2025 HHOF predictions

[Voight]

There is not a single scenario that I can think of where Marleau should get in.

Going off of his stats, this is what I'm seeing:
Top 10 finishes in goals: 2x (2009, 4th; 2010, 6th).
Top 10 finishes in assists: zero
Top 10 finishes in points: zero

First or second team All-Star: zero. If you really want to reach, I'll even try to add on the three times that he was voted to the All-Star Game (which honestly doesn't mean much when doing HHOF voting.)

Career points: 53rd, right in line with Bernie Nicholls, Vinnie Damphousse, Rod Brind'amour. Everybody above Nicholls (50th all-time) is in the HHOF or is ineligible due to being an active player. Now of those players, look at the points per game:
Nicholls: 1.07 ppg over 1127 GP
Damphousse: .87 ppg over 1378 GP
Marleau: .67 ppg over 1779 GP
Brind'amour: .8 ppg over 1484 GP

Awards: Lady Byng finalist 2x (2005-06, 3rd; 2013-14, 3rd). That's it. That's the list.

Games played? 1779. Congrats on being durable. Him and Phil Kessel can stand outside of the hall, discussing their games played records and being chosen to the ASG three times. Actually I'd put Phil in over Marleau, but that's for another thread. That's not saying I think Kessel should be in the Hall. It's more of "if you had to put one of these players in, which one would it be and why?"

But what about being 25th all-time in goals? You're going to climb up the all-time charts when you play almost 1800 games. Out of all of the members of the 500 Goal Club, Marleau has the lowest goals per game at .32 gpg. The literal definition of compiler.

If the HHOF decides they want to expand and want to do a HOVG down the hall from the Hall, then I would absolutely induct Marleau. He was a very good player for a long time. But otherwise, he's on the outside looking in. Being in the goal scoring top 10 twice, having no awards, and being a Byng finalist just isn't enough.

Marleau had no business being in the NHL when he broke the record. Sharks helped him out as a favour, but really all he is is the answer to a trivia question.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

would anybody disagree that if you were forced to choose one of either marleau and pavelski for the hall everybody would choose pavelski?

and yet marleau will be the one that gets in and pavelski (rightfully) won’t

 

[Gorskyontario]

Just curious but why exactly is Ryan Getzlaf better than Theo Fleury?

 

[The Panther]

Just curious but why exactly is Ryan Getzlaf better than Theo Fleury?

This might make a good thread topic. I leave you to it...

 

[Giotrapani91]

as a thought experiment here are the players who overlapped significantly with daddy tkachuk’s career that imo were better than him

chelios
leetch
barrasso
beezer
richter
modano
lafontaine
roenick
leclair
maybe housley
maybe doug weight

not counting hull

not counting 80s guys like langway and mullen

idk if the 10th or 12th best american player of the 90s needs to be in the hall of fame

Half that list is inducted only John LeClair, Doug Weight, beezer & Mike Richter have yet to be enshrined. I'd say Tkachuk is the 9th or tenth best forward the 7th best to have 1000 plus points.

 

[Giotrapani91]

as a thought experiment here are the players who overlapped significantly with daddy tkachuk’s career that imo were better than him

chelios
leetch
barrasso
beezer
richter
modano
lafontaine
roenick
leclair
maybe housley
maybe doug weight

not counting hull

not counting 80s guys like langway and mullen

idk if the 10th or 12th best american player of the 90s needs to be in the hall of fame

I agree with you Richter and vanbiesbrouck belong in,, doug weight maybe I'll say borderline for him. But the others on your list have been inducted.

 

[Giotrapani91]

Not unless science and technology improve enough in 2025 to the point that either a time-machine takes us all back to 2012, or they are simply reverted back to their 2012-selves, no.

I could definitely see Kane taking gaudreau's spot in the four nations cup and maybe Kane is only going on 36, or they'll ask another young NHLer maybe Andrew copp whos 31 on the 3rd or 4th line to replace Johnny hockey.

 

[Giotrapani91]

Just curious but why exactly is Ryan Getzlaf better than Theo Fleury?

Getzlaf is borderline theoren fleury should be in same with alexader mogilny

 

[VanIslander]

Chara is the slam dunk Vegas sportsbook bet.

 

[Giotrapani91]

If they do t induct marleau, than I have either tkachuk, Cujo or mogilny making it if not them maybe rod the bod.

 

[Crosby2010]

If they do t induct marleau, than I have either tkachuk, Cujo or mogilny making it if not them maybe rod the bod.

Even though there has been some bad choices for the HHOF lately I don't think we ought to make it worse. Marleau was a good player and a guy who played a lot of games. I cringed in Marleau's final season because he really had no business playing and wasn't roster worthy anymore. I knew when he would pass Howe's games played record the media would have convulsions over it and all of the sudden would act as if Marleau was a Hall of Famer all along and that this had nothing to do with it. Sort of how Andreychuk or Nieuwendyk got in for different reasons. Andreychuk was never talked about as a HHOFer in his career but when he hoisted a Cup as captain at the end of his career there became a lot of revisionist history about him. Ditto for Nieuwendyk when it came to winning a Cup with three different teams. His legend became bigger than how good he actually was. He was good, as was Andreychuk, but they don't belong in the HHOF. Marleau I am afraid will get this same sort of treatment and worship and it will be annoying. We are talking about a 0.67 PPG for his career.

And BrindAmour doesn't belong either, although he deserves it more than Marleau for sure. Nor does Pavelski and to be honest neither does Tkachuk. But if there is a guy who is going to benefit greatly from nepotism it is Keith Tkachuk. Because the longer his boys are in the NHL as the players they are the more it helps Keith's cause.

I am okay with Cujo not in, as goalies are pretty much the only position where you can say the truly elite make it. Almost. But still, it's the best one. Mogilny was wildly inconsistent in his career. Too many gaps.

Just curious but why exactly is Ryan Getzlaf better than Theo Fleury?

Not sure if he is. I'd put both in. Both are good enough to be at the normal barometer that the HHOF should be following. Both are well above the new age barometer with lower standards that the Hall has adopted in recent years though.

 

[carjackmalone]

Legacy inductees

Rick Martin,Carl Brewer,Theo,Fluery,Markus Naslund,

 

[BarnabyJones PI]

Ditto for Nieuwendyk when it came to winning a Cup with three different teams. His legend became bigger than how good he actually was. He was good, as was Andreychuk, but they don't belong in the HHOF. Marleau I am afraid will get this same sort of treatment and worship and it will be annoying. We are talking about a 0.67 PPG for his career.

Here's a tangent, but going back to 1991 or so, I had wondered then if Nieuwendyk shared a similar trade value to Luc Robitaille. They're the same age, both won a Calder trophy, both were consistent 40-50 goal scorers up to that point. Up to that point, Robitaille accrued more points of course, made four consecutive 1st All Star Teams in a row, but Nieuwendyk was very productive in his own right, playing in All Star games, playing ahead of Doug Gilmore as the team's #1 center, while the Flames were hovering around 1st in GF/GA as a team.

I'm actually surprised that Niewendyk's career point total (1126), doesn't look that bad relative to his games played (1257), seeing how the last season he averaged a PPG was in 1995, and he would still go on to play parts of 12 more seasons.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Ditto for Nieuwendyk when it came to winning a Cup with three different teams. His legend became bigger than how good he actually was.

It's crazy how disconnected Nieuwendyk's reputation became, from his actual level of performance. He led his team in scoring in the playoffs one time, in 16 attempts. He won the Conn Smythe despite his team's #1 centre outscoring him, and contributing far more defensively(*). He was maybe the 15th most valuable Devil in 2003. But "6 GWG's and 3 Cups with 3 teams" is all anyone remembers.

(*) Yes, Nieuwendyk scored some big goals for the Stars in 1999. He wasn't a terrible choice, but it felt like Justin Williams winning it over Anze Kopitar in 2014. The "narrative" was more important than the substance. Modano got 3 game winning assists and a whole bunch of important goals/assists that didn't fit under the narrow definition of "game winning", so I think the perceived gap between the timeliness of their scoring was exaggerated.