For the complete list and explanation of criteria and scoring, check out the Philly Fifty page
Longevity – 4
Played 10 seasons, and 594 games, for the Flyers from 1982-1992.
Peak – 4
From 1982-1985, he was one of the top two or three defenseman in the league, but never the top. He was just a hair behind Ray Borque, Chris Chellios and Paul Coffey. His 1985-86 season is one of the best for any defenseman in history.
Popularity – 3
While certainly popular among Flyers’ fans, you don’t usually hear Howe’s name along with the Clarke, Parent, Barber, etc.. I don’t get the sense that Howe has a lot of notoriety among casual sports’ fans in the city.
Team Success – 3
The Flyers were good during the beginning of Howe’s tenure. They won 8 playoff series and 2 conference titles in his first 7 seasons. They didn’t make the playoffs his final 3 seasons. Not coincidentally, Howe was injured for most of those 3 years. During his 10 years, they had a 414-300-86 record.
Awards – 2
3 times as a Flyer, Howe was selected to 1st-team all-NHL (only 2 defensemen selected). He never took home the James Norris trophy for best defensemen, so you can argue that he came in 2nd three times. He was selected to 3 all-star games as a Flyer, surprisingly not the exact same 3 years he was selected 1st team all NHL.
Stats – 4
Howe is far and away the leading scoring defensemen in Flyers history. He has 480 career points, 84 more than the 2nd place skater (Eric Desjardins). He has 5 of the top-8 scoring seasons for defensemen in team history, including the top mark (82 points) by 12 over 2nd place. His most impressive stat though is plus/minus, where he is 2nd in Flyers history to Bobby Clarke at +349. He was also +46 in his 82 playoff games as a Flyer. His 1985-86 season was the highest +/- in team history (85) and the 8th highest for any player since they began keeping track of the stat in 1967.
Historical Standing – 3
Howe is probably best known for being Gordie Howe’s son, but he recently got the call to the Hall, and will be enshrined in the HOF in November along with Ed Belfour, Doug Gilmour and Joe Nieuwendyk. He will be the first Flyers’ defenseman to get inducted.
Excitement – 2
Not going to usually get a lot of excitement out of a defensemen in Hockey unless they are big hitters, but Howe was easily the most prolific defensive scorer in team history. For that, he avoids the “1.”
Total: 25
I knew very little of Mark Howe prior to this project. A hardcore Flyers’ fan can correct me if I’m wrong, but it certainly seems like, at his peak, Howe was the best defenseman to ever put on a Flyers’ uniform. His +/- numbers are off the charts. From 1983-1987, he had a combined +/- of +270, 2nd only to Wayne Gretzky.
For the complete list and explanation of criteria and scoring, check out the Philly Fifty page
I am thee hocky guru. I know the color of the blueline, and have remembered all these years that the ice was/is 5/8 of an inch thick when Bill Masterson died of head injuries from colliding. Whoop-dee-doo
So I was curious if the Howes had dropped their names in the HOF membership as many as 3 times. If maybe they were thee all time sports family, maybe other than the Aarons, who banged I think 756 dingers between them.
Actually thought Marty might already be in the Hall, but it turns out Mark is/was enshrined there this year. Marty actually, at a very quick glance doesn’t appear to be Hall material, but low goal totals (or so the quick glance seemed) don’t speak to a defenseman’s ability in total.
But with Marty joining his dad in the Hall, that’s really cool. That’s the stuff the Adams and Bush families were made of. Few months ago, ran a check on if a dad son combo did the Hall in baseball, and it was 2 executives only. I forget who, recognize it if I heard it, maybe the O’Malleys, Bavasis, some tandem like that, but never a player.
So are the Howes the greatest family in sports history? Perhaps so. Nice accomplishment. Always thought the Boones did great for themselves. It’d be a helluva title to walk away with from the individual standpoint, and be a helluva family dinner to show up for sometime.
Wore well in the short era of long black pants and beyond. Covered more ice than Wayne and Larry Hillman combined. Mark was an excellent, understated player.
Father wasn’t bad either for Red Wings, Aeros or Whalers. I think he played in 4 decades (the “I Like Ike”, “British Invasion”, Disco and MTV/”Live Aid” epochs) with 3 sets of teeth, 2 sons and 1 standard – kick the opponent’s ass.
I just caught the end of his career. I can’t validate or invalidate his ranking. I know he was popular, but he was def not the fisrt flyer mentioned. I can think of a least 3 that were talked about more (Tochett, Kerr, Hextal) . My first sports memory was game 7 of the 87 stanley cuo finals. My brother taped it on VHS, and I watched it with little awareness of what was going on ha