A case for Marty Barry.
Goal scoring
While slightly below the highest level of 1930s goal scorers (e.g. Charlie Conacher), Barry was certainly one of the elite of his generation. At his peak he was a top-3 goal scorer and he was solidly top-10 throughout his prime, bearing in mind that many of the guys ahead of him were wingers. Among centers, he places behind only Nels Stewart as a goal scorer during his prime (1930-37). And Stewart bounced around the lineup quite a bit, so it's not entirely certain that Barry wasn't the leading goal-scorer from the actual center position during this period. In the mid-30s, Barry took Boston's 1C position directly over Stewart, bearing in mind they were only 3 years separated in age.
It's one of those "Stastny was the 2nd highest scorer of the 80s" type stats, but one of the feathers in his cap is that he was 1st in points, 1st in assists, and 2nd in goals for the 10-year span from 1930-31 to 1939-40. Yes, those rankings look slightly worse if you shift the timeframe by a year or two -- but only
slightly worse (more like 2nd than 1st). He was legitimately a top scorer leaguewide for an entire decade, with only Nels Stewart being in his range as a long-term compiler.
Barry is one of the rare cases where a high-scoring C scores more goals than assists. It's not that he was a bad playmaker (he's tied for 5th in assists during his prime) but he was deadly as a shooter.
High Peak, Strong Prime
His peak season saw him win the 1AS, the retro-Smythe, the Byng, and a 5th place Hart finish. His 5th, 6th, 7th best seasons still had him as a
very good top-line centerman.
Notwithstanding his final season before retirement, Barry's only really weak showing came in 1938, when he fell to 27th in scoring (8-team league). Going into the following season, Jack Adams talked about shifting Barry to defense and finally settled on using him as a "center captain", meaning he would play on the 1st line with flexibility to double-shift on whatever line needed a playmaker at the moment. Barry responded with a bounce-back season. If he had played 60 years later, it's conceivable that he might have had a Modano-like second prime as a more rounded defensive presence -- that's the direction he was headed when he called it quits at age 34, which was not out of place for that era.
Consistency
Barry's scoring stayed remarkably consistent under a wide variety of conditions.
- In the early 1930s, playing on the second line behind a peak Cooney Weiland, he was good for a solid 20 goals.
- In the mid-30s he was the pivot of the Bruins' top line and good for 20-25 goals and 35-40 points regardless of whether the team was a contender or an also-ran.
- Traded to Detroit, he immediately led a 1st place team in goal scoring. The following season, he set a new career high in assists as his linemate Larry Aurie led the league in goal scoring. Even when over the hill, he led the Wings in scoring at age 33 (over a prime-aged Syd Howe).
Durability
A big part of Barry's success as a compiler was his iron-man status. At one point he missed only 2 games out of 470, over a span of 10 years. His constant availability in the lineup was a stabilizing factor in what at times were chaotic situations in Boston and Detroit.
Leadership
Barry was one of the "forgotten" captains in Boston that were identified by
@Puckstruck. Inexplicably, the Bruins do not recognize this officially. He was also captain in Detroit. Barry was known as a quiet, lead-by-example type. This goes back to his consistency and durability. When a guy is out there in the trenches every night, he doesn't necessarily need to shout in order for others to follow him.
Playoffs
His ATD bio notes that Barry scored as much in the playoffs as the regular season, making him an exception to the rule during his era.
Unlike some of the other 1930s Bruins, Barry was able to break through the "playoff underachiever" label by immediately winning two consecutive Stanley Cups after joining the Wings.
In 1937, Barry led the playoffs in all three scoring categories, winning the retro-Smythe per both the HHOF and THN projects. Given that he scored over 50% more than the next-nearest player (11 - 7), this one has to be up there among the top playoff runs of the era.
Barry also led the 1930 Bruins (as a rookie) and 1933 Bruins in playoff scoring. The black mark on his record is being shut out over 4 games in 1935; the Bruins as a whole scored only 2 goals in that series. Notably, Barry did not receive credit for a secondary assist on one of those goals, the 2OT winner in Game 1. The rest of the series he was shadowed closely by Frank Finnigan and the Bruins as a whole couldn't get anything going.
Summary
Barry is by no means a complete player. He doesn't give you much defense, and his playmaking was probably about average for a top center.
But he
does give you a reasonably well-rounded case for this stage of the project: he was a truly elite goal scorer (especially for the center) and the center pivot of some very good lines on very good teams, one of the most durable and consistent players ever, and one of the better playoff performers we'll see in this range.