Current thoughts
1. Anatoli Firsov - I think he was
probably as good as Kharlamov.
But probably is not the same as definitely, so he deserves to be ranked lower than Kharlamov. But how much lower? IMO, he's already a bit too low. I understand not everyone feels this way and that's fine.
But I also feel there are a small number of voters who won't even attempt to look past the "didn't play against the NHL" thing, and I feel that's misguided. Firsov's prime does overlap with those of Kharlamov and Maltsev by a few years.
2. Joe Malone - lots of star power, great goal scorer, seems to have driven the play more than Denneny or Hull
3. Dit Clapper - perhaps the player I've risen on the most since I constructed my round one list.
If you combine his All-Star records at D and RW, his combined record looks similar to MacInnnis or Horton:
Top-100 Hockey Players of All-Time - Round 2, Vote 14
Clapper's competition for RW spot in the 1930s was quite strong. Removing Bill Cook and Charlie Conacher from the leader boards, and Clappers RW AS record would go from 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, to 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, albeit over what would then be otherwise weak competition:
Top-100 Hockey Players of All-Time - Round 2, Vote 14
4. Frank Mahovlich - he deserved to fall but IMO this is probably enough. Longevity and consistency as an impact player is very good at this stage - 9 times 1st or 2nd Team NHL All-Star. Great playoff scorer, even as his overall ESGA isn't good.
5. Jari Kurri - amazing two-way player. Scored 102 points (8th in the NHL) the season after Gretzky left. No, I don't think Kurri hits 68 or 71 goals without Gretzky, but he may have had more assists.
And Kurri made a key offensive contribution that doesn't show up on the scoresheet - by taking the defensive responsibilities that normally belong to a center, he allowed Gretzky to play farther up ice and go all-in on offense.
6/7. Cy Denneny and Clint Benedict - I see Denneny as a slightly better version of Brett Hull. As far as proverbial crimes go, it would be a misdemeaner to see Benedict go over Charlie Gardiner, but at least it wouldn't be a felony like the other 2 goalies.
8. Brett Hull - I still don't like the fact that he was mostly useless when he wasn't scoring goals. And that includes puck possession. But finding out he didn't bleed goals against in the playoffs like he did in the regular season is enough to bump him over Broda and Durnan for me.
9/10. Turk Broda and Bill Durnan. Quite frankly, it would be a felony if either of these guys went over Charlie Gardiner.
Broda was never really the best in the league. In his long, HHOF career, he was 1st Team AS twice - the two seasons he happened to lead the league in GAA.
As for Durnan - here's my long post on why he wasn't as good as his All-Star record appeared at first glance:
Top-100 Hockey Players of All-Time - Round 2, Vote 14
The bullet point version:
- The Canadiens were much less affected by WW2 than any other team
- When Durnan played, the 1st Team AS went to the starting goalie with the lowest GAA by default (while the 2nd Team AS wasn't as tied to GAA).
- Durnan's first 3 1st Team AS nods were won by default - 2 over sub-AHL competition during WW2, the 3rd over 2/3 of a season of Frank Brimsek who still finished 2nd over the garbage that was there the full season.
- Even contemporary sources wondered whether Durnan was a product of WW2
- His playoff record is disappointing, relative to how stacked his team was
- Durnan retired in the middle of the 1950 playoffs, seemingly because he couldn't handle the pressure
- While Durnan led the NHL in GAA 6 times, his cumulative statistical record doesn't stand out:
- Parent: 5 seasons, 169.5 GVT in 262 GP, 0.65 GVT/GP
Bower: 7 seasons, 190.0 GVT in 345 GP, 0.55 GVT/GP
Esposito: 7 seasons, 223.1 GVT in 433 GP, 0.52 GVT/GP
Durnan: 5 seasons, 147.7 GVT in 283 GP, 0.52 GVT/GP
B. Smith: 10 seasons, 199.8 GVT in 419 GP, 0.48 GVT/GP
Belfour: 5 seasons, 138.4 GVT in 309 GP, 0.45 GVT/GP