in the Hall of Fame?

Does Edward Reg Noble Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Reg Noble’s biggest claim to fame is that he set the NHL career record in games played and, when he retired he was way ahead of the next player.

Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? We talk about him here:

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Does Frank Foyston Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Frank Foyston was a star in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) but never really reached the same level in the NHA, WCHL or NHL, all of which he played in for at least 39 games.

Do players like Foyston, who only excelled in one of the early pro leagues, truly belong in the Hall of Fame?

Listen to us talk about Frank Foyston here:

Defensive Defensemen

Since the position of defenseman was created, there have been defenders who contributed to the team’s offense and there have been players who didn’t much. But this difference was exacerbated by the expansion of the NHL in 1967 and the phenomenon of Bobby Orr, who destroyed scoring records for defenders, and showed that teams could expect scoring from the back-end in ways they never imagined.

This change essentially created a dichotomy between “offensive” defensemen, who scored a lot, albeit not quite as much as Bobby Orr, and “defensive” defensemen, who didn’t score much at all. For our purposes, we’ve arbitrarily assumed that a “defensive defenseman” is a defender which manged .35 adjusted PPG or less throughout their NHL career.

The Hall of Fame’s attitude towards defensively inclined defenders also changed since expansion. The Hall of Fame has inducted six NHL defensemen from that era who scored less than .35 adjusted PPG (of a total of 16 legitimate candidates they could have inducted). But the Hall of Fame has inducted exactly one player who fits the bill, Rod Langway, to play the majority of his career since expansion.

This leads to three possible conclusions:

Rod Langway was the best defensive defenseman since expansion, significantly better than any other, and he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame while no other player with a similar skill set deserves the honour. OR
There are other players of Rod Langway’s ability who have been forgotten or overlooked because they didn’t get the awards votes (Norris and Hart) that Langway got, and they deserve to be in. OR
Rod Langway’s awards votes are a historical curiosity that won’t happen again and he didn’t necessarily deserve them, nor do other players who fail to contribute offensively, and no defensive defensemen should be inducted into the Hall of Fame going forward.

How do we sort out this problem?

Does Jack Darragh Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

As with all our old timers, the question for us is, “How good was Jack Darragh?” Was he really a great player or was he merely someone who the voters fondly remembered?

In this episode, we examine his case. Listen here:

Does Ziggy Palffy Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

A lot of people probably think Ziggy Palffy doesn’t have a case in hell for Hall of Fame. Well, we beg top differ.

In our latest episode, hear us make a case for Palffy’s induction, based upon the standards set by previous inductees.

Listen here:

Does Sergei Gonchar Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

We doubt Sergei Gonchar is a name many would have considered for induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

But he had a rather great career despite his lack of accolades.

In our latest episode, we debate whether or not Sergei Gonchar deserves to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Listen here:

Does Keith Tkachuk Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Keith Tkachuk (“TAYchuck” according to Don Cherry) is more notorious for his edge and his sneer than he is for his goal-scoring ability.

Was he good enough to be in the Hall of Fame?

We find out. Listen to us debate his case:

Does Pierre Turgeon Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Pierre Turgeon is our first truly eligible player that we’re considering. And he’s a bit of a litmus test, as he has the most points of any eligible (inactive for 3 years) player not in the Hall of Fame (as well as the most assists). If he belongs, others do to.

But if he doesn’t, maybe he’s a good cut-off point for counting stats.

Listen here:

Does Joe Hall Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

In this episode, we discuss whether or not Joe Hall belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame, or is he just there because we contracted the Spanish Flu during the Stanley Cup Finals.

Listen here:

Does Mark Recchi Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

In this episode we consider whether or not Mark Recchi should have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. You can listen here: