Guy Carbonneau, Unexpected Hall-of Famer

 After years of absolute zero buzz around his Hall of Fame candidacy, Guy Carbonneau was surprisingly voted in as an Honoured Member. Personally, I don't agree with the selection of "Carbo" to the Hall, in my mind, there are probably forty other players I'd put in ahead of him. His supporters point to the fact that Carbonneau won three Selke Awards, three Cups and was the top defensive forward of his era. I'm not sure that's enough for enshrinement. To be blunt, if Guy Carbonneau is a Hall of Famer, then Buffalo Sabre Craig Ramsay is a Hall of Famer. Let's look at the numbers.
The stats do indeed back up the fact that Carbonneau was the top defensive forward of his time. Looking at HockeyReference.com, Carbonneau was the player with the most Defensive Point Shares over his time in the NHL. From 1982/83 through 1999/00 he was credited with 23.4 DPS, ahead of five legit Hall of Fame members; Gilmour, Gretzky, Francis, Andreychuk and Yzerman. Carbo was almost two full points ahead of second place Gilmour, so the praise for his defensive prowess is warranted. Is this enough for him to garner Hall of Fame membership? His offensive totals certainly don't help his argument.
In a career which spanned the highest scoring era in modern NHL history, Carbonneau managed to produce 0.50 points per game. Over 1318 career games he scored 260 goals and 663 points. Even with his defensive contributions, these numbers are hardly worthy of Hall of Fame enshrinement.
In comparison, during the course of his career, Craig Ramsay was at least as good defensively as Carbonneau. Through his 14 seasons (1971/72 to 1984/85) Ramsay produced more Defensive Point Shares than Carbo in three fewer seasons. His 23.9 ranked only slightly behind Bobby Clarke for second overall during the span. As with Carbonneau, Ramsay was surrounded by Hall of Famers, finishing just ahead of Lafleur, Shutt, Trottier, Dionne and Barber. As well, in three fewer years, Ramsay scored 252 goals (8 less than Carbonneau) and 672 points (9 MORE than Carbo).
Where Carbonneau had five 20 goal seasons and had career a high 57 points, Ramsay had eight consecutive 20 goal seasons and topped out at 71 points on two occasions. Ramsay even played in the All-Star game in 1976, something Carbonneau never did. Ramsay also led the NHL in Shorthanded Goals in 77/78, which Carbo never did and over his career scored only six less shorties in 248 fewer games.
Ramsay and Carbonneau's careers actually over-lapped for three seasons from 1982/83 to 1984/85. Carbonneau who was 9 years younger, had his top point production of 57 points in 84/85, the season Ramsay won his Selke Trophy. Carbonneau finished fifth in the Selke voting that year.
All in all, if Guy Carbonneau is a member of the Hall then so is Craig Ramsay. Do we really want to open that can of worms?

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