I forgot to do hockey.
Well, it's not that I forgot so much as I got distracted and didn't think there were enough hockey fans on the card blogging blogosphere to have an opinion on how I classified such players as Chris Osgood, Patrice Bergeron, or Filip Forsberg. So I used my own judgment.
This past weekend I finally cleaned and organized my entire card collection. Everything is sorted and stored neat and tidy. My OCD is happy.. at least it would be, if I had put all my Pierre Turgeon cards in one place.
Somehow I managed to split my Turgeon cards into both the "star player box" and the binders. This was strange for two reasons: all of the cards in the box were from his years with the Montreal Canadiens but his Sabres, Islanders, and Blues cards were in my commons binders (as if I subconsciously decided he was only a star in Montreal?)
The second thing that irked me was that I really did not know which side Turgeon belonged on. He's not a Hall Of Famer (which would earn an automatic place in my box) but his numbers compare very favorably to many of his contemporaries - some of whom are in the HHOF (I've indicated those players in blue)
| first year | last year | Cups | Goals | Assists | Points | PPG | |
| Doug Gilmour | 1983 | 2003 | 1 | 450 | 964 | 1414 | 0.959 |
| Mike Modano | 1989 | 2011 | 1 | 561 | 813 | 1374 | 0.917 |
| Mats Sundin | 1990 | 2009 | 0 | 564 | 785 | 1349 | 1.002 |
| Pierre Turgeon | 1987 | 2007 | 0 | 515 | 812 | 1327 | 1.026 |
| Jeremy Roenick | 1988 | 2009 | 0 | 513 | 703 | 1216 | 0.892 |
| Vin Damphousse | 1986 | 2004 | 1 | 432 | 773 | 1205 | 0.875 |
| Rod Brind'Amour | 1989 | 2010 | 1 | 452 | 732 | 1184 | 0.798 |
| Sergei Fedorov | 1990 | 2009 | 3 | 483 | 696 | 1179 | 0.945 |
| Joe Nieuwendyk | 1986 | 2007 | 3 | 564 | 562 | 1126 | 0.896 |
| Doug Weight | 1991 | 2011 | 1 | 278 | 755 | 1033 | 0.834 |
Okay, so he didn't win a Stanley Cup or any major awards (unless you consider the Lady Byng trophy a "major" award) but he has a higher points per game average than anyone on this list, and I'm having a hard time separating him from first-ballot HOFer Mats Sundin.
Jeremy Roenick is an interesting case as well. I'm not quite sold on his Hall of Fame candidacy, but there's no denying he was a star. Damphousse, Brind'Amour, and Weight are better suited for the "Hall of Very Good", though Brind'Amour's two-way play might get him in the HHOF one day.
I never really thought of Pierre Turgeon as a bona fide star the way Sundin and Modano and Roenick and Fedorov and Gilmour were stars. (I never thought of Joe Nieuwendyk as a star, either.) And yet his career numbers tell me I should. No wonder I had his cards sorted in two different places!
Can you think of any deserving players who are not in the Hockey Hall of Fame?
~
20 year career, backstopped two Stanley Cups and almost 400 wins Mike Vernon. Massachusetts native Keith Tkachuk, over 500 goals and over 1,000 career NHL points, no Cup hurts. Over 600 goals, 1,300 points and a Stanley Cup to his name how about Dave Andreychuk? Almost 600 goals and well over 1,500 points, 3 Stanley Cups hasn't earned Mark Recchi a ticket to the HHOF. I'm sure there's others but this seems like a good start. At least Bernie Federko is in. Seriously?!
ReplyDeleteExcellent points. Federko is one that really bothers me; I'm not sure what the committee was thinking there. Agree 100% on Recchi and Andreychuk, they ought to be at/near the top of the HHOF's list for the next election. I think Curtis Joseph is still on the outside as well, I'd put him in before Vernon/Osgood, but the multiple cups favor those guys. Tkachuk and Roenick are similar to me, in that they were superstars, 500 goal scorers, USA legends.. but borderline HOFers. I'd put them both in.
ReplyDeleteAs a San Jose Sharks fan, my friends and I debate whether or not Patrick Marleau will get any consideration. Most of us feel he falls into the Hall of Very Good. I like Marc's response. Keith Tkachuk was a rock star.
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