Does Kris Letang fall into the category of a Hall of Famer to you?

[Suntouchable13]

Facts, I mean among the big sports, the hockey hall of fame has the lowest bar. It's like, did you participate? Get the f*** in here!

I don’t disagree. That’s how they seem to want it. It’s their Hall of Fame.

 

[BlueAzN]

When he's done he's going to have:

1200+ games
800+ points
3 Stanley Cups
8 top-10 Norris finishes
2 second-team all-star

He's getting in. The only conversation to be had is whether the HoF's standards are too low for your liking, because he's definitely getting in.

I don't have a problem with your take fyi, just commenting on one of the stats listed here. The fact that TOP TEN Norris finishes is a defining stat for Letang to get in the HOF says it all. Top 3? Okay I can swallow that, but f***in top 10? TOP TEN? I mean what a f***in joke.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Yes he will get into the hall of fame.

Look at the criteria to get in. Look at Letangs career.

If you are a person that wishes less players made it well that's only a wish in dream land.
We have to deal with reality.

 

[Lomez]

He'll probably get in, but he doesn't seem like a hall of fame to me. Maybe I've just seen too many of his bonehead plays...

 

[Toby91ca]

The fact that TOP TEN Norris finishes is a defining stat for Letang to get in the HOF says it all. Top 3? Okay I can swallow that, but f***in top 10? TOP TEN? I mean what a f***in joke.

I get what you are saying....but....list out all the current Dmen in the HOF and show their Norris finishes....Letang's 8x in top 10 will be better than quite a few.

Quick comparison of Letang vs. the Dmen that got in over the past 10 years (ONLY on top 10 Norris voting finishes):

• Letang - 3,4,6,6,7,8,9,9 (8x top 10)
• Weber - 2,2,3,4,4,6,7,8,10 (9x top 10)
• Wilson - 1,3,4,4 (4x top 10)
• Lowe - 5,7,8,10 (4x top 10)
• Zubov - 3,4,8,8,9,9,9 (7x top 10)
• Pronger - no need to list
• Lidstrom - no need to list
• Housley - 3,5,5,5,9,10 (6x top 10)
• Blake - 1,3,3,4,5,8 (6x top 10)

 

[ICanMotteBelieveIt]

Hall of very good but will somehow manager to get in HOF probably.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Hall of very good.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Facts, I mean among the big sports, the hockey hall of fame has the lowest bar. It's like, did you participate? Get the f*** in here!

It has tighter standards than basketball and probably football as well. Dwight Freeney and Devin Hester were inducted this past year lol.

 

[GrumpyKoala]

The Pens almost never retire numbers. They have only done it 3 times in franchise history.

As it should be.

 

[BlueAzN]

I get what you are saying....but....list out all the current Dmen in the HOF and show their Norris finishes....Letang's 8x in top 10 will be better than quite a few.

Quick comparison of Letang vs. the Dmen that got in over the past 10 years (ONLY on top 10 Norris voting finishes):

• Letang - 3,4,6,6,7,8,9,9 (8x top 10)
• Weber - 2,2,3,4,4,6,7,8,10 (9x top 10)
• Wilson - 1,3,4,4 (4x top 10)
• Lowe - 5,7,8,10 (4x top 10)
• Zubov - 3,4,8,8,9,9,9 (7x top 10)
• Pronger - no need to list
• Lidstrom - no need to list
• Housley - 3,5,5,5,9,10 (6x top 10)
• Blake - 1,3,3,4,5,8 (6x top 10)

I’m not gonna say anything but to applaud you on this post just for making the effort to look all this shit up. Well done ser, you’ve earned my respect.

It has tighter standards than basketball and probably football as well. Dwight Freeney and Devin Hester were inducted this past year lol.

The NFL Hall of Fame is the most respected of them all. Give me what you’re smoking

 

[Hockey Outsider]

For what it's worth - excluding active players, going back to the creation of the Norris trophy (1954), there have been 11 defensemen who have been in the top five in voting two times. Three are in the Hall of Fame, eight of them aren't.

Let's exclude the players who actually won a Norris (since Letang didn't do that). We're left with 10 defensemen - two are in the Hall, eight aren't.

Let's back out the player who never won a Stanley Cup (since the Hall cares a lot about championships). We're left with seven defensemen - two are in the Hall, five aren't.

This is probably the closest match to Letang's profile (two years in the top five, zero Norris trophies, at least one Stanley Cup). He could go to the Hall (like Sergei Zubov and Allan Stanley). Or he might not be inducted (like Dan Boyle, Vladimir Konstantinov, Elmer Vasko, Bob Goldham, and Eric Desjardins). Based on this, it looks like it would be an uphill battle, but not impossible.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He was always injured, he never played enough games to win a Norris.

And while Burns, Subban, and Giordano were weak competition, he was also competing against guys like Karlsson, Doughty, Keith, and Hedman, who are just as good as the top defenseman from any era.

Subban was a superb defenseman. Every bit as good as any of his contemporaries. Just couldn’t stay healthy.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

The Pens almost never retire numbers. They have only done it 3 times in franchise history.

As it should be.

Agreed, but it is worth pointing out that basically everyone who had a case for getting their number retired either played more games elsewhere (namely Francis) or wasn't around long enough to necessarily warrant it (i.e. Coffey's less than 5 full seasons). Everyone else (i.e. Barrasso) is a fringe case who didn't have long-lasting success or is still active.

Those reasons to not retire a number don't fit for Letang, though, so I think there's a good debate to be had on it. Different teams have different standards, but I really do think the Penguins being so stingy has as much to do with the Coffeys and Francises of franchise history not spending 'enough' time in Pittsburgh as it did with them actually being so stingy. The only players to play more games for this franchise are Sid & Geno. Mario & Jagr were passed a while ago. The Penguins not having anyone hitting the 800 GP mark until after Mario's number was retired definitely helped keep those rafters empty for as long as it did...though Kehoe & Pronovost would absolutely have gotten their numbers retired on just about any other expansion team of that era.

We'll have to see how new ownership treats these. We know Lemieux was on the more conservative side with number retirements (though one of his first acts as an owner was to officially retire a number that had been unofficially retired for 30 years), but we really don't know with Fenway. It's not like Jagr's number being retired reset the standard for the Pens or anything - as long as relations could be smoothed over it needed to happen.

I just can't believe Letang actually remained relatively healthy enough to play enough games to get into this kind of discussion. If anyone seemed destined to be completely broken by the age of 30, it was Letang.