The Back Check

Episode Notes Part 1 of 3 on the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 1966, featuring Toe Blake: 1934-48; 14 seasons, 12 quality Totals: 235G (7th All Time at his retirement), 294A (2nd All Time at his retirement - Cowley) for  529P (t-2nd All Time at his retirement - Cowley) in 577 Games (18th All Time at his retirement); 52.6 Point Shares (25th All time at his retirement); At his retirement, Blake was 1...

Episode Notes Turk Broda: 1936-43, 1945-52; 14 seasons, 11 as a starter, 1 as a 1A Totals: 304W (1st All Time at his retirement - held the record from 1950 to 1958) 222L (2nd All Time at his retirement) 102T (19th All time, 1st All Time at his retirement - held the record from 1949 to 1955); 61 SO (6th All Time at his retirement); 120.4 PS (1st All Time at his retirement - held the record from 195...

Episode Notes Bill Cowley’s Career: NHL: 1934-47; 13 years, 11 quality by modern standards of PPG Totals: 195G (16th All Time at his retirement), 354A (1st All Time at his retirement, by 62, i.e. 21% more than 2nd - held the record from 1943-44 to 1950-51) for 549P (1st All Time at his retirement - held the record from 1946-47 to 1950-51) in 549 Games (t-25th All Time at his retirement); 57.1 Poin...

Episode Notes Babe Dye: 1921-1931; 11 seasons, 8 quality Totals: 201G (3rd All Time at his retirement - Denneny, Morenz), 47A for 248P (4th - Denneny, Morenz, Noble) in 271 games (13th); 46.6 PS (10th) At his retirement, Dye was 5th All Time in Offensive Point Shares (Morenz, Nels Stewart, Joliat, Denneny) Per Game: Dye is 4th All Time in GPG (Bossy, Lemieux, Denneny) Dye doesn’t qualify for the A...

Episode Notes Sid Abel: 1938-43, 1946-54; 14 seasons, 9 quality Totals: 188G, 284A (t-8th All Time at his retirement) for 472P (17th All Time at his retirement) in 612 Games (20th All Time at his retirement); 49.4 Point Shares; Per Game: Abel doesn’t quality for the PG leaderboards but, if the qualifiers are lowered so that he does (175G, 275A, 450P), at his retirement Abel was T-6th All Time in A...

Episode Notes Gordon Roberts: 1909-16; 7 seasons, 6 quality Totals: 124G (7th All Time), 25A (t-6th All Time) for 149P (7th All Time) in 107 Games (9th All Time) Per Game (minimum 82 games): 6th All Time in GPG 3rd All Time in APG (Sprague Cleghorn, Malone) 3rd All Time in PPG (Pitre, Hyland) 24-game average: 28G, 6A for 33P 3-year peak (1913-16): 24-game average of 31G, 10A for 51P Playoffs: 0P i...

Episode Notes Jean Beliveau:  1950-51, 1952-71; 20 seasons, 18 quality Totals: 507G (4th All Time at his retirement - Howe, Hull, Richard), 712A (3rd All Time at his retirement - Howe, Delvecchio) for 1219P (2nd All Time at his retirement - Howe), +117 (t-21st All Time at his retirement) in 1125 games (16th All Time at his retirement); 138.1 PS (3rd All Time at his retirement - Howe, Kelly); Beliv...

Episode Notes The Hall of Fame Class of 1972 is so big - featuring 3 All Time Greats - we had to split it up into two episodes. In Part 1: Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion: 1950-64, 1966-68; 16 seasons, 14 quality Totals: 393G (3rd All Time at his first retirement - Howe, Richard), 429A (12th All Time at his first retirement) for 822P (5th All Time at his first retirement - Howe, Richard, Li...

Episode Notes Doug Harvey: 1947-64, 1966-67, 1968-69; 19 seasons, 17 seasons Totals: 88G (21st/13th D All Time at his first retirement), 452A (2nd/1st D All Time at his first retirement - Kelly)  for 540P (4th/2nd D All Time at his first retirement - ), +46* (13th/12th D All Time at his first retirement) in 1113 Games (4th All Time at his first retirement - Howe, Gadsby, Kelly); 123.2 Point Shares...

Episode Notes Bill Burch: 1922-33; 11 seasons, 5 quality by modern standard of PPG Totals: 136G (10th All Time at his retirement) 60A for 196P (14th All Time at his retirement) in 390 Games (t-7th All Time at his retirement); 40.2 PS (18th All Time at his retirement); At his retirement, Burch was 12th All Time in Offensive Point Shares Among Forwards, Burch was t-17th All Time in Defensive Point S...

Episode Notes George Armstrong: NHL: 1949-71; 21 seasons, 15 quality Totals: 296G (16th All Time at his retirement), 417A (20th All Time at his retirement) for 713P (16th All Time at his retirement), +101 in 1188 Games (11th All Time at his retirement); 66 Point Shares; Among Forwards, Armstrong was 12th/10th All Time in Defensive Point Shares at his retirement Per Game: Not in the Top 25 at his r...

Episode Notes Johnny Bower: 1953-55, 1956-57, 1958-70, 15 seasons, 9 as a starter, 2 as a 1A, 4 as a backup (or injured) Totals: 250W (9th All Time at his retirement), 192L (12th All Time at his retirement), 90T (7th All Time at his retirement), 37 Shutouts (17th All Time at his retirement) in 31989 Minutes (8th All Time at his retirement) over 552 Games (8th All Time at his retirement); 104.3 Poi...

Episode Notes Alex Delvecchio: 1950-74; 24 seasons, 21 quality Totals: 456G (9th All Time at his retirement), 825A (2nd All Time at his retirement - Howe) for 1281P (2nd All Time at his retirement - Howe), +24 in 1550 Games (16th All Time, 2nd at his retirement - Howe); 123.5 Point Shares (7th All Time at his retirement); At his retirement, Delvecchio was 7th All Time in Offensive Point Shares At...

Episode Notes Andy Bathgate: 1952-71 Totals: 349G (11th All Time at his retirement), 624A (4th All Time at his retirement - Howe, Delvecchio, Beliveau) for 973P (6th All Time at his retirement), -60* in 1069 Games (19th All Time at his retirement); 91.8 Point Shares (23rd All Time at his retirement); At his retirement, Bathgate was 12th All Time in Offensive Point Shares Per Game: At his retiremen...

Episode Notes Harry Howell: 1952-1973, 21 seasons, all quality Totals: 94G (20th* D All Time at his departure to the WHA), 324A (9th* D All Time at his departure) for 418P (10th* D All Time at his departure), -152* (2nd? Worst All Time at his departure) in 1411 Games (3rd All Time at his departure, 1st D); 87.6 Point Shares (13th* D All Time at his retirement); At his departure to the WHA, Howell...

Episode Notes Harry Lumley: 1943-60, 16 seasons, 13 quality Totals: 330W (1st All Time at his retirement) 239L (10th All Time, 1st at his retirement) 142T (7th All Time, 1st at his retirement); 71 Shutouts (12th All Time; t-5th at his retirement) 133.6 Point Shares (19th Goalie All Time, 1st at his retirement); -22.3 Goals Saved Above Average (only 17% of his Games - 2nd last of only 7 goalies at...

Episode Notes Johnny Bucyk: 1955-78; 23 seasons, 20 quality Totals: 556G (4th All Time at his retirement - Howe, Esposito, Hull), 813A (4th All Time at his retirement - Howe, Mikita, Delvecchio) for 1369P (4th All Time at his retirement - Howe, Esposito, Mikita), -7; 122.4 Point Shares (12th All Time at his retirement); 1540 Games (17th All Time, 3rd at his retirement - Howe, Delvecchio) At his re...

Episode Notes Real Cloutier: 1979-85, 6 seasons, 4 quality Totals: 146G, 198A for 344P, +16 in 318 Games Era: Of the hundreds of skaters to play in at least 318 Games between 1979 and 1985, Cloutier is 60th in Goals 31st in GPG (doesn’t qualify) 75th in Assists 34th in APG (doesn’t qualify) 65th in Points 24th in PPG (doesn’t qualify) T-128th in Plus/Minus t-50th in Offensive Point Shares Not in t...

Episode Notes Yvan Cournoyer: 1963-79, 16 seasons, 12 quality Totals: 428G (12th All Time at his retirement), 435A for 863P (17th All Time at his retirement) +254 (18th All Time at his retirement) in 968 Games; Cournoyer was 22nd All Time in Offensive Point Shares at his retirement Per Game: At his retirement, Cournoyer was T-24th All Time in GPG Era: Of the 22 skaters to play at least 902 games b...

Episode Notes Who is the Greatest Left Wing of All Time? Well, it's Bobby Hull or it's Alex Ovechkin. So who did we choose? And how else round out our Top 10 LWs of All Time? Find out more at https://the-back-check.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Stan Mikita: 1958-80; 22 seasons, 19 quality Totals: 541G (6th All Time at his retirement) 926A (18th All Time, 2nd All Time at his retirement - Howe) for 1467P (15th All Time, 3rd All Time at his retirement - Howe, Esposito) +329 (20th All Time, 10th at his retirement) 1394 games (7th at his retirement); 143.5 PS (5th at his retirement - Howe, Esposito, Orr, Kelly); Mikita is 22nd A...

Episode Notes Jacques Lemaire: 1967-79; 12 seasons, all quality Totals: 366G (18th All Time at his retirement), 469A (21st All Time at his retirement) for 835P (21st All Time at his retirement), +344 (8th All Time at his retirement) in 853 Games; 86.6 PS; At his retirement, Lemaire was 24th All Time in Offensive Point Shares; Among forwards, Lemaire was 21st All Time in Defensive Point Shares at h...

Episode Notes Gerry Cheevers: 1961-62; 1965-72; 1975-80; 13 seasons, 8 as a starter, 5 as a backup Totals: 227W (17th All Time at his retirement) 104L 76T (18th All Time at his retirement) 26 SO in 24,373 Minutes in 418 Games (25th All Time at his retirement); 74.5 PS (25th All Time at his retirement) 46.7 GSAA (17th All Time at his retirement) Averages: 2.89 GAA .901 SV% (19th All Time at his ret...

Sorry for the wrong title and show notes! It's been corrected. Leo Boivin: 1951-70; 18 seasons, 16 quality Totals: 72G 250A (9th D All Time at his retirement) for 322P (11th D All Time at his retirement), -212* (5th last All Time, last at his retirement) [2/3rd of his career] in 1150 Games (10th D All Time at his retirement); 69.6 Point Shares (16th D All Time at his retirement); 14th All Time in...

Episode Notes Bill's list: Bobby Orr Denis Potvin Doug Harvey Nicklas Lidstrom Ray Bourque Chris Pronger Scott Niedermayer Eddie Shore Larry Robinson Al MacInnis Riley's list: Bobby Orr Ray Bourque Eddie Shore Nicklas Lidstrom Denis Potvin Al MacInnis Larry Robinson Doug Harvey Chris Pronger Red Kelly Honourable mentions include Georges Boucher, Zdeno Chara, Chris Chelios, King Clancy, Paul Coffey...