Toggle sidebar

Ray Whitney's Hall of Fame Case

As of today, there are 30 players with 1,000+ points not in the Hall. I think they can be categorized as follows:
  • Guaranteed HOFers (6) - Jagr, Ovechkin, Thornton, Iginla, Crosby, Malkin
  • Likely HOFers (5) - Hossa, Alfredsson, Elias, D. Sedin, H. Sedin
  • Borderline HOFers (7) - Turgeon, Marleau, Roenick, Tkachuk, Mogilny, Fleury, Brind'Amour
  • No case (12) - Whitney, Damphousse, Kovalev, Nicholls, Verbeek, Weight, Larmer, Taylor, Propp, Bellows, Smith, Hunter
In that last category, Whitney is, at a minimum, pretty clearly behind Damphousse, Kovalev and Larmer. So I don't think it's inaccurate to say that there are at least 20 other 1,000 point scorers with a better case for the Hall than him. Whitney is maybe a bit more qualified than Doug Weight and Brian Bellows, but that pretty clearly doesn't make him a Hall of Famer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wetcoast and Sentinel
Hockey Outsider said:
As of today, there are 30 players with 1,000+ points not in the Hall. I think they can be categorized as follows:
  • Guaranteed HOFers (6) - Jagr, Ovechkin, Thornton, Iginla, Crosby, Malkin
  • Likely HOFers (5) - Hossa, Alfredsson, Elias, D. Sedin, H. Sedin
  • Borderline HOFers (7) - Turgeon, Marleau, Roenick, Tkachuk, Mogilny, Fleury, Brind'Amour
  • No case (12) - Whitney, Damphousse, Kovalev, Nicholls, Verbeek, Weight, Larmer, Taylor, Propp, Bellows, Smith, Hunter
In that last category, Whitney is, at a minimum, pretty clearly behind Damphousse, Kovalev and Larmer. So I don't think it's inaccurate to say that there are at least 20 other 1,000 point scorers with a better case for the Hall than him. Whitney is maybe a bit more qualified than Doug Weight and Brian Bellows, but that pretty clearly doesn't make him a Hall of Famer.
Click to expand...

ouch, marleau ahead of damphousse and larmer?

what does whitney have on doug weight? i have him pretty solidly behind bellows too, but unquestionably weight is at least one level up imo.
 
vadim sharifijanov said:
ouch, marleau ahead of damphousse and larmer?

what does whitney have on doug weight? i have him pretty solidly behind bellows too, but unquestionably weight is at least one level up imo.
Click to expand...

Personally I think Marleau has zero HOF case but I'm preparing for the possibility of him getting inducted on the basis of scoring 550 goals, being a cornerstone in San Jose, and the Toronto connection. He's in the last tier in terms of how deserving he actually is.

Weight was definitely a better player at his peak but Whitney has a bit more longevity. Re-thinking it, I'm not even sure that Whitney had a better than Weight.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vadim sharifijanov
Hockey Outsider said:
Personally I think Marleau has zero HOF case but I'm preparing for the possibility of him getting inducted on the basis of scoring 550 goals, being a cornerstone in San Jose, and the Toronto connection. He's in the last tier in terms of how deserving he actually is.

Weight was definitely a better player at his peak but Whitney has a bit more longevity. Re-thinking it, I'm not even sure that Whitney had a better than Weight.
Click to expand...

Whitney was a lot more consistent as he aged than Weight, I think Weight had injury issues later in his career though. Weight definitely had higher peak.

Ray's career is really impressive when you consider his peak was in the DPE. Pretty seriously underrated skilled player. Nowhere near HOF though.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Sentinel
Nichols should in as should


Simmer
Rick Martin
Tim Kerr
John Leclair
Mogilny
John Tonelli
 
crobro said:
Nichols should in as should


Simmer
Rick Martin
Tim Kerr
John Leclair
Mogilny
John Tonelli
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about Nichols belonging forsure but he was the first guy I thought about when I saw the post Hockey Outsider has upthread.

Simmer has zero case probably even less than Whitney.

Rick Martin same thing although the quality of HHOF wingers from the 70s and 80s isn't that great on the lower end thus these threads.

Tim Kerr and Leclair not a very good case for either guy really.

I can see a case for Mogilny but he was inconsistent and wasn't the greatest playoff performer.

I always think that John Tonelli is under rated but aside from some weak wingers in the HHOF from the 70s and 80s not sure how strong his case is.
 
Hockey Outsider said:
As of today, there are 30 players with 1,000+ points not in the Hall. I think they can be categorized as follows:
  • Guaranteed HOFers (6) - Jagr, Ovechkin, Thornton, Iginla, Crosby, Malkin
  • Likely HOFers (5) - Hossa, Alfredsson, Elias, D. Sedin, H. Sedin
  • Borderline HOFers (7) - Turgeon, Marleau, Roenick, Tkachuk, Mogilny, Fleury, Brind'Amour
  • No case (12) - Whitney, Damphousse, Kovalev, Nicholls, Verbeek, Weight, Larmer, Taylor, Propp, Bellows, Smith, Hunter
In that last category, Whitney is, at a minimum, pretty clearly behind Damphousse, Kovalev and Larmer. So I don't think it's inaccurate to say that there are at least 20 other 1,000 point scorers with a better case for the Hall than him. Whitney is maybe a bit more qualified than Doug Weight and Brian Bellows, but that pretty clearly doesn't make him a Hall of Famer.
Click to expand...
Kovalev has a case based on his wizardly skills.

And based on the recent inductions, I wouldn't be surprised if he got in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sentinel
I'll say no Hall of Fame case for Whitney.....the eyeball test I gave his numbers didn't give me anything that jumped out etc.
 
What is the argument for Whitney being a Hall of Famer? Scoring 1,000 points is impressive but that shouldn't by itself be a benchmark. There's lots of players with over 1,000 points who are not inducted. What other case is there for Whitney?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Anton13 and DitchMarner
His HHOF case will be short and sour. A resounding "no."

Plus, gimme a break! Doug Weight was a much better player than Ray Whitney.
 
Hockey Outsider said:
As of today, there are 30 players with 1,000+ points not in the Hall. I think they can be categorized as follows:
  • Guaranteed HOFers (6) - Jagr, Ovechkin, Thornton, Iginla, Crosby, Malkin
  • Likely HOFers (5) - Hossa, Alfredsson, Elias, D. Sedin, H. Sedin
  • Borderline HOFers (7) - Turgeon, Marleau, Roenick, Tkachuk, Mogilny, Fleury, Brind'Amour
  • No case (12) - Whitney, Damphousse, Kovalev, Nicholls, Verbeek, Weight, Larmer, Taylor, Propp, Bellows, Smith, Hunter
In that last category, Whitney is, at a minimum, pretty clearly behind Damphousse, Kovalev and Larmer. So I don't think it's inaccurate to say that there are at least 20 other 1,000 point scorers with a better case for the Hall than him. Whitney is maybe a bit more qualified than Doug Weight and Brian Bellows, but that pretty clearly doesn't make him a Hall of Famer.
Click to expand...

He has no case at all. Whitney is just basically a trivia question when it comes down to the 1,000 point thing. Never an elite player, in fact the one season he was a 2nd team all-star was 2012, and there are few seasons in NHL history that were worse offensive years than that.

Out of the 12 guys who have no case for the HHOF that have 1,000 points he is noticeably behind Nicholls, Propp, Taylor, Damphousse, Larmer, Smith and Kovalev. Weight too to be honest. Bellows, Hunter and Verbeek.............if I were to pick a player on my team I can't even say I'd want Whitney for sure over any of them.
 
Never once did I think "there's a future hall of famer" watching Whitney play. Never even crossed my mind. If anything, his late career peak was surprising because his career had been pretty utilitarian prior to.

I don't want to throw him completely under the bus but the guy was a classic (maybe even THE prototype) bad team scorer until he played in Carolina.

Check out his playoff numbers too. Does 53 points in 108 games from a forward who brought little else besides his production sound like HHOF numbers to you?
 
Big Phil said:
He has no case at all. Whitney is just basically a trivia question when it comes down to the 1,000 point thing. Never an elite player, in fact the one season he was a 2nd team all-star was 2012, and there are few seasons in NHL history that were worse offensive years than that.

Out of the 12 guys who have no case for the HHOF that have 1,000 points he is noticeably behind Nicholls, Propp, Taylor, Damphousse, Larmer, Smith and Kovalev. Weight too to be honest. Bellows, Hunter and Verbeek.............if I were to pick a player on my team I can't even say I'd want Whitney for sure over any of them.
Click to expand...
Whitney is a funny caee, I bet he is the most anonymous player to 1000 points, playing in AHL in the beinning, hitting waivers and being borderline NHL, well as St Louis, but St Louis had remarkabke play and dangels and skills to display,along with cups, art ross, hogh point totals,.and said being a great leader. Whitney was said being laidback and a good glueguy. Hos point totals where always between 65-85 points, I recalling 85pt being hos high totals, wich is probably the lowest careeryear of all HoF, maybe except Dale Hunter, who is together with Whitney the most unexpected 1000 point scorers in NHL. Even if Paul Kariya didnt play a full career, he smashed in goals and points! And still being beat in points by those two! There has been thousends of players in NHL, and Whitney and Dale Hunter is top 100 in points, is just bonkers. Peter Forsberg is also being beat in poi ts by Hunter and Whitney.
 
Yeah, it was questionable for several years whether Whitney would even be able to be a good NHLer. Played junior with Falloon, who was the bigger prospect, of course, and the comparisons between them was a topic of discussion for quite a while. But you've gotta admire Whitney's career...played well, and into his 40s.

Despite his career points, though, he has no chance of making the Hall.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Anton13
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom