Worst Supporting Cast throughout a HOFer's Career

[Mohar Ikram]

Yeah- I know that he's widely considered a weak induction- but Leo Boivin's Boston squad in the first half of the 1960s... woof.

THEN he got traded to Detroit just in time to miss Orr.

THEN he got exposed and selected in the double-up expansion draft.

THEN he got traded to an even worse expansion team.

Not even the most tragic from both Detroit and Boston.

Bill Quackenbush is the player who got f***** up a lot in the timing.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

I can name at least 15 guys with whom he played who got Hart support during their career, and probably five of them getting that support while teammates with Karlsson...

I feel as if most of those names will be Sharks, mostly on their last hurrahs.

I think I could do 15 for Lundqvist:

Jagr, Shanahan, Drury, Näslund, Gaborik, Brad Richards, JT Miller, St Louis, Nash, Talbot, Danny Boyle, Yandle, Panarin, Fox, Shesterkin. I got to exactly 15 while learning Zibanejad never received a Hart vote.

Karlsson:
Alfredsson, Spezza, Kovalev, Cheechoo, Elliott, Gonchar, Bishop, Anderson, Stone, Hamburglar, Phaneuf, Duchene, Burns, Thornton, Pavelski, Marleau, Nyquist, Dubnyk, Reimer. I found 19 for Karlsson!

But if we remove goaltenders, there are 13 names who’ve received Hart votes at some point on both lists.

Price, for fun:
Kovalev, Lang, Gionta, Subban, Briere, Weber, Niemi, Kovalchuk, Perry, Staal. Yikes!

 

[wetcoast]

That doesn't mean he wasn't a top-15 defenseman in the NHL that whole time. You can't really count on voting records for much beyond the top-6. After that it really doesn't matter whether a guy is 7th, 12th or has no votes at all; it all means just about the same thing.

That's fair enough but does he really feel like a HHOF Dman any more than Ryan Suter is?

Certainly playing for 2 SC winners helps the case for Pietrangelo but this year it was defense by committee on the back end and he didn't have the traditional MPG of a #1 Dman in the playoffs.

But the HHOF has selected Kevin Lowe recently so inducting Alex wouldn't be the worse thing they ever did but to me he just seems like the top tier of Hall of very good at first blush.

 

[MXD]

I feel as if most of those names will be Sharks, mostly on their last hurrahs.

I think I could do 15 for Lundqvist:

Jagr, Shanahan, Drury, Näslund, Gaborik, Brad Richards, JT Miller, St Louis, Nash, Talbot, Danny Boyle, Yandle, Panarin, Fox, Shesterkin. I got to exactly 15 while learning Zibanejad never received a Hart vote.

Karlsson:
Alfredsson, Spezza, Kovalev, Cheechoo, Elliott, Gonchar, Bishop, Anderson, Stone, Hamburglar, Phaneuf, Duchene, Burns, Thornton, Pavelski, Marleau, Nyquist, Dubnyk, Reimer. I found 19 for Karlsson!

But if we remove goaltenders, there are 13 names who’ve received Hart votes at some point on both lists.

Price, for fun:
Kovalev, Lang, Gionta, Subban, Briere, Weber, Niemi, Kovalchuk, Perry, Staal. Yikes!

Antti Motherf***ing Niemi got Hart support?

 

[Michael Farkas]

Antti Motherf***ing Niemi got Hart support?

Ugh, yeah, 1 of 8 goalies in the 2013 season that got some...(he was 2nd with 11 pts)

 

[Ishdul]

To take a different angle to what I was asking with:



Almost by definition, I'm asking if any team has won the cup with only one HOF on the roster. STL in 2019 is the only team I can think of that likely will not have a single HOFer on it. For Vegas this past year, it's plausible that Jack Eichel eventually ends up in the HOF, and he's had a disastrous set of supporting casts over the years. Maybe Eichel will eventually fit the bill?

Any other teams that were led by a single HOFer to a cup win?

I know Andreychuk was also on their roster but and Lord knows I don't fully trust the Hall to keep out Richards or Lecavalier but I'd throw in the 2004 Lightning. St. Louis is the only likely Hall of Famer who was not completely toasted on that team.

 

[mrhockey193195]

I know Andreychuk was also on their roster but and Lord knows I don't fully trust the Hall to keep out Richards or Lecavalier but I'd throw in the 2004 Lightning. St. Louis is the only likely Hall of Famer who was not completely toasted on that team.

Great shout. In general, St. Louis didn't have the greatest support over the course of his career. Overlapped with Stamkos, and a bit of Hedman (pre-peak), but that's it in terms fo HOFers. Obviously he got Lecavalier, Richards, and Boyle in their peaks (all three at a HOF or HOF-lite level at their best), and nobody would say that the Lightning in 04 were a devoid of elite talent, but in terms of HOFers he's probably towards the "least support" end of the spectrum.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Paul Kariya?

For the longest time, he had only Selänne, and ancient versions of Kurri and Oates, briefly with the Ducks.

Then the failed cup chase in Colorado of course: add Sakic, Forsberg and Blake.

His time in Nashville is interesting, imagine if all those names were in their primes! Kariya got some games in with rookies Weber, Suter and Rinne, and reunited with one legged Foopa. I think at least Weber and Rinne will make the HoF, with Suter a long shot.

Finally St. Louis. There’s 16 games over two seasons with teenaged Pietrangelo and Keith Tkachuk at the fat end of his career, for Hall of Fame candidates.

 

[Staniowski]

Ken had to suffer through 2 entire seasons in his career where he didn't even win the Stanley Cup.

And there are rumours that during the Habs late '70s dynasty, Ken was occasionally subjected to a game where there were multiple shifts with no hall-of-fame Habs defensemen on the ice at all.

Those were tough times for Ken.

 

[Caps8112]

Backstrom will be in the HHOF. Ovechkin hasn't played with many stars, that's true. It's been him, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Carlson, and Green (when he was an offensive force).

That said, in the cap era you're less likely to find players who are playing with multiple HOFers. That's not unique to Ovechkin.

i came to post the same as the guy you replied too. Backstrom is mayyybbbee a hall of famer and that only happened in the last few years. There were many on here that would say he wasnt. Caps dont win the cup without Kuzys play that year but he hasnt repeated it. Green was all offense no defense. Carlson is a good number 1 but wont be an HOF. So basically its just Backstrom.

Ive also said this before that imo Ovi and Lundqvist took turns robbing each other of chances to do something special in the playoffs. At least on Ovis, end Lundqvist was the worst matchup for the caps every year because it was 100% on Ovi. Lundqvist easily stopped the rest of the caps.

 

[MadLuke]

Ken had to suffer through 2 entire seasons in his career where he didn't even win the Stanley Cup.

At least it is compensate by winning the cup without playing almost any game of the season.

he could have easily has many cups than season.

 

[Victorias]

i came to post the same as the guy you replied too. Backstrom is mayyybbbee a hall of famer and that only happened in the last few years. There were many on here that would say he wasnt. Caps dont win the cup without Kuzys play that year but he hasnt repeated it. Green was all offense no defense. Carlson is a good number 1 but wont be an HOF. So basically its just Backstrom.

Ive also said this before that imo Ovi and Lundqvist took turns robbing each other of chances to do something special in the playoffs. At least on Ovis, end Lundqvist was the worst matchup for the caps every year because it was 100% on Ovi. Lundqvist easily stopped the rest of the caps.

Don’t forget Holtby who won a Vezina, finished 2nd, and was one of the best playoff goalies of the Cap Era.