Five players who need to go into the Hockey Hall of Fame

Every year an 18-person committee made up of former players, coaches, referees, sports writers and other esteemed hockey officiandos meet in June to vote upon new honourees for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. These committee members are some of the most respected names in the game. Former great players who have been enshrined themselves like Lanny McDonald, "The Professor" Igor Larionov, Peter Stastny, Mike Gartner and Serge Savard. Some of the brightest coaching minds the game has ever known; Scotty Bowman, Pat Quinn and Harry Sinden. And though these gentlemen are all regarded at the most elite level in terms of their skill, knowledge, experience and authority on the game, it is rather surprising that certain names have yet to have made the cut for induction into the Hall. I present a list of five players whom I personally deem worthy in every respect for induction and to whom I am surprised to some extent that they haven't been inducted already.

 

1) Guy Carbonneau (Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars): Carbonneau is a 3-time winner of the Stanley Cup; with Montreal in '86 and '93, and then again with Dallas in '99. Arguably the greatest checking-forward and defensive-minded forward of his generation; some might suggest of all-time. Carbonneau won the Frank J. Selke Trophy for the League's best defensive-forward in 1988, 1989 and 1992, and served as team captain for the Canadiens' championship run in 1993. Despite being a defensive specialist, he scored 260-goals in his career along with 663-points. It should be a "no-brainer" that Guy Carbonneau be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

 

2) Richard Martin (Buffalo Sabres, Los Angeles Kings): One-third of the famous "French Connection line", I admit a bias when it comes to selecting Rick Martin due to the fact that I am a native Buffalonian, but I also believe that the numbers speak for themselves. I cannot believe that a player who scored 384-goals in his NHL career in just 685-games, including breaking the 50-goal mark in back-to-back seasons (1973-74 and 1974-75), would be not be considered on a perennial basis for induction. Besides the two seasons in which he broke 50, Rick Martin also broke the 40-goal mark on three other occasions as well, including his rookie campaign. He averaged over a point-per-game in his career (701-points in 685-games), and was a First Team All-Star in 1973-74 and 1974-75 and a Second Team All-Star in 1975-76 and 1976-77. Were it not for a career-ending knee-injury, I believe that Martin would have easily passed the 500-goal and 1,000-point plateaus. Martin's goals-per-game numbers and point-per-game numbers are better than Boston-great Cam Neely's numbers, and yet Neely is in the Hall of Fame and Martin is not. I think that it is a travesty that each year he is passed up for induction.

3) Alexander Mogilny (Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs): Mogilny is certainly one of the most talented forwards ever to play the game. His sheer speed and scoring ability made him one of the most feared and one of the most dynamic players in the game during the 1990s and into the 2000s. A phenomenal goal-scorer, Mogilny exploded during the 1992-93 season in Buffalo when he tallied 76-goals, tying for the NHL-lead that season with Teemu Selanne. Mogilny would go on to score 473-goals in his career, as he had eight seasons in total where he broke the 30-goal mark. "Magic" tallied over a point-per-game, as he scored 1032-points in 990-games. Were it not for some nagging injuries later on in his career, Mogilny would have easily reached the 500-goal mark for his career and would have added to his point production. If the numbers were not enough, Alexander Mogilny is also a very highly decorated player as well; he won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2000, won the Lady Byng Trophy in 2003 while with Toronto, helped lead the Soviet Union to the Olympic Gold Medal in 1988 at the Calgary Olympics, won a Silver Medal and a Gold Medal with the Soviet Union at the 1988 and 1989 World Junior Championships respectively, and won another Gold Medal with the Soviets in the 1989 World Championships. Yet another obvious choice for the Committee to make.

4) Pavel Bure (Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers, New York Rangers): The second Russian to make my list; Pavel Bure was arguably the most exciting, most pure goal-scorer of his generation in the game. During the 1990s and into the early 2000s, there was no better goal-scorer that "The Russian Rocket". Bure not only had back-to-back 60-goal seasons in 1992-93 and 1993-94, he also put 51-goals in his last season with Vancouver in 1997-98, then thrilled them all in Florida with 58-goal and 59-goal seasons in 1999-00 and 2000-01. Bure was simply a goal-scoring machine, who ranks up there with the likes of Maurice "The Rocket" Richard, Mike Bossy and Brett Hull when it comes to being the best pure goal scorers the game has ever seen. His other accolades include winning the Calder Trophy in 1992 as the NHL Rookie of the Year, and NHL First Team All-Star in 1994 and a Second Team All-Star in 2000 and 2001, the NHL All-Star Game MVP in 2000, The Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy Winner in 2000 and 2001 for scoring the most goals in the NHL during those seasons, Silver and Bronze Medals at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics respectively, a Gold Medal in '89, Silver in '90 and Silver in '91 at the World Junior Championships, and Gold and Bronze Medals at the '90 and '91 World Championships of Hockey. That resume is so profound that it outshines numerous resumes of players who have already been inducted in the Hall of Fame.

5) Andy Moog (Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, Montreal Canadiens): Moog is one of the most underrated goaltenders to ever play the game despite his many accomplishments. Perhaps that is due to sharing the netminding duties with Grant Fuhr, a Hall inductee, during all those years when the Edmonton Oilers were winning Stanley Cups. But regardless of possibly being overshadowed, Andy Moog was a top-notch netminder. Moog won three Stanley Cup championships with the Oilers in 1984, 1985 and 1987. Furthermore, he played in four All-Star games; in '85 and '86 with Edmonton, in '91 with Bruins and again in '97 with the Dallas Stars. For the 1989-90, Moog teamed with goaltending partner Rejean Lemelin to win the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals against when they were with Boston together. But perhaps what is most impressive of Moog's career, along with of course the three Stanley Cups, are his 372-wins in net during the regular season; ranking him 14th all-time amongst goaltenders. Those are more wins than goaltenders Billy Smith, Gump Worsley, Gerry Cheevers and Eddie Giacomin; all of whom are already inducted into the Hall of Fame.

I know that there are numerous other players who are likely deserving to be considered for Hall of Fame induction as well. Were I a member of the selection committee, these five players would be my nominees for induction (NOTE: a committee member is only able to nominate one player at each year's voting), not only for their outstanding accomplishments but also because I find it rather surprising that none of them have been inducted already. Though none of the players that I have selected could be considered a Gretzky or a Lemieux or a Howe or a Sawchuk, it is my sincere hope that some day the selection committee will remember these players for how good they truly were and choose them to be put in their rightful place, alongside players of similar calibre who have already been enshrined.