Freeman's Case for the HOF

[CowboyinAmerica 2,880]

 

Julius Freeman: Hall of Famer?

 

About a week ago, New York made one of the biggest transactions of the VHL season, trading for longtime Vancouver forward Julius Freeman. It was certainly a swing for the fences, given that New York was out of the playoff picture at the time (behind even Vancouver). But it certainly seems to have paid early dividends, with the Americans beginning to turn their season around, and Freeman himself staying near the top of the scoring charts.

 

Before he came to the Americans, I didn’t know Freeman and @rjfryman too terribly well. So in keeping with the theme of this season’s Theme Week, I decided to take a look at Freeman’s career with a single question: Is he a Hall of Fame candidate? And after taking a closer look, I think there’s definitely an argument—though it will require continued good play the final season and a half of his career.

 

Points in Freeman’s Favor

 

1. Goals Get In: Overall, scoring has been down across the VHL in recent seasons—the past three seasons have seen nobody reach 45 goals, something that had literally never happened once in VHL history before this stretch. That means that every forward playing in this era may not have the raw numbers that compare to historical data.

 

But among those scorers, Freeman has stood out. With 44 goals in S69 and 40 goals in S71, Freeman has won the Brooks Trophy two of the past three seasons. And as of the writing of this article, his 28 goals are two more than anybody else in the league as well. Over the life of the VHL, a whopping 17 players have won the Brooks Trophy at least twice: Brett Slobodzian, Scotty Campbell, Matt Bentz, Leander Kaelin, Markus Strauss, Peyton Nydroj, Leeroy Jenkins, Alexander Chershenko, Odin Tordahl, Bruno Wolf, Thomas O’Malley, Edwin Reencarnacion, Diana Maxwell, Franchise Cornerstone, John Locke, Oyorra Arroyo, and Matt Thompson. Of those, only one has not made the Hall of Fame: Nydroj, who retired a season early and sits 51st on the all-time goals list.

 

By my count, only three players have ever scored the most goals in a season three times: Campbell, Chershenko, and Thompson. Each of the three were first ballot Hall of Famers. Just saying.

 

2. All About Winning: One of the main points against potential borderline cases is that they haven’t won enough. But that’s clearly not the case for Freeman. His Vancouver squad obviously won it all in Season 67, but even beyond that, the Wolves have been perennially been a top team with Freeman as a contributor. Starting in his second season, S67, the Wolves have finished 2nd, 7th, 1st, 2nd, and 1st in the overall VHL standings, leading the way as a potential championship team each season.

 

And even if Vancouver only did have the one title in that stretch before retooling this year, it’s clear that Freeman was still a major contributor. In the six seasons he’s made the playoffs, he’s only had a negative plus-minus once, the S68 team that was Vancouver’s weakest of the run. In the S67 championship run, he finished with 9 goals and 17 points. His S69 playoffs saw him with the most goals on Vancouver (7), while in S70 and S71 he finished tied for most points, then one off most points on the team for the playoffs.

 

3. There’s Still Time Left: It’s worth noting that Freeman is nowhere near done yet. Beyond leading the league in goals this season, he’s second in total points (first among forwards), third in game winners, and fourth in plus-minus. He’ll rightfully receive a lot of credit if the Americans do turn this season around, and he should have another chance at increasing his playoff stats.

 

Plus, for those who like the activity - Freeman is currently 11th on the all-time TPE list, with a season and a half to play. It’s extremely reasonable to guess he’ll finish fourth or fifth on the list, behind Kastelic, Borwinn and Helmsley, and somewhere around Johnsson. All that TPE (with 136 banked) means he’ll be equally as effective in S73, when he’ll make one more final run at glory.

 

 

The counting stats and the lack of overall awards means that Freeman’s Hall of Fame case won’t be an easy one. But I do think he has a case. Given that he was a leader on one of the best teams of the ‘60s, put up goal numbers in a period where nobody has been putting up goal numbers, and was one of the top earners and most talented players of the era, Freeman should at least be considered. And as his teammate now in New York, I hope the Americans can give his career another boost and the send off he deserves.

Edited June 9, 2020 by CowboyinAmerica

[CowboyinAmerica 2,880]

Claiming double for Theme Week

[Victor 10,923]

He's definitely got one of the best active cases.

[Beaviss 4,957]

Easy in IMO