Who really belongs in the Hall of Fame?

Does Chris Chelios Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Chris Chelios has one of the most impressive resumes of any American defenseman. He might have the most impressive resume.

So the question isn’t so much whether or not he belongs in the Hall of Fame, but where does he rank among the greatest NHL defenders ever.

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Does Gary Suter Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Gary Suter is one of the top offensive defencemen in the history of the NHL.

However, many of the defenders above Suter on the points list played at exactly the same time so, in context, his impressive offensive numbers don’t look so impressive.

We talk about Suter’s case here:

Does Harold Punch Broadbent Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

According to some, Punch Broadbent was the original power forward, the first (NHL?) hockey player to combine skill and physicality in a dominant way.

If that’s true, then even without going through is stats he likely has a pretty good case for the Hockey Hall of Fame. But we’ll look at his career anyway.

Does Brendan Shanahan Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Does Brendan Shanahan belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

It’s a silly question about one of the greatest power forwards ever. We still ask it and talk about his case.

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Does Shane Doan even have a case for the Hall of Fame?

The idea of Shane Doan being in the Hockey Hall of Fame may strike you as absurd. It strikes one of us that way. The other of us tries to persuade us all that there is actually a case for Shane Doan to be in the Hall of Fame.

So the first part of this episode is about whether or not Shane Doan even has a case to be in the Hall of Fame. We hope you enjoy it. You can listen here:

Does Herb Gardiner Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Herb Gardiner may have been one of the premier defencemen of his era, and was awarded the Hart Trophy as a result.

But how good was he really? Can we even know? How do we evaluate defencemen from the 1920s who didn’t score a lot? Can we trust Hart trophy wins from the past when we know they sometimes awarded them for controversial reasons?

Listen to us talk about Herb Gardiner here:

Does Rob Blake Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Rob Blake was one of the star offensive defencemen of his era.

But he likely didn’t deserve his Norris Trophy the year he won it.

Does he still belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Listen to us talk about Rob Blake here:

Does Eric Desjardins Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

If you never watched Eric Desjardins play, you might think this is a stupid question (unless you have a lot of faith in the concept of Defensive Point Shares). But, for a time, Desjardins was one of the best defencemen in the NHL.

Did he do enough to warrant induction into the Hall of Fame? Listen to us talk about Eric Desjardins here:

Does Dick Irvin Sr. Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a Player?

Dick Irvin Sr. is arguably not as famous as his son to anyone who isn’t a Habs fan or who isn’t a really old Leafs fan.

But before he was a great coach, he was a player. In this episode of The Back Check we try to decide whether he was a player who was good enough to be inducted just as a player, and not due to his coach record, because that’s a conversation we can have.

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Does Mike Modano Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Mike Modano never scored more than 93 points in a single season and yet some people regard him as one of the greatest American-born hockey players ever, if not the absolute greatest.

Others look at his offensive output and think he’s horribly overrated.

Which is it? Does he belong or has he been horribly overrated?

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