Tommy Dunderdale was a PCHA star and is the career leader in Goals. He wasn’t the greatest player in league history – that’s Cyclone Taylor – but he may have been the forward.
Does a PCHA star belong? Listen to us discuss Tommy Dunderdale’s Hall of Fame case:
Norm Ullman was one of the league’s all time leading scorers when he left the NHL.
But two of the players above him on that list were his teammates. And he was a second line player for a substantial section of his career. Also, he never won a Cup.
So, does Norm Ullman belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?
Or, rather, is Jari Kurri the Greatest Finnish Hockey Player of All Time?
Kurri was a huge offensive star in the ’80s but, of course, he was playing on the wing of the greatest offensive hockey player the world has ever seen.
Listen to us talk about Kurri’s place in history here:
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?
Cujo is 7th All Time in Wins and was, by Goalie Point Shares, the Most Valuable Goalie in the league for three straight seasons and yet is not in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Normally with our subject lines we ask “Does so and so belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame”? But, with Kevin Lowe, it’s hard to ask that question seriously even though he’s been inducted.
And that’s because, as you’ll see below, Kevin Lowe’s case for Hall of Fame induction rests on one thing and one thing alone: he won some Cups.
So listen to us rant about Kevin Lowe in this episode of our podcast:
The narrative is that Mark Messier is the Greatest Leader/Captain in NHL history, probably hockey history and (depending upon who you talk to) maybe even in pro sports history.
So the question isn’t whether or not he belongs in the Hall of Fame, but how good he was. And do his “intangibles” make up for never being a top offensive player ever during the course of his career?
Glenn Anderson was the 5thbest player on a dynastic hockey team. He then lucked out and got traded to a team which won him a sixth Stanley Cup. He was never the star of any of those 6 teams and he was only ever briefly a top offensive player in the NHL (when he was playing with 4 Hall of Fame skaters).
Yet he’s been in the Hall of Fame for a while.
In our latest episode, we talk about Anderson’s case, and how it centres on two things: his 6 Cups and his ridiculous playoff totals.