Norm Ullman — Amazing. I knew he was underrated. But on the list, he's equal to one of my favorites, Syl Apps. And Sakic, who I'm surprised to see that high, too. And like Sakic, Ullman was also a great playoff performer and a good defensive forward. Ullman barely made it to the HOH Top 100 list last time. Hopefully he rises a bit in this year's update. The gap between Sakic & Yzerman & Apps (who I all see quite similar) and him shouldn't be that big.
I like Ullman too. His peak was a bit higher than I expected, but his amazing 1964-65 season pushes him into the top thirty (in peak value). His playoff record is inconsistent but he has a stunning peak from 1963-66. Throw in a solid two-way game and few years as a Hart nominee and I think he's a borderline top 100 player.
I also like Apps and although he matches, and possibly exceeds, Sakic or Yzerman's peak, he's a fair bit behind both of them in terms of longevity.
Cy Denneny — There are only 2 LWs (Bobby Hull and Ted Lindsay) ahead of Denneny on the list, which is impressive. But as HO already pointed out using Joe Primeau as an example, this method too has its flaws. Denneny seems to have been dominant in playmaking during his time. That's what the 78 assist peak average tells me. The problem is, no one remembers him as a great playmaker. Or am I wrong here? I should definitely re-evaluate his position among LWs. He stands at #11 now.
Denneny is one of the toughest players to evaluate. His scoring record is phenomenal (surprisingly, not too far behind Jagr or Mikita). The two main criticisms are 1) could such a slow, overweight player thrive in the modern era? (I say probably yes, Andreychuk is a decent comparable) and 2) would Denneny have succeeded in a consolidated North American league (again, I say probably yes, he might not have finished in the top three every year, but he still likely would have been in the top 8-10 at the very worst).
At the same time, I don't think he had the 12th greatest peak in NHL history (but even if we took 30% off his totals he'd still rank around the Francis/Bure/Sundin level).
The Bentleys — This is an interesting discussion. Doug and Max one after the other, like it should be. But wait, not on a list that ranks the players by offensive numbers? This surprises me. I always thought Max had the better offensive numbers. But Doug actually got similar results, while being the more responsible defensively. Of course it needs to be pointed out that Max has easily the better playoff resume, thanks to his years as a Maple Leaf. Again, one of those pairs that shouldn't be that far apart from each other on the HOH Top 100 list.
Max was definitely the better scorer if we exclude (or even if we adjust downwards) the WWII years. Max was a tremendous playoff performer relative to his era; Doug was brilliant in his one length playoff run (1944) but otherwise gets an "incomplete" since he was stuck on weak teams his entire career.
Nels Stewart vs. Frank Boucher — One of my numerous misevaluations, it apperas. I made a statistical comparison between Stewart and Boucher some time ago. I can't remember the details, but I think they seemed to be very close offensively. Here Boucher is way ahead of Stewart. Then I look at Boucher's incredible assist totals. Is that just the same "flaw" once again?
Essentially yes. Boucher and Stewart are essentially equal in raw stats (though Ol' Poison did have the longer career). My formula is essentially giving Boucher extra credit because, as a playmaker stuck in an era that gave out very few assists, he must have been a better scorer just to keep even with Stewart, a goal-scorer who benefited (relatively speaking) from how few assists were awarded.
Wow! Very impressed by Syl Apps' per-game numbers. It's not completely surprising, as I knew he missed a few games every year and did very well in per-game metrics, but it's still very impressive to see him in sixth place all-time. This result, along with his high ranking in seventieslord's Hart study, is making me think we may have underrated him in the top 100 list. I'll certainly have him higher on my list.
Apps was a remarkably consistent scorer. He was a top-ten scorer during six of his seven full seasons. In his worst healthy year, he was 12th in scoring. During the three seasons he was injured ('40, '42 and '43), he ranked 1st, 6th and 4th in points per game. At first I was a little surprised to see him rank so high, but I think it makes sense given his consistency (and the fact that he retired young).