Hall of Not Bad, Volume 9: Skylar Rift (and Eggly Bagelface!)

[Gustav 6,469]

"...you could make a strong case that the defining player of this concluding decade was Skylar Rift. Rift was not an untalented player by any means and one of the best goaltenders of his time."

-VHL 40 in 40 #34: Causing a Rift

 

"#SabotageHoFChances
#RiftDon'tDeserveIt"

-@Devise; Can Quebec Repeat?

 

"My second vote is a toss between [S52 HoFer] Felix Peters and Skylar Rift. The reason I say that is because Rift had the same W's as Moher and Bagleface and did it in 70+ games less with a better Sv % and GAA. But maybe the low games allowed those numbers to be good?"

-@Kendrick, S41 HoF Discussion

 

 

Most non-HoF players from the S30s likely wouldn't be recognizable to members who have joined in the years since. Heck, most players who are in probably aren't known to the VHL's modern generation. It's a sad reality, but it's one that speaks to the sheer depth of the league's history and suggests that there's always a little bit more to discover if you think you've learned all you need to learn about the VHL. The S30s had it all--building on a rich history that had been developed as the league established itself in its first three decades, the community moved to its current forum, experienced its most insane statistical season ever in S36, and had another great decade that prompted the fantastic 40 in 40 series. It also featured a player who was involved in all three of those things, and one that even the newest of the new may have seen mentioned: Skylar Rift.

 

Skylar Rift, of course, is the namesake of the VHLM's Playoff MVP trophy, and a player who late S60s players could infer was created by @Devise--S64's JB Rift was the league's top goaltender by far in S67 and one of the more underrated players of that decade. Though players of the S60s knew Devise as a well-regarded GM and simmer, Rift's already-linked-at-the-top 40 in 40 article sheds some light on a side that newer members never saw--one shrouded in a controversy that made Rift a villain in his time. Having started his VHL career in S31, he made it up in S32 and immediately won a championship in New York. That was short-lived, though, as he'd be traded to Calgary for the third season of his rookie contract. Having made it to a starting position on a team with a bright future, one would think that Rift's career was set. He had other ideas, though, and in extremely abnormal fashion, abruptly left for Quebec in free agency. The situation went a bit deeper with the revelation that Rift had set up his move with fellow free agent Yuri Grigorenko, burning bridges around the league and catapulting the still-new Meute to high-level competition for the first time in their existence. While with Quebec, Rift won another Cup, but the damage was still done--most VHL fans saw Quebec in a negative light, and the league's first ever championship from a non-original franchise was viewed negatively across the board. Rift would do two more things of note with the remainder of his career: put up great numbers in the all-time crazy S36, where many single-season scoring records still stand today, and retire early--potentially blowing up his HoF chances.

 

In his time, Rift stared across the ice at quite a few great goalers. Let's look at a few.

 

Tuomas Tukio: a Hall of Fame player. Also, another drop in the bucket for the @Higgins agency and arguably the greatest goaler of the S30s. Tukio was a fellow member of Rift's draft season and played in the VHL both before and after Rift, putting up a full 8-season career mostly spent in Helsinki between S31 and S38. Winning one Cup to Rift's two, Tukio made up for it in an individual sense by winning MVP twice, Slobodzian twice, and Shaw twice, as the league's uncontested best in both S37 and S38. Tukio's career numbers are fantastic and would be great even in today's inflated era--359-114-37 with a 1.99 GAA and .925 SV%. He'd end up retiring top all-time in wins and currently sits in second.

 

Alexander Labatte: a Hall of Fame player. One might guess that Labatte was a @sterling create, and one might be right. The lesser known of the two Labattes to make the HoF, Alexander was still an incredible player. First making it to the VHL in S28, He spent his career team-hopping more than the face of a franchise ever does, playing for four teams despite a championship, three Shaws, and an MVP campaign in S33. His career statline is just a shade below Tukio's in every category, but not by much--his 335 wins are currently fourth all-time.

 

Remy LeBeau: a Hall of Fame player. The first player ever created by @OrbitingDeath , LeBeau was the start of something special. A member of the S31 class just like Tukio and Rift, LeBeau was a Toronto lifer who stuck it out through a disappointing rookie contract and turned on the jets with his team as they improved. Winning the Shaw twice, along with a Kanou and a Cup in S37, LeBeau's unfortunate rookie circumstances may have lagged his rookie numbers a bit, but he was every bit as good as the others once he found his footing and was eventually inducted on the first ballot.

 

Eggly Bagelface: NOT a Hall of Fame player despite an all-time name. Created by @Corco, Bagelface spent six and a half seasons of a seven-season career with Vasteras before moving out to Helsinki for a final push. This was the era of GM goalers--Rift was one, Tukio was one, and Bagelface had not much choice but to backstop a cursed franchise. Regardless, he was one of the players that helped define the S30s for what they were, winning the Shaw in S39.

 

It's a wonderful thing that the S30s had as many great players in net as it did, but it also means that there was lots and lots of competition for Rift. Let's throw in some charts to put that in context.

 

 

 

Were it not for his short career, Rift could have been right up there with the best of them in the team-related categories. He maintained a win rate just a shade under Tukio's and had more shutouts by his fifth season than any of the others here. It's very true that Rift used his ability to pursue the best teams to his advantage, but it's also very true that this paid off. Where it didn't, interestingly enough, is in the case of LeBeau, whose slow start gives him a lower shutout total as well as a lower total win rate--something that shouldn't take away from his later career but something that also presents a very noticeable difference between Rift and someone already in the Hall of Fame.

 

 

 

Here are the percentage-based metrics for each player, which I've taken the time to normalize for your convenience. Rift's career averages (.923 and 2.12) are shown here as zero, while other numbers are shown relative to that average (for example, LeBeau's approximately 2.1 at the start of the GAA chart indicates his horrible 4.22 GAA as a rookie). We would expect that normalized SV% to increase, and the normalized GAA to decrease, over the course of a player's career, and that generally holds up in all cases here--indicating that we shouldn't have to worry about any massive outside factors that may have affected one player or another mid-career. There's again a clear separation between Tukio/Labatte/Rift and LeBeau/Bagelface, which really interests me in the same ways as above. We can pretty safely conclude that Rift maintained a Hall of Fame pace through his whole career, but it's pretty easy to say that Tukio and Labatte were "better" when it's considered that they played their whole careers out. What about LeBeau, though, who did the same but apparently clearly at a lower standard than Rift?

 

 

I hate making these charts because they take forever (I have to change the color of every bar individually because either Google Sheets doesn't work that way or I'm dumb), but they can be useful. This sort of format was where I went in HoNB #3 to suggest that Jakab Holik had a better chance than most people thought--take out his abysmal first season, and the rest of his career starts looking amazing--and I figured it would be nice to try it out here. I look at these charts in the context of finding out who stands out--look on the right for players who showed the most dominance in individual seasons, and look on the left for players whose career numbers might have been thrown off by one or two bad showings. In this case, Rift looks pretty average. He doesn't have anything sitting all the way on the right (and it's very important to point out that LeBeau is over there twice), and we can't say that he had a horrible rookie year either because everyone else we've talked about has at least one worse season. It might actually be worth it to dig into Bagelface without the rookie campaign in a small future article, but I don't think I'd have enough to support a full HoNB campaign on him and he's not the main focus here and I just want to finish writing today, so we'll leave that as an idea for the time being.

 

Rift was great; there's no question about it. It's not very often that a 5-season career gets a player two championships, an all-time great historical article, and an award named after them, but it's true in this case. I think the points for and against inducting him are pretty short and sweet.

 

The case for Rift is based on historical impact and pure talent. Rift was one of the best players of his time, for sure, and I think there's a layer of unquantifiable stuff that can be applied here. It's the Hall of Fame, and he was as famous as anyone in his time. If he truly was the "defining player" of the S30s, that's a lot of fame going around--that he backed up well on the ice. Plus, in terms of career pace, Rift outdid the HoFer in LeBeau easily.

 

The case against Rift is pretty obvious--he only played 5 seasons. We've seen that it can be really difficult to induct a player based on 6 or even 7 seasons, and in this day and age when we're considering players with 9, how could we ever go for that?

 

But was that 5 seasons enough, and is Skylar Rift a Hall of Fame player?

 

I don't think so. I believe that the 7-season career Rift earned by staying down for a season would have easily been enough, but it's often the case that players with significantly shorter careers have to outpace the rest, and by a lot, to make it. He does do that to LeBeau on the surface level, but LeBeau's career was very unbalanced and very affected by his first three seasons. It just isn't enough to justify bringing Rift up to the same level. Maybe I'd have a different answer if Rift had played even one more season, but I just don't think there's enough of a body of work present here. The VHL will always be left wondering what could have been--Tukio and Labatte deserve all the credit as the best, but with a longer career, this article could very well have been about LeBeau as compared to Rift rather than the other way around. Regardless, Rift's "Fame" lives on as the namesake of one of the VHLM's finest awards.

 

Skylar Rift was removed from the Hall of Fame ballot in S44 with 6 of 12 votes, having received one vote for induction in S41. He might not be a Hall of Famer, but his presence in this series is very much warranted.

 

Previous HoNB articles:

Volume 1: Alexander Pepper

Volume 2: Shawn Glade

Volume 3: Jakab Holik

Volume 4: Bo Boeser

Volume 5: Tyson Kohler

Volume 6: Lasse Milo

Volume 7: Voittu Jannula

Volume 8: Brendan Telker

[CowboyinAmerica 2,911]

15 minutes ago, Gustav said:

Having made it to a starting position on a team with a bright future, one would think that Rift's career was set. He had other ideas, though, and in extremely abnormal fashion, abruptly left for Quebec in free agency. The situation went a bit deeper with the revelation that Rift had set up his move with fellow free agent Yuri Grigorenko, burning bridges around the league and catapulting the still-new Meute to high-level competition for the first time in their existence. While with Quebec, Rift won another Cup, but the damage was still done--most VHL fans saw Quebec in a negative light, and the league's first ever championship from a non-original franchise was viewed negatively across the board.

 

Great article, and I'm glad you included this context because it was very much a thing. A little like KD to the Warriors - great to team up with his friends and obviously very talented, but left a sour taste for a lot of competitors and nobody was going to give him the credit for joining a superteam.

[OrbitingDeath 3,229]

I still like LeBeau

[Victor 11,021]

On 2/16/2024 at 5:08 PM, Gustav said:

its most insane statistical season ever in S36

Not entirely sure this is true, are you being swayed by the fact someone fucked up and imported the season's stats into the portal twice?

 

On 2/16/2024 at 5:08 PM, Gustav said:

The case for Rift is based on historical impact and pure talent. Rift was one of the best players of his time, for sure, and I think there's a layer of unquantifiable stuff that can be applied here. It's the Hall of Fame, and he was as famous as anyone in his time. If he truly was the "defining player" of the S30s, that's a lot of fame going around--that he backed up well on the ice. Plus, in terms of career pace, Rift outdid the HoFer in LeBeau easily.

Agreed based on the fact that I wrote a 40 in 40 article about him. But disagree because LeBeau had a big cultural impact at the time even without a proper article (HOF article notwithstanding). LeGod was a very real term at the time and when Toronto swept Davos in S37 (and beat a juggernaut NY in S38) his performances were outrageous.

 

Rift shouldn't have retired early is the simple truth of it.

[BOOM 8,817]

Rift is still one of my favourite players. Not sure exactly why, but thought I'd share that useless info with all of you. 

[Gustav 6,469]

14 hours ago, Victor said:

Not entirely sure this is true, are you being swayed by the fact someone fucked up and imported the season's stats into the portal twice?

 

Very much so; that would make far more sense than what the portal says happened honestly.

 

Part of me is surprised that LeBeau got in right away, not because I don't think it was deserved but because I'm not convinced today's standards are the same. It probably wouldn't take much for one voter or another to pull out the career totals argument or the "not first ballot" one--but granted, I wasn't there for it so I don't know.

[Gustav 6,469]

This wasn't even on purpose, but--2,001 words.

 

Week 2

[Gustav 6,469]

Week 3

[Gustav 6,469]

And Week 4