Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Hall Worthy In Detroit

06/24/2020 at 9:19am EDT

from Greg Wyshynski of ESPN,

We applied this test to all 31 NHL teams, looking at players (active and alumni), coaches and execs who are locks for the Hall, those whose candidacy can be debated and those who need a few more years to percolate before we know if they're Hall-worthy....

Top candidate: Pavel Datsyuk, C

We're higher on Datsyuk than some. His candidacy is a lot like Bergeron's. He had three consecutive Selke Trophy wins and was a six-time finalist as a prototypical defensive forward, and has two Stanley Cup rings. He has a 0.98 points-per-game average but fell short of 1,000 points for his career before shuffling off to the KHL. Does his offensive explosiveness make up for that lack of flashy stats?

Up for debate: Henrik Zetterberg, C

Zetterberg has two quadrants locked down: His contributions to the Red Wings, with whom he played 1,082 games and had 960 points, capturing the Conn Smythe in 2008. But he never got the respect for his defensive game that he deserved during his career, playing in Steve Yzerman's and then Datsyuk's Selke shadow.

Give him a few years: Dylan Larkin, C

That 32-goal season in 2018-19 showed some considerable offensive upside. He turns 24 in July, and hopefully gets surrounded by players who can help him fulfill that promise in Detroit.

the other teams...

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Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.

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