Retro Awards
- Thread starter unknown33
- Start date
Some lists have been made in the past (I think in Ultimate Hockey), which can be found in this thread:
http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=409927
However, I think you have to look at them with varying degrees of skepticism.
The Hart should be a good indication of who the best players were in the major pro leagues (remember that the NHL didn't have all the top talent until the late 20's). Although it should be noted that Hart voting pre-1960 seemed to be skewed a lot more toward "most valuable" than today, where it essentially goes to the best player. For that reason, goalies and defensemen got a lot more Hart votes back in the day.
For the Vezina you can look back at the NHL 1st Allstar Team selections, which go back to 1931. The 1st Allstar Team and Vezina winner are usually the same guy, although sometimes they do go to two different players (Nabokov-Brodeur in 2008 for example).
Similarly, you can be pretty much guaranteed that one of the two First Team Allstars at defense every year would have been the Norris winner. Again though, the guy with the most Allstar votes isn't necessarily the Norris winner (Blake-Lidstrom in 1998).
As for the Selke...I can't see them being very credible at all. There's just no way to judge the defensive play of a player over a full season based only on an old newspaper clipping here or there. On the retro Selke list you'll see guys winning it in 4 or 5 year chunks all over the place. This, of course, never happens in real life. That list is just basically a list of notable defensive forwards for their eras.
http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=409927
However, I think you have to look at them with varying degrees of skepticism.
The Hart should be a good indication of who the best players were in the major pro leagues (remember that the NHL didn't have all the top talent until the late 20's). Although it should be noted that Hart voting pre-1960 seemed to be skewed a lot more toward "most valuable" than today, where it essentially goes to the best player. For that reason, goalies and defensemen got a lot more Hart votes back in the day.
For the Vezina you can look back at the NHL 1st Allstar Team selections, which go back to 1931. The 1st Allstar Team and Vezina winner are usually the same guy, although sometimes they do go to two different players (Nabokov-Brodeur in 2008 for example).
Similarly, you can be pretty much guaranteed that one of the two First Team Allstars at defense every year would have been the Norris winner. Again though, the guy with the most Allstar votes isn't necessarily the Norris winner (Blake-Lidstrom in 1998).
As for the Selke...I can't see them being very credible at all. There's just no way to judge the defensive play of a player over a full season based only on an old newspaper clipping here or there. On the retro Selke list you'll see guys winning it in 4 or 5 year chunks all over the place. This, of course, never happens in real life. That list is just basically a list of notable defensive forwards for their eras.
Last edited:
Big Phil
Registered User
- Nov 2, 2003
- 31,703
- 4,146
Eddie Shore would have likely gotten 7 Norris Trophies had the award existed back then.
As for the Selke, you could assume Gainey would have won a couple more and Clarke would certainly have picked up some earlier in the '70s. Then further back you'd have Keon, Ullman, Provost, Pulford and maybe even Delvecchio to name a few.
As for the Selke, you could assume Gainey would have won a couple more and Clarke would certainly have picked up some earlier in the '70s. Then further back you'd have Keon, Ullman, Provost, Pulford and maybe even Delvecchio to name a few.
