So what's wrong with just speculating which one was further above average, or further above "great", within the context of their times? There's no need to be so complex about it.
I agree, and comparisons to Trottier or Clarke shouldnt even be made as A) they fall outside of the 67 cut-off date and B) the game as played during Primeau's and Boucher's era to even the 50's witnessed changes that significantly altered the prism of objective measurement through which we look back upon it today. The past is a strange country. They do things differently there.
Lets just take a look at these guys, neither one of which I believe belong on any list of top defensive forwards let alone centers, starting with
Gentleman Joe Primeau, and heres my theory about that one; didnt even play organized hockey or skate seriously until he was 16. Excellent all-round athlete & sportsman of the ilk we find peppered throughout the history books of the late 19th, early 20th Century. Precisely the kind of guy Conn Smythe so admired & looked up to, he picked him for the Rangers' but was told "
no thanks, and btw, your fired" by the powers that be in NYC. Ego bruised over being let go & New Yorks' rejection of Primeau (and there were others NY rejected), Smythe upon forming the Leafs included the reclamation of Primeau as it just wouldnt do to have his hockey smarts questioned on top of everything else.
Primeau was acquired by Smythe 1st thing, assigned to the
Toronto Ravinas', a semi-pro squad that played at the Senior level. After 2yrs of
"grooming", he was put on the Leafs top-line in between the tea-totaling
Holier than Thou Charlie Conacher, another one of Smythes
Hero's, and the womanizing, alcoholic reprobate Harvey
"Busher" Jackson, Conny no doubt hoping Conachers' & Primeaus' Piety would somehow rub off on his wayward charge.
The Kid Line. Meanwhile, that'd show the
idiots in Manhattan just how "
dumb" Smythe really
wasnt in demanding a contract for Primeau.
And its right here where fact meets fiction & a
Legend is Born, because Primeau was at best a workmanlike, intelligent but mediocre player who was "
gifted" talented playmates. Over the intervening decades the revisionist history books have been written, Conn Smythe looking the Genius, when in fact, his motivations were entirely ulterior and had little to do with any real belief that Joe Primeau was the greatest Center in Leaf history. But By God Sir, old Conny would argue that he was, and pop you one across the jaw if you had the temerity to disagree with him about it. There were numerous Centers in the Leafs organization, elsewhere in the league at that time that couldve replaced Primeau & made the Leafs a better team for it. To fans of a certain age, I know my suggestion is sacri-religious & utterly contemptible. To you I have but 2 words; Eat Me.
I'll leave the Boucher chapter up to another.....