Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Phil
Nobody else here has even given a second thought to the fact that Orr also benefitted greatly from Esposito? The 1969 Hart voting looked like this:
Esposito - 133
Beliveau - 47
Orr - 44
Is it fair to say the people who watched the games at that time had a decent enough say? I am not saying Orr wasn't a great defenseman then, he just hadn't hit his superhuman level yet and even the stats show this. Orr was a +65 in 1969 which is incredible while Esposito was hardly far behind at +56. Orr had 283 shots in 1969 which is incredible again, but it pales in comparison to what he had later and even Esposito had 351 shots in 1969 while getting anywhere from 400-550 in later years.
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Key question is why was Jean Beliveau second in the Hart voting?
http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1969.html
Because even with Esposito and Orr the Bruins did not finish first in the East Division.
BTW, Jim Neilson had 274 shots in 1969.