Would Ay Ay Ron be the worst defenceman in the HOF?

[Victor 10,940]

There is a bit of a debate going on in the BOG this season because all the HOF candidates have some question marks around them. The front-runners by position are probably Ay Ay Ron (defenceman), Keaton Louth (forward), and Jakab Holik (goalie). So I decided to do a bit of a brain dump...

 

There have been 28 defencemen inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here's how Ay Ay Ron would rank among them in key stats if he was inducted and there were 29:

 

Points: 572 (22^nd)

 

Behind him: Joey Kendrick, Adam Schultz, Tomas Jenskovic (all played 6 seasons), Conner Low (5-season freak of nature), Blake Beukeboom, David Night, Jake Wylde (potentially the worst 3 defencemen currently in the HOF)

 

Hits: 1,877 (2^nd) – only behind Jake Wylde

 

Shots blocked: 781 (24^th)

 

Behind him: Adam Schultz, Conner Low, Joey Kendrick (see above), Matt Bailey (only defenceman for 4 seasons), and Black Velvet (played for 5 cup winning teams so didn't need to block shots as often)

 

So it's a weird one. He would have won 3 Labatte Trophies had they existed during his peak (as I argued before) and although a 102-point career peak isn't anything special, it's par for the course for Labatte winners (anything over 110 points is an anomaly over now 66 seasons, there's been about 10).

 

He is undeniably better than Beukeboom who never even won a Labatte, as well as Night and Schultz, and in reality also only had a 6-season career as a defenceman. So he's near the bottom but not the worst.