Gilmour and the HHOF

Steve Simmons has come out with an article that he called a “Compelling case for Killer” in which he uses stats and minor comparisons as to why Doug Gilmour should be a HHOF inductee.
There are items in his column that can’t be refuted, such as his point totals and how well he has played in the playoffs. The problem with the way that he has presented the information though, is that he keeps mentioning players such as Coffey, Kurri, Gretzky and Messier while talking stats. This is a method used to build up an argument into your own favour. You have some information and then associate your object with others that are more established as a showcasing point.

It doesn’t matter how many times Simmons mentions Gilmour in the same sentence as these other individuals, Gilmour has never been on par with them in regards to talent, leadership or the hardware to back him up.

Don’t get me wrong, Gilmour was a heck of a player with some great years under his belt which he has an SC ring and a Selke Trophy to prove it, but this doesn’t qualify a player to be inducted into the HHOF. Gilmour has never been known to be the best at anything in particular. During his heydays, when you thought of scoring goals, the names that came to mind were Gretzky and Hull. When you thought of playmaking, you thought of Oates, who by the way is not in the HHOF either, but is a perennial favourite and will get in on a slow induction year.
While on the topic of future HHOF inductees, another player surely to get in before Gilmour is an ’89 Stanley Cup winning teammate, Joe Nieuwendyk. Joe Nieuwendyk has three SC rings to his name, four All Star Game appearances, Calder Trophy, Clancy Memorial Trophy, a Conn Smythe and Olympic Gold in his resume. Although he doesn’t have the point totals that Gilmour does, he has many more accolades and is considered to be one of the best faceoff men in the modern era and arguably in the existence of the NHL. Almost everyone knows about the trade that brought Nieuwendyk from Calgary to Dallas in the Iginla trade and it’s always been said that if Gainey hadn’t made that trade, Dallas probably wouldn’t have won the Stanley Cup in that year, something you never hear about Gilmour in regards to the Cup win in ’89.

The circumstances in which Nieuwendyk and Gilmour ended up on a Stanley Cup winning team are not similar whatsoever. Nieuwendyk was viewed as a missing piece to make that extra step while Gilmour was traded in the midst of a lawsuit in which he was accused of indecent behavior with a teenage babysitter while playing for St Louis, a matter that he has denied to this day and a point that has nothing to do with a HHOF argument, unless the voting members like to make sure their inductees are squeky clean without a mark such as the allegations could have left.
All in all, Gilmour was a great player, but not one of the greatest. He wasn’t the poster boy for a new generation of players (just a poster boy for “Got Milk” ads), he wasn’t the most profilic player in any category during his prime, he wasn’t among the most decorated players in regards to league or international play.

He was just what he was, The Killer

Holy shit, I haven't posted in a long time

That's OK, no one's been around the blog to notice the lack of activity.
So, how do I generate myself to get noticed? Nudy pics? Capitalize on unfrequently used words that will bring me near the top on a Google search?

How's aboot I switch from being dependant on twats in the industry and I just write some hockey talk? Sound good? Hello? Oh yeah, no ones here.

Than you won't mind if I pull down my pants.....oh hey buddy, no, there's no ladyboy porn in here, you must have taken a wrong turn while using Yahoo.

Oh totally, it's understandable.

I would come along, but I'm kinda busy right now.

No, it's not just an excuse.

OK, fine, Imma coming.

...

...

...

So where was I?

Montreal (fans) likes to make a big deal aboot players no longer with the organization for a myriad of reasons and come down on management. Vokoun, Ribeiro, Souray, Tucker (back in his TO days), etc

There are times when the fans decide not to roll out the bitch carpet (it's green BTW) regarding players no longer with the team and their pretty indifferent towards them, Rivet, Begin, Ryder, Garon, etc

Than there are times when the fans are glad to have had a move made to get a player off the team, Samsonov, Theodore, Aebischer, etc

I can keep going on and on with lists.

And I will, here are the SC Champs for the past 15 years:
93/94 - Rags
94/95 - Devils
95/96 - Avs
96/97 - Wings
97/98 - Wings
98/99 - Stars
99/00 - Devils
00/01 - Avs
01/02 - Wings
02/03 - Devils
03/04 - Lightning
05/06 - Canes
06/07 - Ducks
07/08 - Wings
08/09 - Pens

Want to hear something that will totally blow your mind?
Of all these teams to win the Cup since the Habs did it in 92/93, within 5 years of having no longer been with the team only 3 players have won the SC

Downey played 4 games in the regular season for the 07/08 Wings and none in the playoffs

Chelios was 19 seasons removed from his Habs days during the 07/08 season and was 13 seasons removed from his 01/02 Cup win.

Turner Stevenson was 3 seasons removed from his Habs days with the Devils in their 02/03 SC. Stevensen amassed 20 points in 77 regular season games with 2 points in 7 playoff games

Beauchemin was 5 seasons away from his one Habs game when he won the SC with the Ducks in 06/07

Claude Lemieux was 11 and 6 seasons removed
Mike Keane was 5 and 1 seasons removed
Carbonneau was 5 seasons removed
Skrudland was 8 seasons removed
Gilchrist was 7 seasons removed

OK, I can keep going through the list but this is boring me. The point is that no former Habs player has been integral to landing a team the SC (Let me stress that I am excluding Roy in this statement) within five years of having had been a part of the Canadiens organization.

Almost every player that has won the cup after being with the Habs has been a utility or role player, the one exception being Patrick Roy.

Is this a trend that shows the lack of asset management? In some cases, yes. Is this a case of letting go of players while the gettings good? In some cases, yes.

Point is, calm the frig down. We're not losing a SC contending team by losing some players. What management has done is add some players with SC rings over the years, they haven't always worked out for the best but keep the faith and one day the Habs will be a contender once again.

I guess I could have finished this off better, but it's break time.

Marleau Stripped of C

Might as well get this out there before everyone else does.
"Marleau being shopped to Montreal"
Better yet, "this is the first domino to fall prior to the three-way trade involving Heatly, San Jose and Montreal. I have no names coming from Montreal other than Markov, Marleau would be the center that Montreal has been courting for years and this is their best chance"
I believe that that's a reasonable guess on what will be posted within the hour from our favourite blogger.

A quick quote coming from an interview with McLelllan done by David Pollak

"Who will be our captain? Who will be our assistants? At this point I can't give you that answer?

You can't or you won't?

"I won't and I can't," McLellan said. "I want to see who's stepping up to the front. When training camp starts on Sept. 12, you may walk into my office and say who's your captain and I'll probably tell you I'll let you know when we know.

"At this point, nobody's our captain," he said. "We don't have assistant captains. The discussion is ongoing and when we determine that, then we'll make those announcements."

Team Canada Jersey Photo Leaked

May not be a leak after all....but here are some nice pictures on the icthetics blog
http://www.icethetics.info/blog/2009/8/12/olympic-first-look-canada.html

August 14th Rumour Roundtable

Tanguay may find a new home soon

"I can tell you that I had messages from some people on the golf course (Wednesday) but I will not tell you who, he said, laughing. Nous sommes en discussions avec plusieurs équipes et on verra en temps et lieu, s'est il contenté de dire en ajoutant qu'il attend des développements au cours des prochains jours. We are in discussions with several teams and we'll see in due course, he was content to say, adding that he expects developments in the coming days.

For more insight as to why Tanguay may not be picked up yet, check out this post by the fine bloggers at lionsinwinter

Bouillon may find a new home soon

Labbe at Cyberpresse says that the Rags, Pens and Hawks are interested in D depth and going after Cubes services.

Stats Update

OK, so, while perusing Ek on HB, I noticed that he no longer uses his rating system and it's harder to tell when he's actually putting a rumour out there or he's using his own speculation, which makes things harder to tell. Convenient for him I guess as he gets to say he called it if the trade or signing happens and call it his own speculation if what he says never happens. Also of note, is his tendancy to edit previous posts to reflect on him a little better.
I got through June 15th to June 21st and he had one correct (The Suter to coach the Flames one that everyone saw coming).
There were some that weren't even close and a couple that were close as well. My favourite one was the Flyers going after the LA pick in the draft and all that was seemingly required was Scott Hartnell.
Most of his rumours can be traced to forums like www.hfboards.com and believe me, there are a lot of posters there that make speculation trades and Ek seems to snag 'em up if there are enough replies.
Luckily, I am no longer a member there and freely talk of trades more plausible on www.hockeybroads.com with much better analysis from quality posters.
I post there as well and I'd suggest you check out my Former Teams posts on the Whalers, Nordiques and the Jets. Some good news from their NHL and WHA days and maybe even a couple things you never knew about them.

Please help me welcome our newest author, Brock Beliveau. I've known Brock for some time online now and he has some very good insights to the game and will be a valuable author on here. He's quite a bit better at the number crunching than I am and he'll be more adept to the stats stuff.

Sorry, more Ek

Came across another one of his patented "Breaking News" posts. Bouillon signed with the Rangers

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=22508&blogger_id=1

Note the time of his posting and now go here:

http://www.rangerstribune.com/2009/08/rumor-rangers-sign-bouillon-and.html