While the Bruins prepare for the start of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday (minus Bergeron, most likely), I thought I’d cover a couple more years of the Hockey Hall of Pretty Good. In Part 9, I only inducted Jean Ratelle and gave the Stompin’ Tom Connors boot to Gerry Cheevers and Bert Olmstead from the 1985 class and Leo Boivin, Dave Keon, and Serge Savard from the 1986 class. If you’d like to catch up:

1961-1966
1967-1970
1971-1973
1974-1976
1977-1978
1979-1980
1981
1982-1984
1985-1986

Now, onto the classes of 1987 and 1988…

1987
Bobby Clarke
Ed Giacomin
Jacques Laperriere

Clarke seems like a no-brainer, right? He played 15 seasons, all with the Flyers and was the heart and soul of the Broad Street Bullies who won back-to-back Cups. He finished in the top-10 in assists nine times (leading twice; back-to-back 89 assist seasons) and in total points seven times. He took home three Hart Trophies, one Selke Trophy, and one Ted Lindsay Award. He finished his career with more points (1210) than games played (1144) and was also known to mix it up at any time. He is my sort of player and easily gets into the Hall.

Next is Ed Giacomin. He came into the league near the start of expansion and played 12 full seasons. He has a career record of 289-209-96 which isn’t too shabby. He finished in the top-5 in wins eight times (leading for three straight seasons), goals against average five times, and shutouts seven times (leading three times). He won a Vezina Trophy and was named to two NHL All-Star 1st Teams and two 2nd Teams. Unfortunately, he never won a Cup and was generally average in the playoffs. I am on the fence with Giacomin. He carried a heavy load early in his career, suiting up for 68+ games four years in a row. During this stretch, he enjoyed his best statistical seasons. However, the rest of his career he played in about 45 games and put up solid numbers. I should also take into consideration that he didn’t break into the NHL until he was 26, so he was already up against it. Man, goalies not named Dryden, Plante, or Roy are tough to evaluate. I am going to give him a pass into the Hall. Heck, if I put the Gumper in there, Giacomin should be in too.

Last of this group is Jacques Laperriere. He is yet another of those guys who enjoyed immense success as part of those dominant Canadien teams. He played for 11 seasons before a knee injury forced him to retire at the age of 32. Stastically speaking, his numbers are solid for a blueliner. He did win the Calder and a Norris Trophy. He was also named to two NHL All-Star 1st Teams and two 2nd Teams. I just don’t know about Jacques. He wasn’t flashy, didn’t put up giant numbers, wasn’t a big hitter. Instead, he was cool, calm, and collected. A good defenseman? No doubt about it. A great one? Ehhhhhhh. He is out (and my Montreal-bias shines once again).

Inducted: Bobby Clarke and Ed Giacomin
Kicked out: Jacques Laperriere

1988
Tony Esposito
Guy Lafleur
Brad Park

What’d’ya, Tony O? 14 seasons with a career record of 423-306-151. The 423 wins ranks him 7^th all-time and his 76 career shutouts places him 9^th all-time. Esposito enjoyed a run of five dominant years where he took home three Vezina Trophies and a Calder Trophy. He finished in the top-10 in wins thirteen times (leading twice), goals against average nine times (leading once), and shutouts twelve times (leading three times and setting a modern day record with 15 in one season). It is a shame he never won a Cup, but with Tony O. it is not going to make or break his resume.  He is in.

Next is Guy Lafleur, one of the greats. He is a shoo-in but let’s just do a short recap. Six straight seasons of 50+ goals including a 60 goal effort and six straight seasons of 60+ assists including an 80 assist campaign. For his career, he netted 560 goals and 1353 total points. He won three Art Ross Trophies, two Hart Trophies, three Ted Lindsay Trophies, and a Conn Smythe Trophy. He was named to six consecutive NHL All-Star 1^st Teams and won five Stanley Cups. Guy was the real deal and had one of the most prototypical French-Canadian names ever! He’s in. Duh.

Last up is Brad Park. He played 17 seasons and put up very good offensive numbers for his postion. Not quite Bobby Orr numbers, but good nonetheless. Park was more than an offensive threat though; he was physical and tallied up a good amount of PIMs. Individual achievements eluded Park but he was named to five NHL All-Star 1^st Teams and two 2^nd Teams.  He never won a Cup which is a shame. More of a shame is that he only played a handful of games with Orr. There is no telling how many Cups they would have won if Orr had stayed healthy. Oh well. He did finish in the top-10 in assists three times which is impressive for a defenseman. I am giving him the nod because he has the offensive numbers to merit it and he did it for a long time.

Inducted: Tony Esposito, Guy Lafleur, and Brad Park
Kicked out: No one

Let’s look at some cards now, shall we?

I grabbed two more Tough Times inserts from Pinnacle…

He just looks like the kind of guy who is a scrapper and gets under your skin. Like a WAY tougher version of Brad Marchand.

Hound Dog! Look at those epic muttonchops!

Next, I picked up a couple of those 2010-11 Enshrined autographs I was raving about. It was only a matter of time, right?

Before this card, I believe his only other certified auto was a Between the Pipes card that had a sticker signature. Francis is in as a Builder and not as a player, but that is okay with me. I mean, I already have an Al Arbour and hope to snag a Sinden and Bowman not before too long.

Hey, didn’t I just kick you OUT of the Hall of Fame?! He is a sort of tough autograph to get.

While I initially praised this set, I have sort of cooled down on it, at least for the autographs. They are still nice and simple, but I am unsure if I’ll look to fill anymore of my HOF holes from this set except for Harry Sinden.

Did anyone see Panini’s post about their upcoming Dominion product? I mean, it looks intriguing but there is no way I am shelling out $350 for a pack of eight cards. I do have to say, though, that the quad auto of O’Reilly, Wensink, Schmautz, and Cherry looks pretty sweet. I would’ve swapped out Schmautz for Jonathan though.

EDIT

Down to the final four…

Good luck!

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