GMRwings1983

So he'd fit in nicely in Detroit.

We should sign him.

Both. When I think of the spirit of the topic, I think of whether it was a bust for the team or not. Not sure why "bust" has to be related to whose fault it was.

Would Meech belong on this list? Or was he someone no one ever expected much from?

I dare any poster here to project into the future and name a current highly thought of prospect that will be on this list in 20 years. Maybe we'll revisit in the future and laugh.

That is a pretty good deal. Holland must have brought Luca Brasi to the negotiating table.

Troy Crowder played for the Wings in 1992. That was outside the 20 year mark the OP talked about. If you're going to count him, then how do you not count Keith Primeau? From what I remember, he had a pretty s***ty attitude about playing in the minors, or something of that nature. Just like with Joseph, it wasn't his fault, but the end result was a bust. We obtained a physical player that did what was asked of him, but our coach and GM couldn't wait to get rid of him. Even Triple H never buried someone as hard as Babcock buried Tootoo. I thought about him, but left him off because of his numbers. Then again, the final result was disappointing. Maybe it wasn't Joseph's fault that we had Hitler as our coach and couldn't score, but the end result of the Joseph era was indeed a bust.

I forgot Eric Cole. May need to edit the list.

Whitney - Modano - Grigorenko Leino - Weiss - Bertuzzi Kopecky - Williams - Kohn Cole - Legwand - Tootoo Kuznetsov - Hatcher Golubovsky - Krupp Wallin - Smith Ranford Gustavsson No Derian Hatcher? That was one of the first names I thought of. I remember how excited I was when we got him and then the injury happened.

Is Zetterberg really a left winger? He's played center for what seems like more than half his career.

That's kind of my point. If only five or six forwards from the last 15 years of hockey get into the HHOF, that doesn't seem right. No other era had so few Hall of Famers. The voters will have to change their stance eventually, especially after every 1,000 point player from the 80's is voted in. Hossa and Zetterberg never won the Selke, though. Datsyuk won three. Outside of Fedorov, I don't remember any player finishing top 5 in scoring and also winning the Selke trophy. Hossa will likely get in because of the point totals and the three Cups. Zetterberg likely won't get in.

So how many players post 2002 (Datsyuk's first season) would fit that category? I can only think of a handful. I agree HOF should be for the elite, but Datsyuk was an elite player for many years. The only centers in his era that I would rank above him for sure would be Crosby and Thornton. They're not as good defensively, but their point totals and offensive consistency is far better than Datsyuk's.

But does Datsyuk have low scoring when you compare it to the era? If so, it certainly wouldn't be as low as Carbonneau's scoring was relative to his peers who were all putting up absurd numbers.

Carbonneau played in a higher scoring era and never scored 60 points in his career. He scored around .50 PPG for his career. He was great defensively, but he's not comparable to Datsyuk.

My point was that this is the dead puck era, and I can only see Crosby and Ovechkin hitting 1,000 points (among players who entered the league post 2002). The HOF can't just let in two or three players from this entire era.

Datsyuk was regarded as the best two-way center in the game for several seasons. I don't remember Richards ever being looked at similarly. I think you could build a team around a prime Datsyuk as your number one center. I wouldn't build a team around a prime Richards.

And most (if not all) of those players came into the league before Datsyuk.

The difference is Datsyuk was one of the best centers in the league for many years. Can't say the same for Richards. He was never a superstar player.

I've been through this before on the forum. If they only allow 1,000 point players in, there will be almost no players entering the HOF in 10 or 20 years. There are few players that entered the league in 2002 and beyond that will hit 1,000 points. You can't only let Ovechkin and Crosby in the HOF. The standards will change because there is no choice. How so? I don't remember him doing much in the playoffs, other than scoring one big goal in the 2003 playoffs.

Selanne and Brodeur will make it. Alfredsson, Kariya, St. Louis and Datsyuk will make it. I'm guessing accumulators like Andreychuk and Recchi will make it. Roenick will likely get in as well.

Not sure what your point is. Bergeron is also better defensively than Gretzky or Lemieux. When you're scoring 200 points in a season, nobody cares about Selke awards. Not to mention, being a two-way center wasn't as important in the 80's. What Fedorov did in 1994 was impressive and has only been approached by Datsyuk when he scored 95+ points in back to back seasons while winning the Selke. But that point alone doesn't mean Ilitch should drop what he's doing and put him in the rafters. Like I and others mentioned, Fedorov leaving the way he did screwed him over. Nobody is arguing about his skills or awards.

Who is this Steve Yzerman guy that was ranked first? I wish we had a GM like him, or at least a person with his capabilities in the organization.

Number 1 in terms of quotes with excuses, however.

Can we all agree that if Stu Grimson's 32 isn't retired, nobody else's number should be? 81GP (including playoffs) 1G 1A 191PIMs

Was he ever even a top 5 center in the game? Top 10?