Quote:
Originally Posted by Buff
Mike Vernon:
1986 - Flames loss to Montreal (1-4)
1989 - Flames win over Montreal (4-2)
1995 - Detroit loss to New Jersey (0-4)
1997 - Detroit win over Philadelphia (4-0)
I never really knew this stat before though. So, Vernon is one of only five goalies who made it to the Stanley Cup finals four or more times as a starting goalie... why isn't Vernon in the Hall of Fame? He won two Cups and was the Conn Smythe winner in his second Cup victory and a strong candidate in his 1st too!
Did some more looking into Vernon's stats
All-Time Regular season wins: 16th
All-time Playoff Wins: 8th
All-time Stanley Cup Final Wins: 16th
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The arguments against having Vernon in the HHOF are pretty sound:
- Minimal accolades. 14 other goalies received AS votes in the one season that he was a 2nd team AS, including Greg Millen who was 3rd in voting (and awful). The Conn Smythe and one year as a Vezina runner-up is nice, but those are the only accolades that he has.
- It was easy to stand-out in a 21 team league. Consistently being a top 4-10 goalie isn't that impressive when you're only competing against 15-20 other starting goalies.
- His best seasons were on some of the best rosters of all-time - late 80s Flames and mid-90s Red Wings. It's hard to separate the player from the team, but lets be real...any other good or above average goalie could have gotten Vernon's results with five or more HHOF-caliber players in front of them.
- His peak wasn't long enough. Tim Thomas' incredible three year run isn't long enough to get him into the HHOF and Thomas' three best seasons are better than Vernon's three best seasons.
Then you add in Vernon's streakiness and tendency for soft goals, which deservedly hurts his reputation.