Recchi not elected to HOF?

[activestick]

How is that possible?  And how is Lindros elected over him?  I don't get it.

[mojo1917]

I think Recchi will have his day I think the numbers are on his side and all he did was win everywhere he played. He was never the face of the league or the best player in the league.  He had a very good, long career.

 

That said, there was a time where for 3 years there wasn't a player close to being as good as Lindros, those seasons he was head and shoulders the best player in the league.

I know all of his short comings.  I also recognize he was one of a kind, speed, power, skill with a nasty streak.  Had he ever learned to skate with his head up, he would have had a longer peak or at least not such a severe drop off in production and this conversation would be moot.As it is his numbers especially his points per game make him a borderline case that with different luck would be a shoo in. 

[murraycraven]

I love Recchi and truly one of my favorite players of all time.  He will get his day but I do think he got screwed again - 12th scorer all-time? he should have been given the green-light 

[OccamsRazor]

52 minutes ago, murraycraven said:

I love Recchi and truly one of my favorite players of all time.  He will get his day but I do think he got screwed again - 12th scorer all-time? he should have been given the green-light 

 

 

Yeah hard to leave him out. 3 Cups with 3 different teams. Hard to do.

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

It's a farce that the man child got in before Recchi. 

[King Knut]

On June 27, 2016 at 3:59 PM, activestick said:

How is that possible?  And how is Lindros elected over him?  I don't get it.

Hasnt Lindros been been eligible far longer? 

 

No matter how you slice it both deserve to be in. 

 

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

Eric can kiss my ass. He deserves nothing.

[King Knut]

On June 27, 2016 at 4:30 PM, mojo1917 said:

I think Recchi will have his day I think the numbers are on his side and all he did was win everywhere he played. He was never the face of the league or the best player in the league.  He had a very good, long career.

 

That said, there was a time where for 3 years there wasn't a player close to being as good as Lindros, those seasons he was head and shoulders the best player in the league.

I know all of his short comings.  I also recognize he was one of a kind, speed, power, skill with a nasty streak.  Had he ever learned to skate with his head up, he would have had a longer peak or at least not such a severe drop off in production and this conversation would be moot.As it is his numbers especially his points per game make him a borderline case that with different luck would be a shoo in. 

 

I still blame Clarke and the coaches for...

 

a) not actually working with him on what he needed as a player. (Aka skating with his head up, not skating full force into abuse just because he was bigger than everyone else). 

 

b) not protecting him. He was a generational player.  They traded so many key assets to get him.  Yet they let him fight all his own battles and never enforced against players that chose to do him harm (and he was a target for the likes of Kasparitis and Ulfie and many others from the start). They didn't let Gretzky or Lemieux or Crosby (God help us all) or even The almighty Clarkie himself endure one hundredth the night in and night out abuse Lindroskindros had to put up with. Skating with his head up? Important no doubt. But it doesn't account for ALL the head hits, the knee and certainly not the damn puncture lung! Yeah he was big and tough, but for god's sake he was an enormous investment!  Get some insurance on that Range Rover dude!

 

c) hanging him out to dry when it got tough. Stand by your man dude!  You gave up so much for him and he was amazing.  Clarkie just shrugged and let Eric deal with the press and the angst and the agent and the microscope because Clarke thought that's what he did when he was a player.  He didn't.  It wasn't like that then and he should have known. 

 

[ruxpin]

2 hours ago, King Knut said:

 

I still blame Clarke and the coaches for...

 

a) not actually working with him on what he needed as a player. (Aka skating with his head up, not skating full force into abuse just because he was bigger than everyone else). 

 

b) not protecting him. He was a generational player.  They traded so many key assets to get him.  Yet they let him fight all his own battles and never enforced against players that chose to do him harm (and he was a target for the likes of Kasparitis and Ulfie and many others from the start). They didn't let Gretzky or Lemieux or Crosby (God help us all) or even The almighty Clarkie himself endure one hundredth the night in and night out abuse Lindroskindros had to put up with. Skating with his head up? Important no doubt. But it doesn't account for ALL the head hits, the knee and certainly not the damn puncture lung! Yeah he was big and tough, but for god's sake he was an enormous investment!  Get some insurance on that Range Rover dude!

 

c) hanging him out to dry when it got tough. Stand by your man dude!  You gave up so much for him and he was amazing.  Clarkie just shrugged and let Eric deal with the press and the angst and the agent and the microscope because Clarke thought that's what he did when he was a player.  He didn't.  It wasn't like that then and he should have known. 

 

Quite possibly the best defense of Lindros I've ever read. Great post. 

 

[Polaris922]

5 hours ago, King Knut said:

 

I still blame Clarke and the coaches for...

 

a) not actually working with him on what he needed as a player. (Aka skating with his head up, not skating full force into abuse just because he was bigger than everyone else). 

 

b) not protecting him. He was a generational player.  They traded so many key assets to get him.  Yet they let him fight all his own battles and never enforced against players that chose to do him harm (and he was a target for the likes of Kasparitis and Ulfie and many others from the start). They didn't let Gretzky or Lemieux or Crosby (God help us all) or even The almighty Clarkie himself endure one hundredth the night in and night out abuse Lindroskindros had to put up with. Skating with his head up? Important no doubt. But it doesn't account for ALL the head hits, the knee and certainly not the damn puncture lung! Yeah he was big and tough, but for god's sake he was an enormous investment!  Get some insurance on that Range Rover dude!

 

c) hanging him out to dry when it got tough. Stand by your man dude!  You gave up so much for him and he was amazing.  Clarkie just shrugged and let Eric deal with the press and the angst and the agent and the microscope because Clarke thought that's what he did when he was a player.  He didn't.  It wasn't like that then and he should have known. 

 

 

A)  they constantly worked with Lindros.  I remember interviews where they commented that keeping his head up was always discussed but that the abuse came with how he plays the game.  To take that away would be to castrate him.  

 

B)  not protecting him?  Other than Gretzky the first half of your paragraph is fiction.  The Pens and the league suck at protecting star players.  And other than one fight with McSorley, it's not like league goons went after him.  The hitting?  That's been done to ALL of them except Gretzky.  Never understood how he was so well protected but nobody else could be . 

 

C)  I'll concede that one.  I didn't see the daily media grind for myself only the national stuff.  

 

Regardless i I think it's a joke that he got voted in when Recchi and Andreychuk did not.  I've always said Lindros was a borderline entry.  Was a potent player but short tenured.  So I can understand him getting in at some point, but those two were much better selections in my mind. 

[DaGreatGazoo]

Is the waiting period for the HOF still 5 years?  If so, I can SORT OF understand why Recchi didn't get in---it's his 1st year of eligibility.  He retired in 2011.  

 

I'm not sure hockey HOF voters think like other sports, but most sports reserve 1st ballot for complete shoe-ins(like Griffey Jr in baseball).  Of course, one can argue that Recchi is a shoe-in, I'll concede that.

 

Lindros getting in should have happened before this year.  It was a thinner class than normal, so it made sense this would be his year.  

 

I'd bet the farm that Recchi gets in next year.  

[King Knut]

7 hours ago, Polaris922 said:

 

A)  they constantly worked with Lindros.  I remember interviews where they commented that keeping his head up was always discussed but that the abuse came with how he plays the game.  To take that away would be to castrate him.  

 

B)  not protecting him?  Other than Gretzky the first half of your paragraph is fiction.  The Pens and the league suck at protecting star players.  And other than one fight with McSorley, it's not like league goons went after him.  The hitting?  That's been done to ALL of them except Gretzky.  Never understood how he was so well protected but nobody else could be . 

 

C)  I'll concede that one.  I didn't see the daily media grind for myself only the national stuff.  

 

Regardless i I think it's a joke that he got voted in when Recchi and Andreychuk did not.  I've always said Lindros was a borderline entry.  Was a potent player but short tenured.  So I can understand him getting in at some point, but those two were much better selections in my mind. 

 

 

I think we'll have to respectfully disagree on a few points.  Crosby had "other" protection that I won't get into, but most star players on most teams, if you took a run at them, you had to answer for it.  It took until after Eric had concussion issued for anyone to stand up for him when he took a nasty hit.  That's something any intelligent club does for its superstar generational player and it's something teammates are supposed to do regardless.   Some say he wasn't a good teammate and that's why no one stood up for him.  I call BS on that too because who cares?  He's your best chance at winning.  Yo stand up for him and make people think twice about taking runs at him.  

 

Means if you think the likes of Mario or sellane or Karyia and Jagr had to put up with the kind of abuse Eric did, you're dreaming in a deep deep sleep. 

 

Even Messier, his idol would throw hard hits and take them in return, but he was never EVER just a strait up marked man. 

 

Many teams had players devoted to this. There were entire lines on some teams that had no goal other than to take Lindros out of the game. 

 

I'll that there's a thin line between ruining his game and not skating full force into abuse. 

 

I left out that I think the league and officials bear a heavy burden of guilt as well. 

 

Consistently Lindros had to deal with far worse and more than hard body checks.

 

In my opinion, he and Forseberg account for 50% of the cause of a decade or more of "clutch and grab hockey"(the other half being the inability of most of the league to play the ever loved "trap" without cheating).  

 

Hate on him for many reasons if you want, but let's not create a r vision its history about what he went through on the ice.  He wasn't injured all the time and shortened his career because of some genetic or character default.  He was openly abused for his entire all steer in orange and black. 

 

Incant disagree about Recchi. Dude was a star for far longer than should have been possible and a class act the whole time. 

 

 

[aziz]

12 hours ago, Polaris922 said:

B)  not protecting him?  Other than Gretzky the first half of your paragraph is fiction.  The Pens and the league suck at protecting star players.  And other than one fight with McSorley, it's not like league goons went after him.  The hitting?  That's been done to ALL of them except Gretzky.  Never understood how he was so well protected but nobody else could be . 

 

mario lemieux was the only reason jay caufield was in the NHL.

[Polaris922]

9 hours ago, aziz said:

 

mario lemieux was the only reason jay caufield was in the NHL.

 

And look how well he protected him.  So well he rarely saw the ice. So well Lemieux took abuse game in game out.  So well they bought up McSorley trying to fix the problem.   That was laughable as well.  

 

Sorry gents.  Maybe we all see the lacking in our teams that way, but Lemieux took plenty of abuse without anyone paying a price.  Ask Adam Graves what the price was for breaking Lemieux's wrist.  

 

Crosby, Jagr...  Same deal.  The closest thing Jagr and Lemieux had was the threat of a Samuelsson or Kasparaitis retaliation.   Lindros was in the same boat.  

 

Now one I know a Flyers fan can't see it that way, because the NHL loves us, favors us, etc etc.   but it's truth.