Convince me Paul Henderson belongs in the HHOF

[Big Phil]

Always an argument that draws a crowd.

There is a radio analyst named Liam Maguire who swears by this argument and is in favour of Henderson going in. I'll give him credit, he's always stuck to it. Some might have heard him, I think he is up in Ottawa now. A bit of a pompous, not unlike someone like Bob McGown. So he isn't my type of analyst but either way I've heard his opinions on this. He'd get killed in an argument on these boards when it comes to Henderson though. My argument among so many others is that if you would induct Paul Henderson without even thinking of 1972, then he deserves it. Or even if he's borderline. Heck, Pete Mahovlich has the odd fan on here who thinks he should be in and I would like to think that he's close to borderline and if he were the one who scored that goal (Henderson ironically called him off the ice before the goal) then he'd be in.

But Henderson? There is nothing that screams HHOFer to me. I believe the argument is that he fits the criteria of a player being inducted based on the impact of 1972. Not true in my eyes. There is no precedent in hockey for this. Mike Eruzione isn't in either. So that falls flat.

Anyway, if I am wrong, tell me. If I am right, then insert your reasons for it.

Click to read more...

 

[Ofuzz]

You're not wrong. For me the only reason Cherry and Maguire give for reason is that he scored the three biggest goals in the Series of the Century. If he plays for CCCP and does it are they beating the drum for him? No. So that ends it for me. Good player. Rose to the occasion. But that's it.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

Well, the HOF isn't the NHL HOF. Scoring three straight winning goals in what was the most important (yea it's subjective) , series in hockey history has some weight.

 

[Boxscore]

I can't. lol. I've thought about this before and I legitimately can't, unless we're playing the nostalgia card.

 

[BM14]

If it were the NHL HOF, I'd agree with you...but its not.

It was a monumental, historic goal that every Canadian kid has heard or heard of.

I'm in my 30s but is Tretiak not in the HHOF despite not being an NHLer?

 

[Big Phil]

If it were the NHL HOF, I'd agree with you...but its not.

It was a monumental, historic goal that every Canadian kid has heard or heard of.

I'm in my 30s but is Tretiak not in the HHOF despite not being an NHLer?

I would argue that Tretiak is a far better goalie all-time than Henderson was a winger. You can argue Tretiak at one point in the early 1980s was the best goalie in the world. Henderson might - MIGHT - have a case to be the best winger on his team, just once, and even then.....................

I think that 1972 team is honoured and Henderson is immortalized as it is. As an individual player he doesn't belong. He isn't even close. Wayne Cashman is closer, even Ron Ellis is closer. None of them belong either. I hear the argument "Well, let's put him in as a builder because of the spark it gave international hockey." No, let's not. If anything let's induct that whole team as builders then. This wasn't just Henderson. This was Phil Esposito's tournament if anything. There is no victory or even an opportunity for victory without him.

It is an iconic goal, and the MOMENT and even the series deserve all of the praise it gets, not just for the drama but for the excitement and interest it caused. But not just one player orchestrated it either.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Comes down to how the HHOF should recognize Canada'a participation in International hockey and how we view the recognition that elevated the likes of Frank Frederickson, Harry E.Watson, Steamer Maxwell to the HHOF where short but effective international performances in marquee or seminal hockey events played a key role in the HHOF admitting the member.

 

[The Panther]

He should never get in without a ticket.

Two 30-goal NHL seasons and 11 goals in 56 career playoff games is not even a noteworthy career, let alone a Hall of Fame career.

Yes, he was clutch for 72 hours in Moscow one September.

 

[VMBM]

Well, it isn't supposed to be Canadian/NHL Hockey Hall Of Fame, so he shouldn't have a prayer of getting in. Or heck, let Sergei Shepelev in, since, along with Tretiak, he was the main architect behind the Soviets' greatest win over Canada in '81.

Having said this, I'm a little surprised that Henderson didn't have a better NHL career. I've watched him not only in the 1972 Series but also in the 1974 WHA Series vs USSR. He was very fast, and in 1974, he also showed some good defensive skills and terrific penalty killing; didn't appear one-dimensional to me.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

he doesnt.

0 accomplishments
0 votes for any individual award
0x top 10 in anything
0 post season AS
career high 66 points despite playing in the 70s

big deal, he scored a few goals in an exhibition series.

International competition performance is best used as a reason to push someone over the edge, not as the defining reason in someone's case. Especially someone that has absolutely no case whatsoever based purely on NHL play

At his best, he's a poor mans Claude Lemieux, and Claude has no business being discussed for HOF

 

[MXD]

No I won't.

 

[Thenameless]

I don't know if we can distinguish between putting the person in, and maybe just putting a specific accomplishment or event in.

If we could create a category for the latter, that might be appropriate for this type of situation.

One thing though is that a true Hockey Hall of Fame should not be overly nation-centric. Great victories by nations other than Canada should be celebrated as well.

 

[Killion]

He should never get in without a ticket.

Two 30-goal NHL seasons and 11 goals in 56 career playoff games is not even a noteworthy career, let alone a Hall of Fame career.

Yes, he was clutch for 72 hours in Moscow one September.

Right. Induction into the HHOF should be based on a players entire body of work, his career including a number of intangibles, character etc. If based on a series alone, or even one outlier spring or season, not seeing it. This particular event obviously seminal, Henderson absolutely outstanding, clutch, and he & the Team honored in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame & elsewhere as it is. All appropriate venues for enshrinement.

 

[mobilus]

It's not the Hockey Hall of NHL Stats or Hockey Hall of Career Longevity.

Henderson scored the most recognized goal in the history of hockey. If that's not fame, I don't know what it.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

It's not the Hockey Hall of NHL Stats or Hockey Hall of Career Longevity.

Henderson scored the most recognized goal in the history of hockey. If that's not fame, I don't know what it.

yeah, no. Mike Eruzione did that...or Bobby Orr

 

[mobilus]

yeah, no. Mike Eruzione did that...or Bobby Orr

Orr's goal was iconic because of a photograph of the trip, not the goal. The Bruins hadn't won a Cup in decades and it came against an expansion team's third year in the league. Eruzione's goal was maybe no less important, but it came after Henderson's. Someone from Apollo 12 walked on the moon, but it had already been done by Armstrong.

 

[Back in Black]

He belongs in the Hall.... It was the Cold War and he helped win it, with an unprecedented 3 game winning goals

This tournament led the NHL to WCoH & Olympics

 

[Ralph Spoilsport]

There are a lot of HOFers who haven't come close to making the difference in people's lives that Henderson has. Before September '72 it wasn't cool for a player to wear a helmet. Those who did were considered softies. In one week Henderson permanently erased that stigma. The one-piece "Paul Henderson helmet" was a significant advance over the adjustable (and eventually banned) CCM bucket. His contribution to player safety is arguably bigger than "the goal".

If he scored 500 regular-season goals would that make him any greater than he is already?

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

It's really too bad that too many folks (young folks) did not live the experience the 1972 Summit Series. Stan Fischer on New York said it the most important sporting event in his life.
A little history lesson, Canada had refused to sent to the their amateurs against the professional Soviet players for a few years. So a few years later this exhibition series was arranged.
But it was not just hockey series. The Cold War was still on. It was us and against them. The West against those Commie bastards. Very few North Americans even Western Europeans even visited Russia (it was the USSR).
The only time our athletes (for all sporting events) competed against the Soviet, East Germans etc were at the Olympics and World Championships. The Eastern bloc countries did not enter our games, send their young people to western universities or have their players train with athletes. There wasn't the internet or international TV. The Soviets and life in Russia was really a mystery.
So much as changed since the first Soviet athletes defected to the West. So much as changed since the Berlin Wall came team.
I would recommend people who weren't alive or old enough to appreciate the Soviet Series, then of it more of a historical context, and not just another hockey tournament which are all so common now.
A book I would recommend to any sports fan, and history buff on the Summit Series would the coach of Team Canada 1972 team, Harry Sinden's, "Twenty seven days in September."
Henderson's inclusion in the HHOF is rather meaningless compared to the rather historical importance/interest in the 1972 series.

 

[Damisoph]

There is no legitimate argument. He's in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, I think that's where he belongs.

 

[Big Phil]

If he scored 500 regular-season goals would that make him any greater than he is already?

Yes, absolutely. It would make him greater as an individual player, which is what we should be judging. I agree with you on the impact of the goal, no one should argue that, and even the fact that he may have been one of the first players with a helmet that kids emulated on the streets. When you think about it, while it was probably on its way anyway, think of the players that started playing after 1972. How many of them didn't wear a helmet? Not many. Denis Potvin started in 1973 and played his first game without a helmet because of an equipment mistake and said he was scared to death.

But is the rise in helmets actually tied to Henderson, or did more of it happen because of Bill Masterton's death in 1968? Even as late as 1979 before the mandatory helmet rule came in for newcomers at least half of players didn't wear one. Look at the 1979 Habs/Bruins series, helmetless players all over the place.

It's not the Hockey Hall of NHL Stats or Hockey Hall of Career Longevity.

Henderson scored the most recognized goal in the history of hockey. If that's not fame, I don't know what it.

Fame...........for sure. It has fame. And it deserves fame and I think quite frankly it gets the recognition it deserves, even after 46 years. It is still "the Goal" in my mind. But isn't that enough?

Right. Induction into the HHOF should be based on a players entire body of work, his career including a number of intangibles, character etc. If based on a series alone, or even one outlier spring or season, not seeing it. This particular event obviously seminal, Henderson absolutely outstanding, clutch, and he & the Team honored in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame & elsewhere as it is. All appropriate venues for enshrinement.

Now Killion, don't tell me you are actually against the induction of a player into the HHOF are you? I've been waiting for this day!

 

[Killion]

Now Killion, don't tell me you are actually against the induction of a player into the HHOF are you? I've been waiting for this day!

.... now now Phil.... just because I find it disturbing that there are a number of player omissions that should be corrected, Paul Henderson's most certainly not one of them as his entire career, body of work... simply doesnt justify such... doesnt clear the bar. He has quite appropriately however been inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame - twice in fact - individually & then later as a member of Team Canada 72 - inducted into the IIHF HOF and.... received the Order of Canada and Order of Ontario for his heroics near on 50yrs ago now. So I would hefta say Paul Henderson has dined out very well indeed for what was essentially his only real 15 minutes of fame in an otherwise undistinguished hockey career.

 

[Big Phil]

.... now now Phil.... just because I find it disturbing that there are a number of player omissions that should be corrected, Paul Henderson's most certainly not one of them as his entire career, body of work... simply doesnt justify such... doesnt clear the bar. He has quite appropriately however been inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame - twice in fact - individually & then later as a member of Team Canada 72 - inducted into the IIHF HOF and.... received the Order of Canada and Order of Ontario for his heroics near on 50yrs ago now. So I would hefta say Paul Henderson has dined out very well indeed for what was essentially his only real 15 minutes of fame in an otherwise undistinguished hockey career.

I agree, he has been more than recognized. He is a very nice and genuine man too and it does not bring me pleasure to say he doesn't clear the bar for the HHOF. But he doesn't and one thing often forgotten is the main person who doesn't think so either.............Paul Henderson.

 

[jj cale]

Has the U.S miracle on ice team been inducted into the HHOF?

If they have or if they have not and someday will be then it will be nothing less then a crime if Henderson does not get in, that's all I will say on this matter.

 

[Epsilon]

He belongs in the Hall.... It was the Cold War and he helped win it, with an unprecedented 3 game winning goals

This tournament led the NHL to WCoH & Olympics

lol, you cannot be serious.