Players on Whom Public Opinion Has Changed Drastically Since Retirement...

[57special]

Ya, circa 1960 I think Richard as the greatest player of all time would have been the most popular opinion.

Even into the 90s, Richard ahead of anyone but the Big Four was common. He finished 5th on the Hockey News list and 3rd on Bowman's list. Certainly, reading contemporary opinion he's treated with near religious reverence.

As someone who grew up in Montreal in during the 60's, it was always the Rocket, then everyone else. As great as his on ice accomplishments were, they were overshadowed by what he meant as a symbol to Francophones Quebecers, so that it was impossible to separate the two, at least back then. It was always my biggest regret that I was too young to have seen him play in person.

Bobby Hull's superstardom was tarnished both by his "defection" to the WHA, and when some of his off ice behavior came to light. He was huge during the 60's... very exciting.

 

[The Pale King]

I'll throw two names into the mix that I think illustrate an interesting point about public perception: Marc Tardif and Wayne Gretzky.
Both guys bolted from big Canadian hockey cities and headed to Los Angeles (Tardif from the Canadiens to the Los Angeles Sharks of the WHA, before settling in with the Nordiques where he would forge his legacy, and we're all familiar with Gretzky's path).

Marc has a few monster seasons there before he really takes off and scores 154 points in 1977-78, a then professional hockey record. He would certainly be remembered more fondly if he'd done what he did in the NHL rather than the WHA. But my point being that the different acronyms people associate themselves with have a huge effect on legacy. Gretzky comes along a couple years later and shatters Tardif's records in the NHL, and that kind of closes the book on Tardif's legacy for some. Does Tardif regret bolting to the WHA? Has he commented on this?

But in my mind those two guys are inseparable now: I think Tardif, I think Gretzky. I've got to wonder how people will look back at Wayne Gretzky in light of all the recent talk about Tardif and Tardif's records, particularly his HHOF case. Marc was still very solid when he came to the NHL for a few seasons to end his career but obviously his prime was in a league most people have forgotten about, in the same way that people forget than Wayne came up in the WHA. And obviously now Wayne is inseparably associated to another league and another acronym and that of course affects his legacy in a huge way.

 

[carjackmalone]

Rocket Richard was the seed that started the quebecois movement

If there were no Richard riots Quebec would be majority English today

The muhammed Ali of hockey