Who would you remove from the Hockey Hall of Fame? (Roundtable)

The 2015 Hockey Hall of Fame inductions are over, and the debate about the next class has begun. That pretty room with all the glass plaques is getting awfully crowded, so that got us thinking:

Remove two players from the Hall of Fame and tell us why.

The results are in, and you can read the selections from the Puck Daddy staff below. Please indicate your picks in the comments.

Greg Wyshynski, Puck Daddy Editor

Dick. Duff.

I know there are going to be clarion calls for someone like Clark Gillies to be de-selected from the Hall of Fame, but I’ve long argued that the New York Islanders winger is exactly the type of player the Hall should honor: The best at what he did.

Gillies was a physically intimidating power forward who allowed the New York Islanders’ best skill players – by their own admission – to do their thing knowing he had their back. That concept seems ‘smoking on an airplane’ arcane today, but during the dynasty it was a necessary role and Gillies did it best.

He also scored 304 career goals, including 30 goals seven times. Which is more than you can say for Dick Duff, who scored 29 goals in 1958-59 but never cracked 30 in his 1,030-game NHL career. He had 283 career goals, two less than Scott Hartnell.

It was his defensive prowess that earned him a place on six Stanley Cup-winning teams, and there’s no denying that he played an integral role on these teams. Which, again, would be great were this the “Hall of Integral Role Players,” which, alas, it is not. Which is why Guy Carbonneau isn’t in the Hall of Fame, and Kris Draper won’t be in the Hall of Fame, and neither should Dick Duff be in the Hall of Fame.

But the stuff about Duff that really grinds my gears is that he represents my least favorite aspects of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

He was enshrined in 2006. Why? Couldn’t tell you. He retired in 1972. Did a team of archeologists suddenly discover Dick Duff and declare “this man belongs in a museum!?” An explanation would be great, but the Hockey Hall of Fame selection process is cloaked in secrecy. The fact is that Dick Duff was a well-liked guy who for decades would charm people in interviews and likely had some friends in that selection room.

He was also a two-time Stanley Cup champion for the Toronto Maple Leafs, which means he’s yet another example of the echo chamber bias that lifts every eligible player who wore the blue pajamas to immortality despite, you know, reality.

So I would remove Dick Duff from the Hall of Fame.

That’s really the only guy whose de-selection I’m passionate about. If taxed for a second name, I’d probably go with Edmonton Oilers goaltending great Grant Fuhr, whose legacy is a classic case of myth-making and whose induction was a case of long championship coat-tails.

The unfortunately named blog Brodeur is a Fraud had a great take on Fuhr and his “clutch” play. They said it better than I could.

View photos TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 08: Chris Pronger (l) receives his Hockey Hall of Fame blazer from the Chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame Lanny McDonald prior to the Legends Classic game on November 8, 2015 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Hall induction ceremony is slated for November 9. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) More

Sean Leahy, Puck Daddy Editor

1. Chris Pronger. Chris Pronger is now a Hockey Hall of Famer with another year and a half left on his contract with the Arizona Coyotes as he continues working in the NHL's Department of Player Safety.

How odd does that sentence sound?

This isn't questioning Pronger's HOF-worthiness. He was a no-doubt first ballot player. But what was the rush? The Hall's voting members decided to change the bylaws last March and re-write the language regarding the three-year waiting period for players.

Story continues