Lady Byng Trophy

Does Butch Goring Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Magickallwiz at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Butch Goring won four Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe trophy. And he’s got more awards than Clark Gillies. But he’s not in the Hall of Fame.

That could be because he probably didn’t deserve that Conn Smythe. And his regular season and playoff numbers are hardly elite.

Listen to us discuss Goring’s case here:

Does Jari Kurri 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:

Is Ron Francis One of the Great Centres in NHL History?

Ron Francis undoubtedly belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Skaters who played as long as he did and were as consistently good as he was always get in.

by akulawolf / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

But the real question is, how good was he? He was never really a top offensive star and his best years came as the second line centre on a team with two of the best forwards in history (and one of the two candidates for best centre ever).

Listen to us debate Francis’ career here:

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:

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Stats:

Does Alexander Mogilny Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Alex Mogilny had one of the best goal-scoring seasons in the history of the NHL and one other pretty dominant season. But the knock on him was his consistency, as he had very mediocre years in between his good years.

Mogilny is also notable for being one of the last USSR players to defect to the States, and having never played internationally for Russia once he did so.

In this episode, we discuss his convoluted case for induction:

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Here are his 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:

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 Pavel Datsyuk Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Pavel Datsyuk was arguably the best two-way forward of his era, able to dominate other teams defensively without taking many penalties, while scoring enough to sometimes rank in the Top 10 in league scoring. He was the NHL’s first “Corsi God,” a player who drove possession so well that, once the NHL started tracking possession numbers, Datsyuk was simply the best player in the league by those metrics.

However, Datsyuk does not have the gaudy offensive numbers of other NHL Hall of Famers, and he was often played as the second best forward on his own team.

So where does Datsyuk rank all time? Listen to us talk about Pavel Datsyuk here:

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 Paul Kariya Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Kariya’s career was marred by injuries but he was inducted relatively quickly after his retirement compared to a lot of players who have played fewer than 1,000 games.

Was that warranted?

Where does Kariya rank in his era?

Listen here: