Killion
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- Feb 19, 2010
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Who the Hell is Christopher Letang? And no, I'm not joking. Genuinely confused. Never heard of him before NOW. On HOH Board. And I know HISTORY.... Npthoin 4 this but another Brown Cow...
Is Kristopher Letang Hall of Fame Worthy?
- Thread starter Hockeyholic
- Start date
Who the Hell is Christopher Letang? And no, I'm not joking. Genuinely confused. Never heard of him before NOW. On HOH Board. And I know HISTORY.... Npthoin 4 this but another Brown Cow...
Gurglesons
Registered User
I’ve never seen such intelligent discussion of Letang on here.
I don’t think he is HOF material. He’d need to win a Norris. And I think he has to do that this year or next otherwise the young crop of D like Jones, Provorov, Dahlin are going to start getting their rewards.
I said earlier this year that if Letang is healthy and plays to his ability be likely wins this year. Doughty’s team sucks. Karlsson and Burns plus McDonagh and Hedman like cancel each other out.
I don’t think he is HOF material. He’d need to win a Norris. And I think he has to do that this year or next otherwise the young crop of D like Jones, Provorov, Dahlin are going to start getting their rewards.
I said earlier this year that if Letang is healthy and plays to his ability be likely wins this year. Doughty’s team sucks. Karlsson and Burns plus McDonagh and Hedman like cancel each other out.
Big Phil
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- Nov 2, 2003
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It isn't a stretch either. He is off to a good start this year. As I said, I think he takes it in 2013 if he played a full year. Not that there still isn't good competition there but as you said the vote split for Burns and Karlsson might help. There is still Carlson in Washington and Subban and Pietrangelo among others. Morgan Rielly still has a ways to go with his overall game first. I still say even with the vote split the likes of Hedman, Burns or Karlsson are still the favourites though.
That being said, let's look at the history of the Norris. How many won it that aren't in the HHOF?
Carlyle in 1981 and Wilson in 1982 ironically in back to back years. Lots of controversy on why Potvin didn't win it in 1981, but either way Carlyle had a great year and won it and he's not in, and won't be. Wilson I flip flop but always think a guy like Tremblay (who didn't win the Norris) would deserve it more anyway. Every one is in up until 2009 and even then the winners since then are mostly thought to be locks.
Chara in 2009 is a lock. Keith in 2010 and 2014 is a lock. Lidstrom won it in 2011. Karlsson in 2012 and 2015 is a lock. Doughty in 2016 as well.
Really, it is only Hedman (2018), Burns (2017) and Subban who aren't locks right now and in all honesty there is great reason to believe they all will get in eventually.
So the Norris is about as good a bet as any. It isn't just patsies that win it. So if Letang has that in his trophy case he will be hard to keep out, and the sloppy play at times in his previous years will be less of an issue.
Michael Farkas
Celebrate 68
One-off seasons like this can be a symptom of a weak league...WWI applies as well (2.5 goals per game seasons or whatever...9-goal games or whatever Joe Malone was doing)...
1942 - Tommy Anderson - not a very noteworthy player - wins MVP, one of the few Hart winners not in the HOF
1943 - Johnny Mowers - three years in the league, this one got him a First-Team AS and a Vezina. Never won another game.
1944 - Babe Pratt - only seasons where he got any sort of award recognition were 1944 (First-Team & Hart) and 1945 (Second-Team)
1945 - Flash Hollett - only seasons where he got any sort of award recognition were 1945, a post-prime season (First-Team) and 1943 (Second-Team)
1946 - Jack Crawford - only season where he got any sort of award recognition were 1946 (First-Team) and 1943 (Second-Team)
You mention Carlyle (in particular) and Wilson (less extreme example)...Mario Lessard is a second-team all-star in 1981, otherwise irrelevant goalie...Langway wins the next Norrises, which kind of feels like Lionel Hitchman's 1930 season in which the league turned so offensive and unkempt, that voters were pushed towards the opposite for whatever reason...confusion...changing definitions...a player scores all the 200-point seasons in NHL history in this span...Maruk exists, Stoughton, absolute nobodies thrive...
Pat Riggin Second-Team All-Star in 1984, a child out of American high school was First-Team...Barrasso was Second-Team the next year, scarcely returned to those type of accolades over the next 17 years...and even that was in the crazy 1993 season...
1993 - Al Iafrate second-team all-star, only time he was ever close to anything like that in his career....rookie import has 76 goal season, scarcely gets more than 50 the rest of his career...
Just something to think about when looking for the strengths and weaknesses of certain times/eras...doesn't have to be a 1:1 thing to be palatable, but should be considered - not in terms of this thread (which I'm sick of, Letang is not a HOFer, I've seen 99 or so percent of every shift of his career...he's HOVG) but in terms of another prominent thread here...
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
these three players actually had fairly strong recognition outside of those years, they just didn't finish in the top four in voting
Michael Farkas
Celebrate 68
Same with Carlyle though, right? He was regarded as an offensive weapon, he put some numbers...but he was generally not worthy of anything noteworthy...
The guys you highlighted, I imagine, would not have received these accolades in a non-depleted league scenario...not just players lost but prospects too...
I just get a little uncomfortable when I see players only see major spikes in lesser years...and if I accidentally write off a player or two as a result of that mindset in exchange for not being suckered in to a dozen empty or empty-ish shells, that's a trade I will make 100% of the time...though I remain open to learning more on a player, like I did with Max Bentley for the project...
The guys you highlighted, I imagine, would not have received these accolades in a non-depleted league scenario...not just players lost but prospects too...
I just get a little uncomfortable when I see players only see major spikes in lesser years...and if I accidentally write off a player or two as a result of that mindset in exchange for not being suckered in to a dozen empty or empty-ish shells, that's a trade I will make 100% of the time...though I remain open to learning more on a player, like I did with Max Bentley for the project...
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
Pratt certainly could have. He was a physical specimen, finished 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th in all-star voting outside of his hart season, and though plenty of great forwards were missing, not a lot of great defensemen were.
Carlyle topped out at 8th in voting outside of his norris, though his icetime was really good throughout the 80s, indicating he was a #1 defenseman, at least on a weak team.
Big Phil
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Is Subban really more of a desirable future HHOFer than Letang? It seems there is a bit more of a consensus that eventually he'll get in. And, another honest question. Does Letang's career end up similar (at least) to Wilson's? It isn't as if Wilson isn't a guy with at least SOME HHOF credentials.
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
MXD
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At this juncture, clearly.
But we're a 2013 injury to Letang away from thinking of answering this one differently.
Gurglesons
Registered User
Bringing this thread back to life. With the inclusion of Zubov has Letang earned his keep?
Or is he more of an Ozolinsh than Zubov?
Or is he more of an Ozolinsh than Zubov?
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VanIslander
A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Since the previous post, Letang has gone to another all-star game, put up good (but not great) point totals as the top offensive dman for a playoff club.
He'd need another half dozen of those.
Or, given he was 6th in Norris voting last season, receiving no 1sts but several 3rds... If he gets two Norris finalist nods in the years to come, and another trophy of any kind, then he could squeak in.
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Asheville
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- Feb 1, 2018
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That you think the bolded is a notch on his belt means you know the answer you posed. All of the other accomplishment, minus the 3 Cups, are about as laughable. You're the guy who also believes Ray Whitney is HHOF material. Yeah.
Jag68Sid87
Sullivan gots to go!
Absolutely, unequivocally NOT HOF worthy imo. A great athlete whose brain never caught up to his physical ability. Makes a ton of mistakes with the puck. Is more of an asset on offense than defense but is not what you would call a PP QB, either. Brian Dumoulin has really covered up for him a lot over the years. AND, we proved we could win a Cup without him when we went with Dumoulin-Hainsey as our shutdown pairing in Letang's absence.
Good player, perhaps great at times, but nowhere neat HOF-worthy imo.
Good player, perhaps great at times, but nowhere neat HOF-worthy imo.
ted2019
History of Hockey
Desjardins was a solid 2 way defenseman who was as consistent as a player could be.
vadim sharifijanov
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- Oct 10, 2007
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upthread (from a year ago) the desjardins-pietrangelo comp was made. now that pietro has also been the top dman on a cup winner the resumes are even closer. both are team canada staples too.
Hockeyholic
Registered User
ted2019
History of Hockey
Voight
#winning
Subban isn't ever getting into the HHOF . Letang isn't likely to either unless he can reach 750 - 800 points in his career then it might be enough to get in.
Sentinel
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Nick Hansen
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