HOF players - take away their best season

GreatGonzo

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Maybe Fedorov without his ‘94 season?

Doug Gilmour in ‘93

Niedermayer In ‘07. Norris Finalists with a Smythe winning performance.

Neely is probably one of the most crucial with his 50 in 49 in ‘94. Is he even a HOFer?
 

arrbez

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Jun 2, 2004
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Cue my by-now obligatory response that Gilmour finished higher in scoring in '87 than in '93.

Also, he was a big part of the Flames' Cup win, especially in the Finals.

And wouldn't his '94 season with Toronto still be the biggest statistical season in Leafs' history?

Sittler's 117 points in 1978 would be the highest if Gilmour's 1993 season disappeared
 

GreatGonzo

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Cue my by-now obligatory response that Gilmour finished higher in scoring in '87 than in '93.

Also, he was a big part of the Flames' Cup win, especially in the Finals.

And wouldn't his '94 season with Toronto still be the biggest statistical season in Leafs' history?
All true. I see it has his BIGGEST season though. Selke winner, Hart Finalists. The huge spike is scoring that year definitely makes it look less impressive compared to ‘87, but he had more accolades that followed in ‘93.
 

Big Phil

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Lafontaine is one of the first names I thought about. Hard to put him in there without 1993. I am fine with him in there with that season though, although he's borderline.

Mullen is not in the HHOF without 1989. Then he loses his 110 point season, a Cup in which he is a huge part of and a 1st team all-star. Plus he isn't in the 500 goal club.

Andreychuk in 1993 or 1994. Although this idea of him being a HHOFer didn't start until he was seen lifting the Cup in 2004. I don't have him in either way.

Fedorov without 1994 looks a little different, but he still has that amazing playoff record without it and another quite fine year in 1996.

Neely without 1994

Lindros perhaps without 1995 or 1996

Kariya without 1997
 

Big Phil

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Surprised more people haven't mentioned Yzerman.

For what season? 1989? It isn't as if he didn't have a bunch of other elite years even if it wasn't 155 points. 1990 he still had 127. 1993 for instance he had 137. From 1987-'93 he had at least 102 points and all but one time at least 50 goals. Then when he transformed into a more two-way guy he still has his Cups. 1989 was like a cherry on top. He'd still be considered one of the most dynamic offensive talents of all-time even if he only cracked 100 points in 1989.
 
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trentmccleary

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Fedorov?
If you remove the best season of each Sedin?

I think that the offensive reputations of those players and somebody like Iginla would take a relatively massive hit without their best season. To a large extent, their trophy winning seasons distract from a comparable lack of good seasons behind their great ones.

Basically, most stars have reasonable drop between the best 1/3 of their seasons and the 2nd best 1/3. These players have much more drastic drops.
 

Neutrinos

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Who does it hurt the least - Wayne Gretzky

Who does it hurt the most - Mario Lemieux (maybe not the most - but it hurts a lot).

I'm not sure you realize what this thread is about

You could take away all of Lemieux's 6 Art Ross seasons and he's still getting in the Hall of Fame
 

Neutrinos

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Yzerman's name doesn't belong anywhere near this thread

Even if you delete the '89 season from his resume, he still has 1600 points which would put him 10th all-time
 
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GMR

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Yzerman's name doesn't belong anywhere near this thread

Even if you delete the '89 season from his resume, he still has 1600 points which would put him 10th all-time
It would but I see that 1989 season mentioned frequently when people compare him to Sakic. The argument about peak vs longevity.
 

Neutrinos

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You tell me. Is the thread about all-time rankings or whether a player would make the HOF in the first place if not for their best season? I thought it was about either scenario.

Maybe I misunderstood what the OP was going for, but I assumed he was asking which Hall of Famers wouldn't have been inducted without their best season
 

Big Phil

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Joe Mullen. Would he still be a HOF without his 1988-89 season?

No, I don't think so.

Doug Gilmour in ‘93

You'd lose that magical 1993 year, but my guess is he's still in the HHOF regardless. Still had some pretty good years other than that. 1987, 1994, then the Flames years with the Cup. There wouldn't be the case for him as much but it would still be impressive enough I think.
 
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iamjs

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I think Lemieux is often argued as being as good (better?) than Gretzky in terms of ability - and about how with better luck/less health issues he could have rivaled him. I tend to believe that myself.

I don't know which of 1993 or 1989 you consider his best season - but if you remove either one of them - he's down to only 1 such season. Gretzky has...7? I think it might shift the dialogue a bit from "Better health and watch out for Lemieux" to "Well he had this one crazy good season - but doubt he could repeat like Gretz did".

It helps that he has 2 of those. Same thing for playoffs even - it helps that he has 2 such smythe runs. With just 1 - it makes a difference.

Removing his 89 season (choosing this one since it's his highest scoring), and his career totals go down to 605g-919a-1524p.

As a result, he would go from 10th to 19th in goals, 12th to 18th in assists, and surprisingly he'd only go from 8th to 13th in career points. But how many players have 1500+ career points?
 

MadLuke

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Joe Mullen 88-89 ?

That remove is only Top 10 in point season, remove the 500 goal, 1000 point milestones, a stanley cup were he lead the leagues with 16 goals and with 953 points instead of 1063 he does not retire with the American with the most regular points status.
 

GreatGonzo

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Neeley & Lindros aren't in the Hall without their best. Could argue Fedorov joins them but less so.
Depends. Lindros has his ‘96 season as well. Neely on the other hand has little to go with if you take away his 50 in 49 season. In many ways that was his ticket. Lindros took awhile to get into the Hall despite his ‘95 season.

Take away his ‘95 season, from ‘93-‘02, he has 662 points in 512 games.
 
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