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Aaron Knodell's avatar

I agree he’s a lock, mostly based on longevity and being a good guy, but if the decision was just yours, would you put him in the HOF? I think the standard for goalies should be a bit lower, but I still personally wouldn’t. He only had 4 seasons above .920 SV% mostly in a low scoring era, only 2 of which came with a starter’s workload. Also, I think playoff performance is overweighted for HOF cases, but he was awful in the playoffs for a long time. Certainly lost the Penguins at least one Cup and lost his starter job 3 times to my memory (Vokoun and Murray twice).

His longevity is impressive, but on the skater side, I don’t think anyone is seriously clamoring for Patrick Marleau to make the HOF just on the games played record.

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GabArr's avatar

If the decision was just mine as soon as he was eligible, it’s really tough to say. Fleury is incredibly difficult to evaluate on a season-by-season basis. I’m looking at your points and I’m seeing a lot of things that have crossed my mind when looking at his hockey reference page. Another thing that comes to my mind is YouTuber Ben Oakley’s extremely in-depth review of the early-to-mid 2010s Penguins — particularly where he interrupts his narration of a playoff game to yell “OH MY GOD, MARC! MAKE A SAVE!” at one of the on-screen clips.

If you look at a guy like Bobrovsky, who has oscillated between being a top-3 and decidedly below-average starter at various points in his career, and you imagine his quality of play as vaguely sinusoidal, it’s very easy to track that wave season-by-season. His “frequency” is over a couple of seasons, generally. Fleury, meanwhile, had a very rapid frequency that does not always show up within a single season.

So, to answer your question, I don’t fully know. This article constitutes my acceptance, and somewhat my endorsement, but if I had free rein, I don’t know if I would just stick him in there.

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Aaron Knodell's avatar

Bobrovsky’s an interesting comparison, I’d definitely lean towards Bobrovsky making the Hall. His time in Columbus was phenomenal, though his Florida years have been more hit and miss. Also had a reputation as a playoff under-performer until recently (deservedly, i think. He probably should still have that reputation).

Both Fleury and Bobrovsky look much better by my model than other public models I’ve seen. I wonder if that’s due to their athleticism.

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