Did Gaborik have HOF talent?

[Prettyisland]

The release on his snap shot was so beautiful

 

[Caroline Says ll]

Fantastic career. Led the Kings in goals in the year he won the cup. 400 career goals. Playing much of his prime in a system that did not promote offence as much as other teams.

Theoretically if he had played on a different team and avoided the hip and back surgeries - he definitely had the talent to score HOF numbers.

Now Bondra on the other hand should be in the HOF. 500 goals, led the league in scoring two years. Fantastic international career for Slovakia.

 

[Fatass]

Did Kevin Lowe have Hall of Fame talent?
Some guys in the HHOF have very little talent, especially when compared to Gaborik. Mogilny isn’t in the Hall. Lowe is. Go figure?

 

[Cursed Lemon]

I mean, what is talent if it doesn't produce results?

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Not in my book.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Hall of fame talent, hella lame body. I’m always curious if there’s a universe where he never gets hurt, with dudes like him.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

228 goals and 439 points in 427 games during his prime years (23-29 years old). Seems to be a bit lacking for a HOFer.

 

[BelovedIsles]

Glad Ziggy is getting some shoutouts (my all-time favorite hockey player). Both electrifying players; admittedly Gaborik had more pure talent with his speed.

 

[GOilers88]

Is the sky blue ?

Does then pope shit in the woods?

 

[WarriorofTime]

He was a monster against the Ducks in 2014 Playoffs. Great player, wouldn't put him in the HHOF but he's in the Hall of Very Good.

 

[SirPaste]

All those years stuck on a crappy Wild team hurt his numbers, and didn't really start playing for good teams until after his prime so its a good question. I am not sure if he would have put up HOF numbers on a better team playing a more offensive game but he was one hell of a player.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Similar to Taylor Hall in a way... great set of skills but played for teams that didn't really provide the best support and ultimately their bodies let them down. If things had broken differently... I mean we're discussing guys like Nick Backstrom for the HOF... perfect example of an elite teammate making the case for them. However, HOF does measure things like durability and longevity, perhaps puts too much emphasis on them.

 

[Letsdothis]

With a healthy career, could've been a borderline HoFer.

 

[Figgy44]

In his best season, he peaked at 10th in points and 5th in goals as a 27 year old.

He only has a single top 10 point finish and 3 top goal finishes (3, 5, 7)

He was never really a true contender for any major awards. Even his 3rd place goalscoring finish, he is 9 goals behind Malkin and 19 behind Stamkos.

You could argue a healthy Gaborik has more top 10 goal finishes, and maybe point finishes. But at best that makes him a very borderline case. I think realistically he would just be in a higher tier of "hall of very good" players.

Players like Theo Fleury, Zigmund Palffy, Markus Naslund, John Leclair all have better top 10 stat finishes, and none of them are in the HHOF.

All sorts of players are in the hall of very good/borderline HHOF if they were perfectly healthy or significantly healthier than their actual career. Gaborik is no exception. I also think this is also especially true for players that play with a specific type of recklessness. Someone reckless and rarely injured is kinda scary.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Eh, maybe? "Talent" is so vague. Rob Schremp could've had a HHOF talent.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Great player who was hella fun to watch play. Just can't see him getting in the HHOF, though. Had his health and teams he played for been different, the talent was there to have a HHOF career.

 

[BigKing]

Answer to OP's question is obviously "yes", but talent was never the question.

He is an LA Kings legend though for 2014 alone.

Pretty sure his nickname was Ferrari. Perfect for him. You're going to get insane performance but not a daily driver and you can't take it to Costco.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Eh, maybe? "Talent" is so vague. Rob Schremp could've had a HHOF talent.

Strongly disagree, unless hockey turns into a dangling trick shot competition. IMO Gaborik was as dominant a player as any in his prime.

People seem to forget how low scoring the DPE was, and MINN was the poster child for the DPE. If you replaced Bure on the Panthers with healthy Gaborik how much fall of do you have?

Top 3 fairly recent players I would have loved to see what they could have done if healthy: Gaborik, Havlat, Stamkos