HHOF: who's in, who's out. A conundrum!

[KACaribou]

Eric Lindros didn't make the Hockey Hall of Fame again, yet his career stats are as good as most and better than some who are in the HHOF. A couple of former Flames, also not in the HHOF, are noted here for discussion purposes. Theo Fleury is the only player below to have cracked 1,000 points and five are in the HHOF. Kent Nilsson, who played 173 less games, was within 8 pts of Cam Nealy and had a higher PPG than all but Forsberg (1.24 to 1.25). Lindros played more games than Bure and amassed 86 more points yet Bure is in... and Lindros is not.

 

                               GP          G              A             PTS
Pavel Bure              702         437         342           779      PPG 1.11   HHOF

Cam Nealy             726         395          299           694      PPG .956   HHOF

Yvan Cornoyer       968         428          435           863      PPG .891   HHOF

Peter Forsberg       708         249          636           885      PPG 1.25   HHOF

Rocket Richard      978         544          421           965      PPG .986   HHOF

Theo Fleury           1084        455          633          1088     PPG 1.08

Eric Lindros            760         372         493            865      PPG 1.14

Kent Nilsson           553        264         422             686      PPG 1.24


TWO CURRENT STARS ALMOST A LOCK IN HHOF
Sidney Crosby        627          302         551          853     PPG 1.36

Alex Ovechkin        760         475          420           895     PPG 1.18

[Flyerfan52]

Look @ different eras & the # of games in a season.

There is no disputing that Maurice "Rocket" Richard should be in as the only player close during the era was "Mr. Hockey" Gordie Howe.

Yvan "The Roadrunner" Cournoyer was the fastest thing on 2 blades of his time.

 

Cam  Neely was the definition of a power forward in his day.

 

Eric Lindros & Theo Fleury will probably enter the HHOF next year as the crop of newly available are weaker. Both deserve to be there but voters take off-ice stuff into consideration.

 

Kent Nilsson is a tough call. I liked him as a Jet in the WHA & as a Flame is the NHL but he was 1 of the most frustrating players I ever saw. He was great when he felt like playing that way but he took entire games off. That lackadaisical attitude kept him from being as good as he could have been. He also played in the "run & gun" era while others played in the "dead puck" era.

 

All the above are why #s alone are not a good rational when comparing players.

[Khrox]

We were talking about this at my work today. We figured that off-ice is a huge factor (we all know a fair bit about the Theo Fleury off-ice drug, sex and gambling problems), but figure for Lindros a big thing might have been his refusal to sign with Quebec as a draft pick.

[DL44]

Also timing is a big part of it.... There have been some Monster classes.... Like this yr's class..

Next year will be the year of Lindros.

I saw a list of first time eligible a players, and it's a Poor list... I don't think anyone ever gets in, let alone anyone that's 1st ballot. I.e. It's a list that was highlighted by Theodore and Arnott.

So the door opens for the likes of Lindros, Karyia, maybe Fleury.....

[freakofnature]

I think Fleury deserves to be in the HHOF in spite of his off-ice issues.

[Flyerfan52]

We were talking about this at my work today. We figured that off-ice is a huge factor (we all know a fair bit about the Theo Fleury off-ice drug, sex and gambling problems), but figure for Lindros a big thing might have been his refusal to sign with Quebec as a draft pick.

Part of it was also the very public feud between Eric/his parents & the Flyers/Clarke. NHL management hates spectacles.

Clarke went on record a few years back & said that regardless big #88 should be in the HHOF.

Since then Lindros has played for them in the oldtimers part of the outdoor classic & be inducted into the Flyers HOF (which is just short of retiring his #).

[JonnyMacAwesome]

I think Fleury deserves to be in the HHOF in spite of his off-ice issues.

 

100% agree. This guy was an amazing player, and gave hope for little guys like myself that it was in fact possible to make an impact without being a monster.