Bobby Smith, Yay or Nay For Hall Of Fame?

BlueBull

Habby Man
Oct 11, 2017
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Vancouver Island
I do it here since somebody will know who Smith is. If you don't know here is some context. Bobby smith was first noticed when he scored 135 points in 65 games at 19 years old in the ohl. He was a young, flashy player coming into the 1978 draft. He lived up to the hype for his last season in the ohl, as he scored 123 assists and 192 points, both of which are ohl records still today, and lead the ohl over a young 17 year old named Wayne Gretzky. Naturally, Bobby Smith was drafted number 1 by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft. He would go on to win the Calder Memorial Trophy with 74 points in 80 games in 1978-79. In 1981-82, Bobby Smith would go on to have a career year. 114 Points, All Star Game, Top 10 in Hart Memorial Trophy Voting. He would then go on to be a major piece of Montreal's Stanley Cup win in 1986. He would retire with 1036 points in 1077 games. 4 All Star Appearances, a Calder, and a Stanley Cup win. Yay or Nay, and Why?
 

GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
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Brampton, ON
I made a thread about Bobby Smith a couple of weeks ago in the HoH section.

He was a good player. I don't think he's a Hall of Famer. I'm really not convinced he had a better career than Vinny Lecavalier.

Hall of Very Good Material.

His 114 point season came in what I think was the highest-scoring season of the modern era (1982). Lecavalier's 108 point season in '07 was quite a lot better.
 

tarheelhockey

Offside Review Specialist
Feb 12, 2010
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He doesn't really stand out in any particular category. 357 goals in that era is low for an "all time" type player. 1036 points looks better, but again isn't great when you compare it against other 80s players. A Calder doesn't have much HOF currency. A Cup ring doesn't hurt but it doesn't make him stand out from a large crowd of players with Cup rings. Being in the scoring top-10 (at #8) doesn't separate him from a large crowd either.

Probably the best things on his resume are his Hart nomination and two Selke nominations. That peak season in '82 is really what people remember him for, otherwise this thread doesn't exist... I just don't think it's enough to really put him in the conversation against even guys like Andreychuk and Ciccarelli.
 

JackSlater

Registered User
Apr 27, 2010
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Well, when Dick Duff and Bob Nystrom are in it's hard to say no to anyone else who had a remotely decent career.
But no he shouldn't be in.

Nystrom isn't in.

As for Smith, nay. Legitimate top line centre, very good all around player, not someone who should be in the HHOF. Sadly he wouldn't be the worst player in there though.
 
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MXD

Original #4
Oct 27, 2005
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The "If X Then Y" argument doesn't always work, but if Vincent Damphousse isn't in the HHOF and not getting in anytime soon), it follows that Smith shouldn't get in the HHOF either, since his case is weaker.

And Nystrom isn't in the HHOF.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
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the most important detail isn’t the 100+ point season, it’s being the top center on a cup winner and two finalists.

i don’t think he’s in, but i liken him to brian propp. he wouldn’t be the worst guy in the hall, certainly.

as of today, i think he’s comparable to kopitar, actually. obviously kopi may be far from done however.
 

BlueBull

Habby Man
Oct 11, 2017
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the most important detail isn’t the 100+ point season, it’s being the top center on a cup winner and two finalists.

i don’t think he’s in, but i liken him to brian propp. he wouldn’t be the worst guy in the hall, certainly.

as of today, i think he’s comparable to kopitar, actually. obviously kopi may be far from done however.
First of all, three finalists.
Secondly, Agreed with the rest.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
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i think broten was the top center in ‘91. and gagner centered the second line, with modano on his wing iirc.

so, by my count smith was the top guy in ‘81, ‘86, and ‘89.
 

MXD

Original #4
Oct 27, 2005
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About #1 centering the Habs twice to the finals : Bobby Smith was the Habs' Top-Scorer exactly ONCE in seven years. In Prime Years. And it's not like he was playing on a powerhouse of offensive players.
 

GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
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About #1 centering the Habs twice to the finals : Bobby Smith was the Habs' Top-Scorer exactly ONCE in seven years. In Prime Years. And it's not like he was playing on a powerhouse of offensive players.

How about weighing in on the Lecavalier/Smith comparisons that have been cropping up (well, because me admittedly)?
 

MXD

Original #4
Oct 27, 2005
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How about weighing in on the Lecavalier/Smith comparisons that have been cropping up (well, because me admittedly)?

Smith was more well-rounded, but nobody ever saw him as a Top-5 player in the league. Hell, during his stint as a Hab, he was arguably the 5th best player... on his team. Some people saw Lecavalier as a Top-5 player in the league, even if it was for a short period.
 

seventieslord

Student Of The Game
Mar 16, 2006
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Smith was more well-rounded, but nobody ever saw him as a Top-5 player in the league. Hell, during his stint as a Hab, he was arguably the 5th best player... on his team. Some people saw Lecavalier as a Top-5 player in the league, even if it was for a short period.

It was for one season.

With that included into the whole package of his career, I think it's pretty fair to say he and smith are roughly equals depending on what one prefers to see in a player's resume. I wouldn't treat the "was briefly considered a top-5 player by some" as a trump card.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
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About #1 centering the Habs twice to the finals : Bobby Smith was the Habs' Top-Scorer exactly ONCE in seven years. In Prime Years. And it's not like he was playing on a powerhouse of offensive players.

well, he was always second to naslund wasn't he?

the thing that makes me feel like smith is underrated, relative to '80s centers like broten and nicholls, to name two guys who he was better than whose names come up a lot more often than him, is that during the time smith was on the habs the only people who scored more playoff points than him were oilers, brian propp, and his left winger.

but again, that's not to say i think he should be in the hall of fame.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
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How about weighing in on the Lecavalier/Smith comparisons that have been cropping up (well, because me admittedly)?

i stand by what i wrote in the other thread--

i was never super impressed by lecavalier, though like everyone else i was certainly dazzled by him on occasion. during the 2004 world cup, he was good, but i don't think it was an especially memorable performance. i think it was more the case of a guy who had a good tournament and scored one big time memorable goal. i do, however, think he was a guy that the world wanted to make "happen," and so when he succeeded for that brief stretch, the world went out of its way to treat him like he had made it to that truly elite iginla/thornton level when really he was a step below.

i also think lecavalier was a very linemate-dependent player. he and vinny prospal had something really special, and you can see that he has his breakthrough '03 season with prospal (first line was modin/richards/MSL) then drops 12 points when prospal bolts for anaheim, then rebounds in '06 when prospal comes back. he peaks in '07 and '08, when torts stacks his top line with lecavalier between two-time art ross winner MSL and prospal, two excellent playmaking wingers. probably also worth noting that he was outscored by his playmaking winger in '03 (prospal, albeit by only a point), '04 (stillman), and '06 (prospal again).

i can't speak to bobby smith's play with minnesota the first time around, though by all accounts he was slick and not as physical as you'd like for a guy that size so probably very similar to lecavalier, but in montreal smith was a very good defensive player, albeit not taking on the responsibilities that carbonneau and skrudland did on those teams, and in his second go-around in minnesota he was excellent on a shutdown line with gaetan duchesne and stew gavin. (sidenote: one reason montreal was so dominant in the late 80s with no stars at forward? with three big huge guys at center ice, smith, carbo, and skrudland, there was only one team that could get the puck from them off the dot... that team had gilmour, and two other giants in nieuwendyk and otto.) lecavalier i don't think was ever anything defensively.

i'd be more inclined to compare bobby smith to someone like anze kopitar.
 

Hobnobs

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Nov 29, 2011
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He doesn't really stand out in any particular category. 357 goals in that era is low for an "all time" type player. 1036 points looks better, but again isn't great when you compare it against other 80s players. A Calder doesn't have much HOF currency. A Cup ring doesn't hurt but it doesn't make him stand out from a large crowd of players with Cup rings. Being in the scoring top-10 (at #8) doesn't separate him from a large crowd either.

Probably the best things on his resume are his Hart nomination and two Selke nominations. That peak season in '82 is really what people remember him for, otherwise this thread doesn't exist... I just don't think it's enough to really put him in the conversation against even guys like Andreychuk and Ciccarelli.

While he was all around player he was more of a playmaker than a scorer.

Between 79 and 89 which was his prime days before injuries took a bit of a hold on him and his production he was the 9th best point producer in the NHL and 8th in assists. I say in he is surrounded with too many HHoFers not to be.
 

tarheelhockey

Offside Review Specialist
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Between 79 and 89 which was his prime days before injuries took a bit of a hold on him and his production he was the 9th best point producer in the NHL and 8th in assists.

That puts him in line with guys like Rick Middleton, Dennis Maruk, Dave Taylor who are similarly positioned if you look at the 70s/80s in ten-year brackets. Then you hit the guys whose careers started in 1980+ and suddenly it gets A LOT harder to find players of that caliber on any top-10 list.

Represents a soft spot in the lineup, a run of years where HOF talent just wasn't as deep as what came after. I guess there's a philosophical question, whether you keep dealing from the bottom of that deck every few years until the Smiths of the world get their ticket, or whether you draw a line and say, "enough, we've run out of actual stars... no more digging."
 
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Hobnobs

Pinko
Nov 29, 2011
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That puts him in line with guys like Rick Middleton, Dennis Maruk, Dave Taylor who are similarly positioned if you look at the 70s/80s in ten-year brackets. Then you hit the guys whose careers started in 1980+ and suddenly it gets A LOT harder to find players of that caliber on any top-10 list.

Represents a soft spot in the lineup, a run of years where HOF talent just wasn't as deep as what came after. I guess there's a philosophical question, whether you keep dealing from the bottom of that deck every few years until the Smiths of the world get their ticket, or whether you draw a line and say, "enough, we've run out of actual stars... no more digging."

Were they also the best non-islander/oiler producer in playoff during the same period? I think thats pretty special considering the teams he were on.
 

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