Defence

Does Brian Leetch Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Brian Leetch was one of the greatest offensive defensemen of his era, perhaps even of all time.

That’s what we discuss on his episode of our podcast – where Leetch ranks all time, with multiple long discussions of his role in the 1994 Rangers’ Cup run.

Listen here:

James Odie Cleghorn

Odie Cleghorn’s brother is a famous Hall of Fame hockey player. Was Odie also deserving?

In this episode, we discuss whether or not Odie Cleghorn has a comparable case to some other NHA/1920s players who were questionably inducted.

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Odie’s stats are as follows:

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 Georges Buck Boucher Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Georges Boucher aka Buck Boucher was among the very best defencemen of the NHL’s first decade and a half. Where does he rank all time?

Listen here:

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Does Scott Niedermayer Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Obviously he does deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. The question is more, “where does he rank all time among great NHL defencemen?”

We discuss that here:

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Does Brian Rafalski Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

By certain metrics – Defensive Point Shares, Point Shares, Plus/Minus – Brian Rafalski was the second best defenceman to play at least 750 games between 1999 and 2011. But if you watched him play, or you look up his Average Time on Ice (ATOI), you know he was never a #1 defenceman.

So, what gives? Was Rafalski so incredible he should have had his own team? Or did he luck out with his defence partners?

Listen to us discuss Rafalski’s case:

Does Joe Simpson Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Bullet Joe Simpson was considered by none other than Newsy Lalonde as the best hockey player in the world. How good was he? How can we tell?

Listen here:

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.

Listen here:

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 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: