2010 Hall of Fame Class

[God Bless Canada]

Pavel Bure had a HOF career and should be acknowledged as such. He led the league in goals twice while with the Panthers skating on essentially one knee. Cam Neely gets in, Pavel gets in.

Neely needed nearly a decade before he was inducted. And he was a better hockey player than the one-dimensional Bure.

 

[God Bless Canada]

Even on scoring finishes alone, he compares well with recent HOFer Pat Lafontaine. Fleury had 3 top 10 finishes in scoring to Lafontaine's 2, 6 top 20 finishes to Lafontaine's 5, and 12 top 50 finishes to Lafontaine's 9. Add in his playoff resume and any style credit you want to give him and Fleury looks like a legitimate candidate.

But that's why HHOF voters don't just blindly look at stats, top 10 finishes or top 20 finishes.

From 1988 to 1996, when he was healthy, Pat Lafontaine was an unbelievable player. He was a gifted goal scorer and a dazzling playmaker. But he ran into two issues: surrounding talent, and injuries.

When he was in Long Island, he had junk to work with on the wings. In 87-88, he formed a good 1-2 punch down the middle with Trottier, but beyond that, from 87-91, his wingers included Randy "Hands of" Wood, Mikko Makela, David Volek, early-in-his-career Derek King, Pat Flatley, end-of-his-career Don Maloney and Alan Kerr. Not exactly top-end talent, and certainly not the talent Theo had in Calgary.

He went to Buffalo, played with guys like Mogilny (he brought the absolute best out of Mogs), Andreychuk and Hawerchuk. The results? He was unstoppable. With Mogilny on his wing, and Hawerchuk on the second line, Lafontaine had room to operate. He was still The Man, but he wasn't the only offensive threat in Buffalo. If you keyed on Lafontaine, you were burned by Mogilny and Hawerchuk. If you didn't key on Lafontaine, he'd get a goal and two assists.

He played a fearless, very offensively aggressive game, and that ultimately led to his early downfall. Granted, the late 90s Sabres had marginally more talent than the late 80s/early 90s Islanders, and Lafontaine was back to being the one man show in 1995-96, but he lost a couple potential top-five scoring finishes in 1993-94 and 1995 due to a knee injury.

If he would have had good talent around him from 1988-91, he's a perennial top 10 in several categories. He was that good. If he had the talent that Theo had, he's a perennial top five finisher.

I'm a big Theo fan, and I'm probably his biggest supporter for induction around here. But Lafontaine was definitely the better player, and definitely more deserving of induction.

 

[Epsilon]

I'm still holding out hope that the NHLHOF, commonly called the HHOF, actually starts to realize that many many great players never played a game in the NHL and unquestionably deserve to get in over all the players mentioned in this thread. Maltsev, Mikhailov, Vasiliev, Tumba, Bobrov, Holecek.....just to name a couple.

Completely agree but really I'm afraid the HHOF is going to go in a totally different direction and start inducting female Canadian and American players (Wickenheiser, Granato, Campbell, etc.) long before they ever get to classic European stars.

 

[DaveG]

If they were going to induct Makarov, they would have done it when they inducted Igor Larionov last year. I don't think Makarov will ever make it. Which is a shame.

I don't think you'll see four guys inducted. Gilmour and Oates finally make it, on their fifth and fourth attempts, respectively. I'd love to see the quintessential small forward, Theo Fleury, make it, but he won't. You might see a guy like Claude Provost make it in. But beyond Gilmour and Oates, I would say that all bets are off.

That I would agree with. As much as Fleury deserves to be there, just too many off-ice issues surrounding the guy. Oates is a no-brainer this year, as should be Gilmour but I'm not making any kind of bets on that one. Would be nice to see the Hall make some kind of effort to induct either some of the notable international players that haven't made it in yet or at the very least to see Howe and Tremblay make it in. Wouldn't mind seeing Barrasso make it in either but he's entirely borderline as is (despite the Calder, Vezina and 2 cups) and his reputation in the media makes that next to impossible.

 

[kmad]

Jimmy Devellano needs to be inducted in the builders category.

 

[Marc08]

Don't forget. There will be two female inductees of the 2010 Hall of Fame Class.

 

[arrbez]

I really wish they would induct the female players separately.

 

[CANUCKER4LIFE19*]

Neely needed nearly a decade before he was inducted. And he was a better hockey player than the one-dimensional Bure.

 

[seventieslord]

I really wish they would induct the female players separately.

I know it's not PC to say so, but I agree.

 

[Marc08]

I know it's not PC to say so, but I agree.

4 male players and 2 female players

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

4 male players and 2 female players

So the females don't reduce the number of males inducted?

Nobody should have a problem with it then.

 

[Herzeleid]

Neely WAS better than Bure. There`s nothing funny about it.

 

[Axxellien]

April The 30th:

And a Happy 76th BirthDay to Mr. Donald Hamilton McKenney; May Your rich Legacy be FINALLY recognized, Sir, by the August Hall Of Fame Selection Committé, in order that a gaping omission be rectified, post haste.... Many Happy Returns, Sir....

 

[jkrx]

When guys like Tretiak, Makarov, Maltsev, Kharlamov, Mikhailov, Petrov, Tikhonov etc is not inducted, its not a hall of fame.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

When guys like Tretiak, Makarov, Maltsev, Kharlamov, Mikhailov, Petrov, Tikhonov etc is not inducted, its not a hall of fame.

Tretiak and Kharlamov are inducted.

 

[tarheelhockey]

So the females don't reduce the number of males inducted?

Nobody should have a problem with it then.

Also, it's not guaranteed that there will be any female members included. All voting runs according to these rules, and 2 is the maximum number of female inductees:

Any candidate receiving 75% or greater approval of the members of the Selection Committee present is declared elected. Candidates receiving fewer than 50% of the votes are dropped from further consideration for the year in question.

If the maximum number of candidates is not elected on the first ballot, a series of run-off ballots shall be conducted, subject to the next paragraph below. On each such run-off ballot, each member of the Selection Committee present is entitled to vote for the number of candidates which may still be elected given the applicable maximum number.

If on any ballot: (i) no candidate receives votes from at least 75% or fewer than 50% of the Selection Committee present (the "First Event"), or (ii) the number of candidates on the such ballot is less than or equal to the number of persons who can then be elected without exceeding the maximum (the "Second Event"), then no further balloting shall be conducted, regardless of whether the maximum number of persons has been elected or not, save and except that if the First Event occurs on the first or second ballot and the Second Event is not applicable, (A) the candidate or candidates who received the lowest number of votes shall be dropped for further consideration and one or more further ballots shall be conducted, or (B) if all candidates receive the same number of votes and the number of persons who can be elected without exceeding the maximum is 2 or more, a further ballot shall be conducted in accordance with the weighted voting procedures set out in By-law No. 21 . On any run-off ballot, only candidates receiving at least 75% of the votes of the total number of members of the Selection Committee present shall be declared elected.

While I find it probable that there will be 2 this year, it's not set in stone until the votes are cast.

 

[Big Phil]

I really wish they would induct the female players separately.

It's to be PC. Unfortunately the HHOF falls to politics way too often as we see with some NHL players. I don't agree either.


But honestly this has got to be the year where Gilmour and Oates are finally enshrined. The HHOF is extremely strict on goalies (which I don't mind) but I've given up on a guy like Vachon finally getting his due.

That being said, I don't understand what the fuss is about Oates. What more could the guy have done? He never won a Cup and wasn't a legendary playoff performer but he was still a good playoff performer I felt. He has HHOF written all over him.

I am convinced the reason Gilmour is not in the HHOF is because of his "babysitter" accusations, which is just what it was - an accusation. If it is true should a guy sleeping with a 16 year old when he's 24 over 20 years ago really stop him from getting his due? His playoff portfolio is easily comparable to Yzerman if not better (nothing funny about that) and is being tied for 6th in playoff points not pretty much a shoo-in? If he had shoddy regular season numbers than maybe I can understand but he didn't. He was a point a game guy practically with 2-3 seasons that I would consider "great" thrown in with some very good years. I have a feeling the HHOF committee wants him in but will wait like Glenn Anderson just to see if he stays clean off the ice. But it's insane, we all saw the guy play and no one here has ever given a good reason why he or Oates shouldn't be in.

 

[jkrx]

Tretiak and Kharlamov are inducted.

Yea I know.. dont know why even wrote them.

 

[Axxellien]

Happy April 30th, Mr. Flem MacKell:

Greetings & Happy 81rst Anniversary, Mr. Fleming MacKell....May the Hockey Gods smile upon You Sir & reward Your exceptional career by inducting You in the Pantheon of the truly Great!!.....Proper recognition is overdue, Sir....

 

[Big Phil]

Greetings & Happy 81rst Anniversary, Mr. Fleming MacKell....May the Hockey Gods smile upon You Sir & reward Your exceptional career by inducting You in the Pantheon of the truly Great!!.....Proper recognition is overdue, Sir....

With all due respect to MacKell, I disagree. He was a good player but would fall into Dick Duff territory if he were inducted and even then......

 

[seventieslord]

Mackell can't even carry Duff's jock. Not sure if there is even a 2nd person on earth who would campaign for his induction.

 

[Epsilon]

That poster thinks that anyone who played from 1950-1970 on a top 2 line or a top 4 defense pairing deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

 

[Axxellien]

Oh No, Sir..There are good players from that fabled era who played supporting roles, in this instance, Jerry Toppazzini & Leo Labine in Boston, Andy Hebenton, Dean Prentice in New York, Melnyck, Wilson in the Motor City, whom i would never suggest...I am simply insisting that there were players who excelled & distinguished themselves in various ways & circumstances, above and beyond the norm, and deserve far better than cavalier neglect..The abject lack of knowledge & misinformation i`ve seen here is alas, typical....

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

If it is true should a guy sleeping with a 16 year old when he's 24 over 20 years ago really stop him from getting his due?

i don't want to get into a whole morality argument here, but if it is true, then yeah, i can see that being a good justification for him not getting in. i suspect a lot of people would be on board with that.

but being that we don't know if it's true, i don't agree with the stench of a more than twenty year-old controversy keeping him out.

 

[seventieslord]

Oh No, Sir..There are good players from that fabled era who played supporting roles, in this instance, Jerry Toppazzini & Leo Labine in Boston, Andy Hebenton, Dean Prentice in New York, Melnyck, Wilson in the Motor City, whom i would never suggest...I am simply insisting that there were players who excelled & distinguished themselves in various ways & circumstances, above and beyond the norm, and deserve far better than cavalier neglect..The abject lack of knowledge & misinformation i`ve seen here is alas, typical....

I'd like to hear your case for why Fleming MacKell would be a better player, or more deserving of the HHOF than Dean Prentice. Better playoff numbers, a bit tougher... that's about all I can see.