Future Hockey HOFers?

[chaddurbin]

i was a big hockey fan in the early 90's...when you're talking about these guys up for the hof now those were my "prime" years. it's almost unbelievable to think guys like bure in the hof already and you have jagr who came into the league BEFORE some of these guys and he's still going strong. god bless the man.

edit: pierre turgeon is another good candidate, he did play in a stacked era. if you do the baseball adjusted-era number like they do in baseball his number probably falls short as his peak years wasn't that impressive (only one 100pt season). but this isn't baseball where's the criteria is more laxed i'd definitely put him in...just a quiet guy who went about his business on the nice.

[earlywynnfan]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

i was a big hockey fan in the early 90's...when you're talking about these guys up for the hof now those were my "prime" years. it's almost unbelievable to think guys like bure in the hof already and you have jagr who came into the league BEFORE some of these guys and he's still going strong. god bless the man...

I tried watching some hockey in the late 80's/early 90's, but without a team in Cleveland it was tough and I bailed. But I remember watching Jagr and Mario rule. So a couple weeks ago I take a work trip to Columbus, and my buddy talked me into going to a BlueJackets game. Lo and behold, Jagr comes out! I couldn't believe he was still playing.

[Iwantmorecards77]

...this talk about 80's and 90's hockey had me thinking a bit more about where some of these players rank. Going back to the dominant centers of that era - everyone knows that the likes of Gretzky, Lemieux and Yzerman are in a separate class. However, looking at Turgeon's stats compared to another center of that era, Mats Sundin, who was a first ballot fall-of-famer - it seems that Turgeon is just as deserving, maybe even more.

Mats Sundin:

Games Played: 1,346
Goals: 564
Assists: 785
Points: 1,349
Points Per Game: 1.002
100+ Point Seasons: (1) 1992-93

Playoffs:

Games Played: 91
Goals: 38
Assists: 44
Points: 82
Points Per Game: .090

Awards: (1) Mark Messier Leadership Award (2007-08)
Stanley Cups: (0)


Pierre Turgeon:

Games Played: 1,294
Goals: 515
Assists: 812
Points: 1,327
Points Per Game: 1.025
100+ Point Seasons: (2) 1989-90 and 1992-93

Playoffs:

Games Played: 109
Goals: 35
Assists: 62
Points: 97
Points Per Game: 0.89

Awards: (1) Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (1992-93)
Stanley Cups: (0)

...can't get much closer than that. I know there's other things to look at besides the stats listed above - but how one is a first-ballot hall of famer, and the other may never be considered is quite perplexing. The knock on Turgeon was his refusal to participate in a major brawl while playing for Canada, before he even played in the NHL. With the way the NHL is trying to make fighting less of a factor - something like that may very well be looked at in a different light nowadays. The Positive Coaching Alliance would be all over that. Haha

...sorry for getting sidetracked. That lot of signatures is solid, now that I think about the skill of those players. Neat collection!

[earlywynnfan]

Is 500 goals pretty much a HOF lock, like 300 wins/3000 hits? So if a guy ends with 489 goals, he's stuck in Tommy John/Jim Kaat purgatory?

By the way, cool breakdown on Turgeon. Thanks to all for the discussions.

Ken

[earlywynnfan]

Also, for this particular group, it was 52 photos from just before 2000, and I'm really glad I bought them. It had a few minor HOFers, the handful of near-HOFers discussed here, and no real bums. It's been fun looking these guys up, which is the point for me.

On the flip side, 52 signatures, and not one is legible!! I had to go look at my Jacques Laperriere photo, where you can read every single letter, for some sanity!

[chaddurbin]

do you have a photo of the kariya? he was never media-friendly and didn't sign alot. i suspect alot of his stuff is forged as psa and jsa are pretty clueless about hockey sigs.

[earlywynnfan]

Here you go. They are from Grad, Ink, which sold to Mastro in 2000. I'm not sure if they are affiliated with Steve Grad.