Jim Matheson should have his voting privileges revoked

[Hockey Outsider]

That wasn’t a close race. Was it an incorrect choice, maybe. But it doesn’t carry the taint of being rigged by strategic voting.

Agreed. In 1989, the voters chose a catchy storyline over substance - but there's never been any allegations of bias or manipulation. 1990 is a different story.

 

[Mark Stones Spleen]

Even the least objective HFboards homer wouldn’t vote like that. Embarrassing.

Baloney. I'm sure someone out there thinks this trophy belongs to AM34

 

[JianYang]

Agreed. In 1989, the voters chose a catchy storyline over substance - but there's never been any allegations of bias or manipulation. 1990 is a different story.

What happened in 1990? Edmonton won the cup and didn't Ranford win the conn smythe?

Are we talking about a different trophy?

 

[Hockey Outsider]

What happened in 1990? Edmonton won the cup and didn't Ranford win the conn smythe?

Are we talking about a different trophy?

Sorry, that wasn't clear. I was referring to the 1990 Hart trophy. The two favourites were Edmonton's Mark Messier, and Boston's Ray Bourque. Here's an article from the Edmonton Journal in May 1990 describing Bourque as "no worse than 50-50 to win the Hart".

Messier's win is controversial because he was named on all 63 ballots, but Bourque was only named on 57. They had the same number of first place votes (29 each), and Bourque actually had more second place votes (26-24). Messier took the Hart because he had more third place votes (10-2).

The rumour is three Edmonton voters intentionally left Bourque off their Hart ballot, in order to ensure that Messier won. There's no direct evidence of this (the ballots weren't public back then). But the argument goes that Bourque's season was so strong, there's no way to justify excluding him from the top three. His 1990 season wasn't just a normal Norris win - he became only the second defenseman in NHL history (after Bobby Orr) to win the award unanimously.

I want to be clear - there's no direct evidence that this was a conspiracy by Edmonton writers to keep Bourque off their ballots. But it's been a persistent rumour for 30+ years now. (I was contrasting this with 1989. The voters probably made the wrong decision, but I've never heard any allegations of there being vote manipulation).

 

[Bank Shot]

The media shouldn't be the deciders on any trophy.

The GMs and coaches should vote on everything.

 

[VistamarCroissants]

No, completely the opposite. I wanted Florida to win and had several futures on Florida from various points in the season. I'm from Vancouver, why would I root for Edmonton? The truth is that Bob did not deserve the Conn Smythe and shouldn't have been in the discussion.

I guess it's hard for some people to realize that it's possible to make an objective evaluation.

Try again though. Maybe you'll have a correct take.


So you're saying those three guys weren't valuable to their team? Any player providing an outstanding performance is going to be, by logic, pretty valuable to their team.

Bob has been in the discussion, actually.
He got job done in game 7.
Unlike, McDavid & Co.

 

[ZJuice]

I was hoping this got bumped to confirm Matheson has lost his credentials but noooooo…

 

[TheOrangeDesk]

No worse than Seth rorabough who bases his hart vote on being a contrarian

 

[OrrNumber4]

I suppose the charitable explanation is that he was assuming the Oilers would win Game 7 and just didn't bother to update his ballot. But even then...

My guess is that this is exactly what happened.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Terrible bias by Jim Matheson

 

[bossram]

Bob has been in the discussion, actually.
He got job done in game 7.
Unlike, McDavid & Co.

A very necessary necro-bump, lmao.

"He got the job done". Such an insightful point, thank you.

 

[VistamarCroissants]

A very necessary necro-bump, lmao.

"He got the job done". Such an insightful point, thank you.

you're welcome

 

[snag]

I was hoping this got bumped to confirm Matheson has lost his credentials but noooooo…

Me too.....

That said I gotta ask.....why is everyone so pissy?

 

[wetcoast]

Sorry, that wasn't clear. I was referring to the 1990 Hart trophy. The two favourites were Edmonton's Mark Messier, and Boston's Ray Bourque. Here's an article from the Edmonton Journal in May 1990 describing Bourque as "no worse than 50-50 to win the Hart".

Messier's win is controversial because he was named on all 63 ballots, but Bourque was only named on 57. They had the same number of first place votes (29 each), and Bourque actually had more second place votes (26-24). Messier took the Hart because he had more third place votes (10-2).

The rumour is three Edmonton voters intentionally left Bourque off their Hart ballot, in order to ensure that Messier won. There's no direct evidence of this (the ballots weren't public back then). But the argument goes that Bourque's season was so strong, there's no way to justify excluding him from the top three. His 1990 season wasn't just a normal Norris win - he became only the second defenseman in NHL history (after Bobby Orr) to win the award unanimously.

I want to be clear - there's no direct evidence that this was a conspiracy by Edmonton writers to keep Bourque off their ballots. But it's been a persistent rumour for 30+ years now. (I was contrasting this with 1989. The voters probably made the wrong decision, but I've never heard any allegations of there being vote manipulation).

Even if all 3 Oiler voters left Bourque off their ballot 3 other voters from other cities did as well and it's not like a Homer vote happens here or there and rarely is it the difference and it certainly wouldn't have been for this year's Conn smythe trophy.

Was Barkov the best player on the SC winning team?

Sure But McDavid was winning this and had Barkov won it we would have a much longer thread on why McDavid was robbed which would actually be worth having....maybe, I dunno sometimes these threads seem pointless and at other times there are mildly interesting.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Edmonton media is a strange bunch. They are so quick to trash the players in the midst of a three game losing streak. And then a week later they anoint them as the Harlem Globetrotters after back to back wins. Gene Principe is a beauty but the rest of them are trainwrecks

 

[TheAngryHank]

Never seen HF so united.

 

[ZJuice]

Edmonton media is a strange bunch. They are so quick to trash the players in the midst of a three game losing streak. And then a week later they anoint them as the Harlem Globetrotters after back to back wins. Gene Principe is a beauty but the rest of them are trainwrecks

Spector is the worst for this. Then he will act like the turnaround was caused by his “tough questions” during the rough patch.