The NHL announced their 2014 Hall of Fame Class. The 4 players that were elected to the Hall cannot be argued against, they are all worthy of the honor. For those that would argue that somebody else deserves to go in before these four are just playing to their personal prejudices.
Dominik Hasek - Goalie. He played for 4 NHL teams. Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, and Ottawa. Hasek won the Hart Trophy twice, the only Goalie to do that in the history of the NHL. He is the 22nd Goalie to win 300 games. He is the oldest goalie to post a 30 win season in the NHL. He was the first goalie to win the Lester B. Pearson award, and won 6 Vezina Trophies. He is the leader all-time in career save percentage. He had 81 shutouts, a 2.20 GAA, and is 11th place in all time wins. Hasek was part of two Red Wings Stanley Cup Championship teams. He won a Gold and Bronze medal in the Olympics. He also won a Silver Medal and 3 Bronze Medals in the World Championships. He was also a 6 time all-star.
Peter Forsberg - Center. One of the main driving forces on the Colorado Avalanche when they were winning Stanley Cups along with Partick Roy and Joe Sakic. He is eighth all time in points per game in the history of the game and fifth all time in career assists per game. The man played 708 games in the NHL. He scored 249 goals and had 636 assists for a point total of 845 for his career. A +/- of 237 for the career with 43 game winning goals. He won the Hart Trophy and only had 1 fight in his NHL career. Of course it was against a Red Wing, Martin LaPoint. He won 2 Gold medals in the Olympics for Sweden and has 2 Gold Medals and 3 Silver Medals from World Championships he competed in. He currently hold the position of Assistant General Manager of Modo Sports.
Rob Blake - Defense. Blake played for three teams in the NHL: Los Angeles, Colorado, and San Jose. Blake won 1 Stanley Cup while he was with the Avalanche. He was captain of both the Kings and Sharks. He has won Gold in the Olympics in 2002. Blake has won 2 Gold Medals and a Silver Medal at the World Championships. Blake won the Norris Trophy in 1998. He was also named to 6 All-Star teams. Currently, Blake is an Assistant General Manager for the Los Angeles Kings.
Mike Modano - Center. Modano played for two franchises. The Minnesota North Stars who became the Dallas Stars and the Detroit Red Wings. Modano won one Sanley Cup with the Stars. Modano holds records in the NHL for American born players. Most Goals, Points, and Playoff points in a career. An 8 time All-Star, he also won a Silver Medal in the 2002 Olympics. The man had 1374 points and 926 penalty minutes in his NHL career. He too only had one NHL fight and that was against Rod Brind'Amour. Currently, Modano is an alternate governor and executive advisor to the Stars front office.
There are two other people that are going in for their accomplishments inside the sport of hockey. Pat Burns and Bill McCreary. They are also no argument picks.
Pat Burns - Coach. Coached Montreal, Toronto, Boston, and New Jersey. Won a Stanley Cup with the Devils and reached the Finals with the Canadiens. He coached for 14 years (should have been longer), and in the 13 years he coached for the entire year, his teams made the playoffs 12 times. He actually coached the Maple Leafs to the playoffs three consecutive years. That in and of itself should have got him into the Hall seeing how bad the Maple Leafs have been in recent years. He won three Jack Adams awards, being the only coach to do that in his first years with a new team. He is being inducted posthumously to the Hall of Fame. Burns died of Colon Cancer in 2010.
Bill McCreary - Official. The official was a referee in the Finals 14 years, 13 straight from 1995 to 2007. He was also a finals referee in 2009. He refereed the 2002 and 2010 Olympics Gold Medal game. In his career, Bill refereed 1700 regular season games, 282 playoff games, and 1 All-Star game.
There are two sportswriters that are the 2014 Media Honorees: Kevin Allen and Pat Foley.
This is the 2014 Hockey Hall of Fame Class. The only sad thing is that Pat Burns is not going to be there. The electors did really well this year.
3 comments:
All of them are great picks. No arguments from me.
None from me either. It is hard to talk about defensemen though, isn't it? LOL I would add that, having watched all those players play, they certainly met the eyeball test, and Hasek and Forsberg in particular are in that very upper echelon of HOFers with Modano not far behind.
It is tough to talk defensemen. You can always say a hard hitter but that describes everybody back there. Offensive numbers aren't that impressive. That is why I put in being the Captain of LA and SJ for Blake. The respect that he had from others. Now to start the argument of others who should be in. A post within the next week about how Eric Lindros should be in the Hall.
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