Hart Trophy

Reevaluating the Hart Part 2: Early Hart Trophies 1924-1942

In part two of our series, we tackle the Hart trophies awarded between the award’s inception and the contraction of the league during World War II:

Before the Hart: Who Should Have Been MVP?

If the Hart had existed throughout the entirety of the NHL, these guys should have won in the years it didn’t actually exist:

Newsy Lalonde: 2 Harts
Joe Malone, Punch Broadbent, Georges Boucher: 1 Hart each
1 year where we have no fucking clue who deserved it

Here are the details:

Reevaluating the Hart Trophy Part 1: Introduction

Welcome to our series on the NHL’s Hart Trophy, its MVP award.

The MVP trophy is the most important trophy for any league; for better or worse it is how we determine who was the “best” player and, when we look at league history, it’s one way we use to judge players against each other, and, ultimately, it’s part of how we decide whether or not someone belongs in the greatness canon (whether that is the Hall of Fame or something else).

Does Brett Hull Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

by Johnmaxmena2 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

Brett Hull is one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history but he is often accused of being so one-dimensional that he shouldn’t be considered a great player.

In this episode, we discuss his case and whether or not he’s as one-dimensional as many often claim.

Listen here:

Error occurred when trying to fetch the file using wp_remote_get(). cURL error 6: Could not resolve host: the-back-check.pinecast.comedia

Stats:

Does Joe Sakic Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Joe Sakic was one of the great centers of his era, dominating during a hard time to score and then scoring consistently for a very long time. The question isn’t whether he belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but where he ranks among the greatest centres of all time.

Listen to us discuss Joe Sakic 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:

Frank Nighbor, the First NHL MVP

Frank Nighbor was awarded the first ever Hart Trophy for the NHL’s Most Valuable Player. He must have been pretty good.

But did he deserve that trophy? How good was he really?

Listen to us discuss Frank Nighbor:

Does Peter Forsberg Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Peter Forsberg combined elite passing with elite defensive ability and elite effort. His offensive rate statistics put him among the very best centres in the history of the NHL. Add to that his defense, and it feels as though he has a case to be considered one of the best centres to ever play the game.

Listen to us discuss Peter Forsberg:

Does Martin St Louis Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Martin St. Louis will be formally inducted into the Hall of Fame in October. Yet there are people who strongly believe he either doesn’t belong or that he should have “wait.” (Why someone should have to wait, we don’t know.)

In our latest episode, we talk about how open and shut St. Louis’ Hall of Fame inclusion case truly is even though one of us doesn’t personally like the guy for no particular reason.

Listen here:

Does Chris Pronger Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Chris Pronger was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame even while under contract to an NHL team. What was the rush inducting while he was still technically active? Was he really that good.

In this episode we discuss Pronger’s career and his HOF case.

Listen here: