By a very old Guy Lafleur too.
My point was, if you dont outscore a non HHOF'er who happens to be your linemate, you probably arent a HHOF'er.
well, you have to take into account that smith was traded to the habs 10 games into the season. he had the highest points/game average on the habs that year, ahead of lafleur and naslund. and if you count the points he scored in minnesota before the trade, he also had the most total points of anyone who played on the habs that year, again ahead of lafleur and naslund.
i get your point; bobby smith wasn't an elite offensive guy. but as a sub-elite offensive guy who played a good all-round game, capably held down first line center duties on contending teams, and who throughout his career had a knack on being on teams that went deep into the playoffs, i put him in the same category as propp and larmer, as mentioned by others above. i'll add federko to that list. that's not a hall of famer, but that's a high HOVG player in my books. all told, i take those players over gartner, andreychuk, and other longtime good-but-not-great goal scorers whose teams didn't usually go far in the playoffs. i also take smith over less successful scoring centers like broten and nicholls, though i have him behind the true superstar centers of the era such as savard, stastny, and hawerchuk. the line between a smith and a savard, or between a larmer and a goulet, that's the HHOF line.
as for smith vs. naslund, smith has literally double the NHL career naslund did. and it's not like that other half of his career wasn't very successful: two finals (the second one still chipping in 16 points and FIVE GWGs in a primarily defensive role), 76 playoff points in 77 playoff games in minnesota. in the five seasons before the montreal trade, smith is 9th in regular season points, 21st in points/game (tied with kurri's first three seasons). if you double naslund's career and if we assume he is reasonably close to as successful in "other" half, i would certainly consider him for the HHOF. alfredsson would be a comparable, imo.
Neat stat. But its not like he was the 3rd best non-Oiler playoff performer (after Propp and Naslund) during that period.
He had 84 points in 107 playoff games.
Gilmour, e.g., had 81 in 77 during those seven playoffs.
I haven't checked the data, but did anyone (other than Oilers) have more playoff games than Smith during that period?
no. smith is tied for first among non-oilers with carbonneau and ludwig. basically it goes oilers, then habs, then flyers, then flames. but again, you have to give a guy credit for being the #2 or 1a offensive contributor to a team that played that many playoff games. after all, unlike in the regular season you have the win the games to advance.
this is eye opening: consider that bobby smith played as many playoff games as brendan shanahan, and one more than fedorov and charlie huddy. for a non-dynasty guy who barely made it to 1,000 regular season games, that's pretty incredible. and he was the number one center on his team for the vast majority of those games.
i still think all told, there isn't a lot that separates kopitar and smith, if kopitar retired today.