MS
1%er
In 2008 we look at Howell's induction in the context of all HOF defenseman yet in 79 the HHOF had not yet inducted Park,Potvin,Robinson,LaPointe,Salming,Fetisov,Langway,Bourque,Coffey,Murphy,Macinnes or Stevens.
It's still pretty iffy.
Outside of his Norris season, he had one other year where he finished tied for 5th in Norris voting. He just wasn't an elite player.
The '67 Norris seems to be a recognition of the fact that he was playing ridiculous minutes on a thin team, and perhaps he won for being the 'Most Valuable Defender' that year rather than the 'Best Defender'.
When you look at his career, he seems to be the Kevin Lowe/Brad McCrimmon of that era ... a steady-eddie type who was at times a top-10 defender in the league but not really an elite player. And most guys of this type have not been inducted into the HHOF. Especially when you consider that he didn't win a Cup.
Allen Stanley has a slightly better claim because he was a core member of a dynasty and had 3 post-season All-Star nods. He was also one of the top offensive defenders of his era (despite the fact that I think his reputation is more of the 'plodding steady veteran' variety) and was top-5 in defensive scoring 6 times in 8 years between 1954 and 1962. That's more times finishing top-5 in defensive scoring than Phil Housley, if you can believe that.
But both guys are symptomatic of the fact that 90% of the guys who had a 15-year career in the 1942-67 Original 6 era made it to the HHOF.