26 replies to this topic

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

http://www.nj.com/de...as_a_futur.html

"I don’t think there is any doubt he’s a Hall of Fame player," coach Pete DeBoer said. "It’s a great luxury to have him on the ice and in the dressing room. He thinks like a coach and he has a world-class player’s skills. When you’re building a hockey player, you can’t ask for much more than that."

I'm ok with him getting in.

EDIT: Title got cut off...mods help me....

Edited by halfsharkalligatorhalfman, 21 February 2013 - 02:16 PM.

[Devilsfan118]

If Elias had his career with a big market team like Montreal or Toronto you can bet he'd already be declared a first ballot.

 

I think he gets in eventually.

[DJ Eco]

My answer, as most will probably be, is "YES". But I can understand why he may not be a shoe-in or the first name to mind that will be inducted.

[DevsMan84]

I think he should be, but unforunately I dont think he will be.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Depends on your criteria.  Played in the Dead Puck Era and wasn't surrounded by great offensive players for much of his career, but still has a legit shot at 1000 points in about 1150 GP.  I can see the arguments for and against, as he feels like a borderline kind of guy.  But he should probably get in.

[MadDog2020]

I think Patty has a little work to do, but he's in if and when he hits 1,000 points. Maybe not on the first ballot, but should he reach 1,000, he'll get in eventually. It would be awesome for me to see him get in too, Patty is my favorite all-time Devil not named Scott Stevens.

[SterioDesign]

i think he should be in but i think he won't be and that Devils fans will whine about it for years and years how unfair it is.

[Daniel]

His biggest obstacle is that the people doing the voting have never watched him play on a consistent basis.  As the article mentions, Cam Neely is in the Hall of Fame while Pat Verbeek, who did better in all of the traditional statistical categories is not.  It probably has a lot to do with Verbeek having his best years in NJ and Hartford.

[Daniel]

BTW, should Alex Mogilny also be in the Hall of Fame then?

[Triumph]

His biggest obstacle is that the people doing the voting have never watched him play on a consistent basis.  As the article mentions, Cam Neely is in the Hall of Fame while Pat Verbeek, who did better in all of the traditional statistical categories is not.  It probably has a lot to do with Verbeek having his best years in NJ and Hartford.

 

Verbeek was never a top player.  He was a very good player, but he got to play during the live puck era.  He was never once top 10 in goals or assists, and was a 2 time All-Star when the All-Star game was played every year.  Cam Neely was a 5 time All-Star with 4 top 10 finishes in goals including one year where he played 49 games.

 

The thing about Elias is that for basically every 10 game stretch where he continues to perform like he has throughout his career (and isn't injured) his chances increase.  It would have been easy to figure after the 2011 season that Elias's game would begin to decline, and that his career might be over by 2013 or 2014.  But that hasn't happened yet, and as long as that doesn't keep happening, if Elias can put up another 120 points in his career, he'll have at least a shot.  To me he should be in without question - maybe not first ballot, but he's put together a very impressive NHL career.

[devilsrule33]

How dare you steal my 205th addition of the HHOF game. But seriously, it's a tough one for a non-Devils fan. I think it is a bit too early to say for sure. He truly is a complete player, but for HOF-type player, he certainly had some real down years you don't see many in the HHOF have.

I really think he and Alfredsson are pretty similar comparables. I don't think Elias did anymore than Alfredsson to deserve the 2 Cups that Alfredsson doesn't have. So while Cups should be valued, I don't think they should be that important for all players.

[Devils731]

Can I vote maybe?  He's really going to be close either way and how he finishes his career will matter, so I can't tell now.  Looking at how he's playing at the moment, I think he'll get in.

[DH26]

Daniel Alfredsson's regarded as a HOFer and while he's scored a few more points, he's played with better offensive players and I can't fathom him being better defensively than Elias. I'd take Patty any day of the week over a lot of guys that are supposed HOFers playing today 

[MantaRay]

Patty will retire as the greatest forward in the history of the team.   He will get overlooked by voters because sacrificed personal points for winning.

Four trips to the Finals and two Cups says he will make the HOF.

Edited by MantaRay, 21 February 2013 - 07:54 PM.

[pattyelias]

let's not forget patty's money OT goal numbers and his playoff point totals.  those should count for something, no?

[mouse]

If Elias has a couple more years with good stats, his numbers are borderline, impressive for a guy who played in a defense first system and dedicated himself to it throughout his career, and dealt with 2 lockouts and a bout of hepatitis that can be directly attributed to 1 of the lockouts, and cost him a ton of games (plus probably 2 or so years playing at less than 100%). If he wins 1 more cup, he's a lock (though team achievements maybe shouldn't count as much as they do). Even without, I think he deserves it. I also think he has a decent shot, just because people are already talking about it, and not just in NJ.

[Neb00rs]

Patty will retire as the greatest forward in the history of the team.   He will get overlooked by voters because sacrificed personal points for winning.

Four trips to the Finals and two Cups says he will make the HOF.

This is exactly the summation of it. Dare I say it?...I will let Manta be the spokesperson for all my opinions on Elias from here on out.

[BlueSkirt]

His Olympic/International play will also be a factor. I still expect him to fall short.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Patty will retire as the greatest forward in the history of the team.   He will get overlooked by voters because sacrificed personal points for winning.

Four trips to the Finals and two Cups says he will make the HOF.

 

I don't necessarily think he "sacrificed personal points".  He has always gotten opportunities to play with the Devils' top offensive personnel through the years (rightly so of course), though clearly the quality of that personnel varied.  His most impressive season from an offensive standpoint was really 2003-04.  In a lot of ways, it was him or it was nothing that year.  He popped in 38 goals...Gio ranked second, with 21, and Gio really didn't get going until the end of the season, when the EGG line was put together.  Gomez had 70 points to rank second behind Elias' 81, but Elias' finishing ability clearly helped Gomez's numbers.  Friesen was third in points for forwards...with 37!  That team would've been brutal without Elias.

 

The era he played in and the teams he played for definitely weren't stat-bloaters, but as we've seen through the years, playing for a team that is more offensive-minded won't automatically correlate to bigger and better numbers.  We've seen free-agent signings and trades that seemed like slam-dunks on paper (wow, that guy could put up 90+ points for that team easily), but don't work out as planned.  Sure, if he had played in the Live Puck Era, he puts up better eye-candy numbers for sure.  I remember Live Puck well, and 30-goal scorers and guys who averaged a point-per-game were almost a dime-a-dozen.  There are multiple reasons why (people bring up smaller goalie equipment), but I can tell you that defensemen and goalies are MUCH better now than they were then.  There were some bad goalies in the 80s (just look at some highlights from that era sometime).  

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976, 22 February 2013 - 07:45 AM.

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Hitting 1000 career points is the key for me i feel, and even then unfortunately it could be marginal.

 

Its a shame we have had the lockouts because i have very little doubt he would already be there with the additional games he could have played.

 

He has nice numbers, and some hardware to show which will help, but its probably not enough.