jkrx
Registered User
- Feb 4, 2010
- 4,337
- 21
I love Alfy. And perhaps when a very weak class is nomnated he MIGHT get in, ut I have a hard time imagening a class where he could be a lock.
If Sittler is in then Alfredsson should be there too.
I love Alfy. And perhaps when a very weak class is nomnated he MIGHT get in, ut I have a hard time imagening a class where he could be a lock.
If Sittler is in then Alfredsson should be there too.
Charlie Gardiner had 7 seasons. Bill Durnan had that many too. Both were considered the best goalie in the game at one time. Thomas has that distinction twice. I think he is the perennial late bloomer in the mold of a Johnny Bower/Gump Worsley to be honest. I think he makes it eventually barring a career collapse. Think about this. Two Vezinas, a final appearance (maybe a Cup) and probably a Conn Smythe. That's a good resume right there. All you'd need to do afterwards is sustain it for a little longer and put up some sexy numbers
And if Dick Duff is in, so should a whole bunch of other players.
Tim Thomas still has a ways to go.
And if Dick Duff is in, so should a whole bunch of other players.
Mats Sundin has 13 x 30-goal seasons. To put that in perspective, Gretzky and Howe have 14 and Joe Sakic has 9. I think he should get in.
Dick Duff is an incredibly bad example. I didnt say Sittler was a bad induction, rather the opposite. There is a strong parallel between Alfredsson and Sittler.
There isn't a LOT that separates those two. However, at his best Sittler (1975-'80) was better than Alfredsson. Sittler's best season was 1977-'78 and Alfie never had a year like that.
However, I like Alfie's surprising longevity and his deceptive consistently high scoring finishes. He will make interesting conversation after his retirement, or even now, considering I don't see him putting anything on his resume from now on that will help him
Alfie's peak of 00-08 is not only longer but just as good as Sittler's when you look at it the context of the times and nature of the NHL both players played in.
Throw in Alfie's excellent international play and quite a strong playoff resume, leading one year in both goals and points.
Sittler does have the benefit of having 4 excellent years in a row in the playoffs surrounded by some mediocre performances.
Honestly to me it's debatable on who the better overall player was.
I'm not sure what you mean there. The nature of the NHL and context of the times? If you mean because there were players in the WHA in the mid to late 1970s then all I have to ask is what player in the WHA from 1975-'79 was as good as Sittler in and therefore would have unseated him?
Also you can't argue with their scoring finishes:
Sittler - 3, 8, 8, 9, 9
Alfredsson - 4, 7, 7, 9
It's fairly close, but I think Sittler was a little more revered in his time than Alfredsson in his era.
I was leaning more on the overall quality of play, not direct competition that nay WHA players were better than Sittler, although an argument could be made that a couple of guys were extremely talented, like Buddy Cloutier and even Bobby Hull.
Also, although centers are generally more defensively responsible than wingers from what I remember of Sittler is that he, and his entire team, were not all that great in the defensive aspect of the game compared to Alfie (partly a product of the change in the style of play admittedly).
In a nutshell Aflie's offensive production and the length of it combined with his 2 way play outweighs any slight peak that Sittler had on the offensive side of the ledger IMO.
throw in Alfie's international play (although I'll be the 1st to agree that I'm pretty sure the HHOF committee doesn't give this much merit) and there is a strong argument that Alfie had the better overall career and was the better player.
I was leaning more on the overall quality of play, not direct competition that nay WHA players were better than Sittler, although an argument could be made that a couple of guys were extremely talented, like Buddy Cloutier and even Bobby Hull.
Also, although centers are generally more defensively responsible than wingers from what I remember of Sittler is that he, and his entire team, were not all that great in the defensive aspect of the game compared to Alfie (partly a product of the change in the style of play admittedly).
In a nutshell Aflie's offensive production and the length of it combined with his 2 way play outweighs any slight peak that Sittler had on the offensive side of the ledger IMO.
throw in Alfie's international play (although I'll be the 1st to agree that I'm pretty sure the HHOF committee doesn't give this much merit) and there is a strong argument that Alfie had the better overall career and was the better player.
As the game grows and we learn more it is natural to increase the quality of play of the game. This is why you can't penalize Sittler, or any other player, for staring 25-30 years earlier than another player because they can't control the era they played in, but rather how they performed against their peers. Meaning that this is all you can judge a player on and we can only assume had Sittler had the advantages of today's athlete that he would be just as revered today.
You should start an Alfredsson vs. Sittler thread on here. It might make some interesting conversation. No longer is this a laughable comparison anymore as time has gone by. We have a Hall of Famer (deserving one, but on the back nine of the crop) vs. a potential HHOFer whose resume is getting harder to ignore.
I understand what you are saying about penalizing a guy for the era he played in but we have to take it into some kind of context and more than just against his peers because quality of opposition matters in these questions IMO. But there will be other threads to elaborate on that point.
Mats Sundin has 13 x 30-goal seasons. To put that in perspective, Gretzky and Howe have 14 and Joe Sakic has 9. I think he should get in.