The underlined has to be qualified, and the bold is ... well, no.
I'm not saying Conacher was better than Bossy : Bossy was rightfully ranked ahead (that playoffs advantage is not small). But Bossy 36th to Conacher 55th is not internally coherent, at all.
Disclaimer : I had overrated Conacher in R1.
Bossy was better defensively on tape than what Conacher is portrayed as in print. Conacher seemed like a big power forward type with some hands and a powerful shot and not a whole hell of a lot else. He's just bigger Maurice Richard except only good for a fraction of the time.
Bossy was a better passer/playmaker, seems to be just about as good of a goal scorer, all while playing in a more defensive system and was elite for twice as long as Conacher...
While I am on record as having some contempt for some of Bossy's era (the early 80's), he was great on both sides of it and the eye test shows that he would have been a player in any era clearly.
Conacher was playing in the Depression Era where fly-by-night teams were folding and sprouting up...and the amount of talent in the league didn't seem terribly noteworthy...
[At this point in the message, I took an hour long pause to research this further...here are the results, without intention to frame them in a biased way]
First, I took a look if Conacher's "outlier" goal seasons are a product of him kicking a sub-NHL team while they were down/out...
CC (31 g): 4+1=5 in 2 vs. Phi
4+1=5 in 3 vs Ott in 1931
Bill Cook (30 g): 2+4=6 vs Ott, 4+2=6 vs Phi
8 goals to 6 against teams that wouldn't play in the NHL the following season. Not dramatic enough to note.
CC (32 g): 4+4=8 in 4 games vs Ott in 1934
Barry (27 g): 2+0=2 in 5 games vs Ott in 1934
2 goals isn't terribly significant, the 6 points is...but Conacher wins the Art Ross over a linemate, so it's all a wash anyhow.
CC (36 g): 5+3=8 in 5 games vs. St. Louis in 1935
Dillon (25 g): 4+1=5 in 5 games vs. StL
Cecil Dillon did just as much damage to the Eagles as Conacher did. Conacher crushed Syd Howe by 10 points for the Art Ross, and I'm sure Howe scored against the Eagles too in his travels...
Conclusion: Conacher wasn't helped by any huge degree over any other player in pummeling have-nots in the 30s...
Competition for goals...competition in net...competition on defense...
1931: 34 year old Bill Cook (won AST over him), Morenz, 2nd year Ebbie Goodfellow, Nels Stewart, Cooney Weiland
Going against: Gardiner, Thompson and Worters in net. Shore, S.Mantha, C.Johnson on defense (he had King Clancy).
1932: 35 year old Bill Cook (won AST over him), linemate Busher Jackson as a 21 year old, Dave Trottier, Morenz
Going against: Gardiner, Thompson, Worters in net. Shore, S.Mantha, C.Johnson on defense (he had King Clancy).
1933: Didn't finish high in goals...not that interested.
1934: Marty Barry, Nels Stewart, late-career Joliat, John Sorrell.
Going against: Gardiner, Thompson, Worters in net. Shore, L.Conacher, E.Seibert on defense (he had King Clancy).
1935: Cecil Dillon, Dit Clapper in a winger season I guess, Syd Howe, linemate Busher Jackson
Going against: Chabot, Thompson, Connell in net. Shore, Seibert, Coulter, Wentworth on defense.
1936: Bill Thoms, Marty Barry, 2nd year Sweeney Schriner, 33 year old Hooley Smith
Going against: Thompson, Cude, Karakas in net. Shore, Coulter, Seibert, Siebert on defense.
It starts to peter out towards the end, but it's stronger on both sides than I initially gave it credit for...both his competition and his opponents. '35 and '36 leave plenty to be desired though.
Bossy is fighting for Rocket Richards with...
Lafleur, Shutt, L.McDonald, Trottier.
Dionne, Lafleur, G.Chouinard, Trottier.
Gare, Simmer, Stoughton, Dionne, Gretzky.
Dionne, Simmer, Gretzky, Kehoe.
Gretzky, Maruk, Ciccarelli, Vaive.
Gretzky, L.McDonald, Goulet, Dionne.
Gretzky, Kurri, Goulet, Ogrodnick.
Kurri, Kerr, Anderson, Goulet.
He's going against various degrees of nonsense in net during this time...
Beezer, Froese, Lindbergh, teenage Barrasso, Riggin, Peeters, Melanson, Smith, Fuhr, Liut, Lessard, Tony O, D.Edwards, Dryden, Resch.
The defense he faces is much stronger though (we know those names).
Overall conclusion: There is a flooding expansion in Bossy's prime, which probably cancels pretty well with the coming-and-going of teams in Conacher's prime. Conacher faced better goaltending probably, but weaker defense. I think Bossy's competition for goals is a little better, but not by the margin I thought it would be.
So, I give the edge to Bossy as a player, I give a small edge to him on era, I give a huge edge to him on being elite for about twice as long, and Bossy is a premier playoff player for all time. It still amounts to a pretty sizable advantage to Bossy for me...I also overplayed it in my hypothesis and probably underrated Conacher in both by round 1 list and my subsequent ballot. Though, I don't believe that I affected him in terms of placement, ultimately.