This thread has convinced me that I was wrong about Theodore. Okay, I'm on board with his winning that Hart... just based on that season, he did deserve it, I suppose. (It was probably the weakest era for forwards, in recent memory anyway.)
I guess I'm always gonna be on the fence re: Langway. I can kind of see both arguments. (I did not see Langway play in his heyday as I was too young, but I did see him play a bit in the latter years of his career.) In the same way that Coffey will always be divisive because he was essentially a rover more than a defenceman, Langway's level of early-80s' acclaim will always be divisive because he was a stay-at-home who had a zero offensive side.
I do think Langway got way too much individual credit for the Caps' defensive game in the early/mid-80s, similar to how Mike Liut got way too much individual credit for the Blues' improvement in 1980-81 (when the record clearly shows that Liut's numbers were no better than the year before, but rather the Blues suddenly started scoring more that season).
Quick Quiz Q: What was the best RS defensive team in the entire 1980s? It was Montreal in 1988-89, but the second best of the decade was Montreal of 1981-82 followed by Washington of 1983-84. The latter two teams had Langway. My question would be, why did Langway get all the credit in Washington c. 1982-1985, and very little credit in Montreal c.1980-1982? Sure, in Montreal there was Larry Robinson, but in Washington there was Murphy and Stevens.
Brian Engblom was on the early-80s Montreal clubs, and he was +63 in 1980-81 and +78 in 1981-82. On the 1982-83 Capitals, Langway was -2 and rookie Scott Stevens +15. The next season Langway was +14 and Stevens +25 and outscored Langway. Now, I'm not seriously suggesting that rookie Stevens was as good as Langway at that point (obviously Langway had the harder match-ups and played in all the biggest situations, defensively), but it's odd to me that on a team with 3 Hall of Fame defencemen, Langway got all the Norris-level credit.
The thing is: If Ray Bourque or Denis Potvin had gone to Washington in 1982 and decided to play an all-defense style, could they have matched Langway's defensive game? I think they could. But could Rod Langway match either of their defensive + offense style? No chance.