I find that the best way to analyze Cheevers is to divide his career with the Bruins into two blocks: the five seasons from
1967-68 to 1971-72—giving him the benefit of the doubt by ignoring the prior seasons in which he was primarily a minor-leaguer, and in which the Bruins were cellar-dwellers—and the four-and-a-half seasons from
1975-76 to 1979-80—"half" because he signed as a free agent with the Bruins in Jan. 1976.
During the first block, Cheevers was clearly pegged as the Bruins' go-to guy. He played in the majority of regular season and playoff games—58% and 80%, respectively—and he led the way for the club in the majority of goaltending categories:
| Reg. Season | W | GAA | SV% |
| 1967-68 | Cheevers | Cheevers | Cheevers |
| 1968-69 | Cheevers | Cheevers | Cheevers |
| 1969-70 | Cheevers | Cheevers | Cheevers |
| 1970-71 | Johnston | Johnston | Cheevers |
| 1971-72 | Tie: Johnston/Cheevers | Cheevers | Cheevers |
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His aggregate regular season GAA during this block was a respectable 2.72;
however, during this block, not once did he finish a season in the Top Five in GAA in the league. His aggregate SV% during this block was a respectable 0.915; he finished a couple of seasons in the Top Five.
The '72 playoffs were a major inflection point in my view. Cheevers and Johnston split time almost evenly, and Johnston came away with significantly better stats: playoff GAA, Finals GAA, playoff SV%, Finals SV%. In fact, as is noted in Hal Bock's book
Hockey '75: Stars and Records, Cheevers said about his decision to jump to the WHA that summer of '72:
"There were a thousand reasons saying I would jump....I have more security with the [Cleveland] Crusaders. My position here [in Cleveland] is very sound and that's important to me." Financial factors aside, it was apparent that his role as the #1 starter for the Bruins was no longer stable at this point.
During the second block, Cheevers had even greater internal competition from the likes of Gilles Gilbert. He did not play in the majority of regular season games—47%—and he did not lead the club in the majority of goaltending categories:
| W | GAA | SV% |
| 1975-76 | Gilbert | Cheevers | Cheevers |
| 1976-77 | Cheevers | Gilbert | Gilbert |
| 1977-78 | Grahame | Gilbert | Cheevers |
| 1978-79 | Cheevers | Cheevers | Gilbert |
| 1979-80 | Cheevers | Gilbert | Gilbert |
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His aggregate reg. season GAA during this block slipped to a still-respectable 2.94;
but again, during this block, not once did he finish a season in the Top Five in GAA in the league. His aggregate SV% during this block was sub-0.900, at 0.880;
no Top Ten finishes, let alone Top Five.
In the playoffs during this block, Cheevers split time with Gilbert in '76 and '79. In the other postseasons in which he was pegged as the main guy and led the Bruins, not once was his SV% over 0.900.
What does this all mean? It shows me that Cheevers was not really in that upper class of HHOF candidates in either block, and that the consistency within both blocks of being the go-to guy was not really there either.
Feel free to shoot this down
