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Is Vladislav Tretiak the Greatest Goalie of All Time?

The induction of Vladislav Tretiak into the Hockey Hall of Fame officially made the Hockey Hall of Fame an international hall of fame, not just an NHL-focused North American hockey hall of fame.

So that’s an area of controversy for some, but if the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto wants to be the Hockey Hall of Fame of the World, it’s a step that needed to be taken.

So where does Tretiak rank? How do we compare him to NHL goalies when Soviet League goalie stats are even worse than Soviet League skater stats?

What do we do with the very notable fact that Tretiak’s GAA (not save percentage) increased drastically every time he played against NHL competition in international tournaments?

Listen to us attempt to talk about Vladislav Tretiak’s Hall of Fame case here:

Does Viacheslav Fetisov Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Festisov is perhaps the greatest Russian defender of all time. (The GRDOAT?) But his NHL career was past his prime.

Does he belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Listen to us discuss his case here:

Does Valeri Kharlamov Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Valeri Kharlamoov never played in the NHL.

This website is about players who have played in the NHL, or players who played in the forerunners of the NHL.

But Kharlamov was inducted, in great part due scaring Canada at the ’72 Summit Series. (Kharlamov also died very young.)

So, does he belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Listen to us try to talk about this case here:

Does Igor Larionov Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

One of the Russian Five, Larionov has had team success wherever he’s gone. But his individual success only ever occurred outside of the NHL. Does he belong?

Listen here:

Does Pavel Bure Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Pavel Bure was a dominant goal-scorer in both the NHL’s highest scoring era and one of its lower scoring.

In this episode we talk about Bure, his stats, and why he wasn’t inducted immediately despite being one of the most dominant scorers in the history of the sport.

Listen here:

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Here are Bure’s 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 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 Sergei Zubov Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Sergei Zubov was one of the best defencemen in the NHL for nearly two decades yet, when he recorded this episode, he was not yet in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Why did it take so long? Was it because he’s Russian? Was it because he played most of his career in Dallas and wasn’t watched enough?

In this episode, we marveled at how Zubov was not in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Of course, since then the Hall of Fame corrected their mistake. Still, it’s a fun episode.

Listen here:

Does Sergei Fedorov Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Sergei Fedorov had a couple great seasons and a very long career. Yet he was inducted very quickly, as if he was a no-doubter. Did Fedorov deserve that treatment?

Listen to us discuss Fedorov’s case here:

Does Sergei Gonchar Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

We doubt Sergei Gonchar is a name many would have considered for induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

But he had a rather great career despite his lack of accolades.

In our latest episode, we debate whether or not Sergei Gonchar deserves to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Listen here: