Joe Mullen was among the first American NHL stars and the first American player to reach 500 goals. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his fist year of eligibility.
But his regular season stats aren’t actually that great and are substantially helped by the era he played in.
So, does Joe Mullen belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame? Listen here:
Ray bourque is the career leader in goals, assists and points for a D, he has 5 Norris Trophies and he has more end-of-season All Star team appearances than anyone other than Gordie Howe.
So where does he rank all time among the greatest defencemen ever? Is he #2? Is he not even in the Top 5 as one of us used to believe?
Horge, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Paul Coffey’s offensive stats are just staggering. He owns the single season goals record for a defender and almost topped Orr’s points record. He had both an extremely high offensive peak and also did things consistently through his career that few have ever done before. If he was healthier at the end, he probably would be the highest scoring D in NHL history.
But, especially in the ’80s, there were huge concerns about his defense. And some people still believe he should have played forward.
So where does he rank all time? Does such a player belong in the Hall of Fame?
Cam Neely is one of only 8 players to unofficially score “50 Goals in 50 Games”. (He did it in the Bruins’ 66th game of the season, so it doesn’t count in the NHL’s eyes.) And, when healthy, he was one of the most dominant goal-scorers of his era. On the Bruins…
But his career numbers are not as good as you think they are and, beyond some 2nd All Star Teams, he didn’t really get much acknowledgement as an elite player during his career.
So, does Cam Neely belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame? Listen to us discuss his case here:
Carson Cooper was a senior hockey star that went pro a few years later than his contemporaries. He was briefly a star in NHL but soon declined. Does he belong in the Hall of Fame?
Bernie Morris had one of the greatest Stanley Cup Finals performances in hockey history, scoring 14 of his team’s 23 goals (in 4 games!) in 1917. But he is not in the Hall of Fame.
In this episode, we discuss his career and his case. Listen here: