- Nov 2, 2003
- 31,703
- 4,176
Thought I would do a fun poll here.
Cheevers is one of those goalies who I think if you look at his stat line you aren't overly impressed. There aren't gaudy numbers, there isn't any 1st or 2nd all-star team selections and he took until he was about 26 years old before he could crack an NHL roster, the final year of the Original 6. Won 30 games just once, and never led the NHL in any category during the year, at least not in the regular season.
For starters, I think he belongs. Goalies are probably the only position where I don't have a problem with any of them in there. With the exception of a couple guys at or near the bottom like Roy Worters and Chuck Rayner you can argue Cheevers is the bottom feeder of the HHOF among goalies and yet I think he is still deservingly in there.
Why are his numbers not as nice? One reason is 3.5 years in the WHA. I don't like using the WHA much to add to a player's resume but the truth is that Cheevers was the best goalie in that league the entire time he was there. I can't remember what made him come back up to the NHL midway through the 1976 season from the WHA, but either way he was there for a while.
Another thing is that especially in the 1970s era and even up until the early 1990s many teams did the goalie split thing. Especially if you had two goalies that were good. Cheevers was good and Eddie Johnston was good too and a formidable back up. Cheevers played in 52 games in 1969, but pretty much 40-45 games the rest of his career per year. Johnston would play the other half or later on it was Gilles Gilbert. Either way a 227-104-76 record is nothing to sneeze at especially considering the late bloomer status and the time in the WHA.
Here is where I think he earned his keep, the playoffs. Two Cups with Boston. He won every game for them in the 1970 playoffs and then split with Johnston in 1972 although it was Cheevers who got the shutout in the Cup clinching game. It was Johnston, not Cheevers, in net for that disastrous Game 2 in 1971 vs. Montreal. Cheevers played the rest of the series. If not for his bolting to the WHA there is no doubt the #1 starting job in the Summit Series vs. Russia is his to lose. Think about it, who is the most reliable goalie in the NHL at this time? Then there were the Cup finals in 1977 and 1978. Granted he was so-so in 1979 and he was in net for that disastrous Game 3 of the 1979 Challenge Cup the same year.
I think he belongs in the HHOF and he is a classic case of "You had to be there" to appreciate him a bit more. Brad Park once joked about Cheevers literally stepping out of the way of a teed up slap shot with a rolling puck and letting it go into the net. The score was 7-3 Bruins, it was late in the game and Park said Cheevers could care less about his goals against average, he just didn't want to get killed by the puck! Funny story, but it doesn't detract from the fact he was a pretty good "money" goalie when the chips were down.
Cheevers is one of those goalies who I think if you look at his stat line you aren't overly impressed. There aren't gaudy numbers, there isn't any 1st or 2nd all-star team selections and he took until he was about 26 years old before he could crack an NHL roster, the final year of the Original 6. Won 30 games just once, and never led the NHL in any category during the year, at least not in the regular season.
For starters, I think he belongs. Goalies are probably the only position where I don't have a problem with any of them in there. With the exception of a couple guys at or near the bottom like Roy Worters and Chuck Rayner you can argue Cheevers is the bottom feeder of the HHOF among goalies and yet I think he is still deservingly in there.
Why are his numbers not as nice? One reason is 3.5 years in the WHA. I don't like using the WHA much to add to a player's resume but the truth is that Cheevers was the best goalie in that league the entire time he was there. I can't remember what made him come back up to the NHL midway through the 1976 season from the WHA, but either way he was there for a while.
Another thing is that especially in the 1970s era and even up until the early 1990s many teams did the goalie split thing. Especially if you had two goalies that were good. Cheevers was good and Eddie Johnston was good too and a formidable back up. Cheevers played in 52 games in 1969, but pretty much 40-45 games the rest of his career per year. Johnston would play the other half or later on it was Gilles Gilbert. Either way a 227-104-76 record is nothing to sneeze at especially considering the late bloomer status and the time in the WHA.
Here is where I think he earned his keep, the playoffs. Two Cups with Boston. He won every game for them in the 1970 playoffs and then split with Johnston in 1972 although it was Cheevers who got the shutout in the Cup clinching game. It was Johnston, not Cheevers, in net for that disastrous Game 2 in 1971 vs. Montreal. Cheevers played the rest of the series. If not for his bolting to the WHA there is no doubt the #1 starting job in the Summit Series vs. Russia is his to lose. Think about it, who is the most reliable goalie in the NHL at this time? Then there were the Cup finals in 1977 and 1978. Granted he was so-so in 1979 and he was in net for that disastrous Game 3 of the 1979 Challenge Cup the same year.
I think he belongs in the HHOF and he is a classic case of "You had to be there" to appreciate him a bit more. Brad Park once joked about Cheevers literally stepping out of the way of a teed up slap shot with a rolling puck and letting it go into the net. The score was 7-3 Bruins, it was late in the game and Park said Cheevers could care less about his goals against average, he just didn't want to get killed by the puck! Funny story, but it doesn't detract from the fact he was a pretty good "money" goalie when the chips were down.
