Setting hockey's Hall of Fame standard
Series released May 9 to June 20, 2023 at Daily Faceoff: 1️⃣ Should six outstanding seasons get a player into the Hockey Hall of Fame?Featuring John LeClair 2️⃣ Do post-playing careers affect our view of Hockey Hall of Fame cases?Featuring Rod Brind’Amour 3️⃣ How important should team playoff success be to a Hockey Hall of Fame… Continue reading Daily Faceoff Series: 2023 Hockey Hall of Fame
If you missed Friday's instalment, check out Part 1, covering the #1 defencemen from the league's first eight decades. We begin today in 1998. Scoring is down. International NHL talent is here to stay. Dominance at the position for long stretches will soon fade faster than Mats Sundin's hairline. 🔥 1998, 2006-09: Nicklas Lidstrom After two… Continue reading The Torch 🔥: Defencemen (Part 2)
The Torch series launched in December with hockey's #1 forwards. Check out Part 1, explaining the High Noon player ranking system and covering 1918 to 1981. Part 2 featured the top forwards from 1982 to the present. Most of us are captivated by the feats of forwards. Checking the scoring leaders. Watching highlight reel goals.… Continue reading The Torch 🔥: Defencemen (Part 1)
If you didn't catch yesterday's series opener, check out Part 1. It features a background on the approach and some ground rules, walking us from the NHL's founding season through 1981. 🔥 1982-88: Wayne Gretzky Uniquely pumping The Great One's tires is a difficult exercise at this point. No hockey player or their statistical prowess… Continue reading The Torch 🔥: Forwards (Part 2)
The title of the best player in a sport is fascinating. Sometimes #1 is crystal clear, quickly pivoting to a best-ever debate. Sometimes #1 is murky, with several candidates vying for the splashy (and extremely unofficial) title. In golf or tennis, the official world rankings govern the sport's hierarchy. In your head-to-head sports like boxing,… Continue reading The Torch 🔥: Forwards (Part 1)
The HHOF Narratives 🎭 Big Proponent: "A consistently lethal scoring threat, leader, 13-year captain and two-way force raised the Senators franchise to relevance and carried Sweden to Olympic gold." Big Opponent: "Overrated forward with no signature seasons or meaningful hardware beyond his rookie year never led underachieving Senators to a Stanley Cup win." The Basics… Continue reading HHOF Profile: Daniel Alfredsson
Picture a hockey player at their absolute best. That sweet stretch somewhere between an unpolished apprenticeship and the first signs of betrayal of one’s physical gifts. Prime. Pinnacle. Heyday. The peak of their powers. Regardless the descriptor, this is a revealing point in both a career and a Hall of Fame case. Yet, it's a… Continue reading High Noon