Without question.
Coffey was clearly the superior player that year.
Coffey finshed 2nd in the NHL in both points and assists. He finished with 93 points more than Langway. For Langway tobe better than Cofey, while scoring 93 less points the differences defensively would have had to be beyond gargantuan.
Thnk Scott Stevens vs. Andy Delmore
Quick check of everyone's favorite stat - +/-
Capitals finished the season scoring 82 more goals than they allowed
Scott Stevens +26
Dave Shand +23
Timo Blomqvist +17
Rod Langway +14
Larry Murphy +12
Darren Veitch E
Oilers finished the season scoring 132 more goals than they allowed
Paul Coffey +52
Charlie Huddy +50
Dr. Randy Gregg +40
Kevin Lowe +37
Lee Fogolin +33
Don Jackson +28
Remember that +/- doesn't include PP goals for or against. When those are taken out of the equation, Washington only scored 44 more goals than they allowed while Edmonton scored 128 more goals than they gave up. That's a huge difference, so you would expect the Oiler players to have better +/- marks.
Here's the way I feel they should be judged. Edmonton had 119 points. Washington had 101. So you would have to figure out how many of Edmonton's 119 were because of Coffey, and how many of Washington's 101 were because of Langway. Whoever has the higher total wins. How to figure that out is a complex puzzle which hasn't been statistically proven yet, but let me make the case for Langway.
Washington was 5th overall, one of the best teams in the league. They were 10th in offense and 1st in defense, so obviously the defence was the main reason for their success. Was it because of team defence or because of goaltending? Their two goalies that year, Al Jensen and Pat Riggin were capable, but hardly great. Neither were in the top five in save%. However, the Capitals defence allowed less shots than any other team in the league. So it would stand to reason that the biggest reason for Washington's success was their team defence.
Which players get the most credit for that? There's no perfect stat to measure defence, but logically it would be a) the players with the most icetime and b) those players who are getting the icetime because of their defence. Estimated icetime for `84 shows Langway logging the highest marks on the Caps, and he sure wasn't there for his offence. It should also be noted that Washington had the best PK that year by a wide margin that year. Who led them in SH icetime? Langway. So it can be assumed that Langway deserves credit for the highest "share" of the Caps record that year.
Edmonton had a better record that year, and Coffey was a huge part of it, but we all know he wasn't the biggest part.
Not saying that Langway deserved it over Coffey, just that I don't think you can say that Coffey was clearly superior. The sad part of that season was that Ray Bourque had his best season to date in `84, but his excellent play both offensively and defensively was forgotten by Norris voters as they became fixated on a two-horse race between the all-offence/no-defence Coffey, and the all-defence/no-offence Langway.