Recently the National Hockey League announced who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here are the players they have decided deserve the honor of being inducted.
Of the seven players elected to the Hall of Fame, four were very prominent players in the #NHL: Teemu Selanne, Dave Andreychuk, Mark Recchi, and Paul Kariya.
Teemu Selanne
Teemu is probably one of if not the greatest Finnish players to ever play in the NHL. He was selected 10th overall to Winnipeg in 1988. He has won many awards and had many achievements, including 1,451 games and 1,457 career points.
Teemu won the Calder Trophy in 1992-93, Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy in 1998-99, Bill Masterton Trophy (awarded to the player with the most dedication and perseverance to the game) in 2005-06, and finally, he won Lord Stanley’s Cup in 2006-07 while playing in Anaheim. While Teemu has plenty of awards he has even more records. When he was a rookie he set the record for most goals in a rookie season at 76 passing Mike Bossy (53 goals) and his 132 points by a rookie is also a record. His highest achievement is holding the NHL record for most goals by a Finnish player in his career at 684. The “Finnish Flash” is one of the greatest Finnish players to ever play hockey. The honor of the National Hockey League Hall of Fame is one of the greatest any player can receive and one Teemu does not have but surely will after his induction and will be more than happy to add to his award and trophy collection.
Dave Andreychuk
Dave has waited a very long time to join the Hall of Fame and finally, in his ninth year of eligibility, he will. Before being elected, however, he was the only player with over 600 goals (640) and not be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Andreychuk always believed in hockey as a team sport. This is why he was elected as the captain while he was playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Dave is one of many players who helped lead them to the organization's first and only Stanley Cup (so far) in 2004.
Mark Recchi
Mark did whatever it took to win. No matter what he always found ways to win and put the puck in the net that is why he is the 12th highest scorer in Nation Hockey League history (1,533 points). He played for 22 seasons in the NHL.
Before being elected to the Hall of Fame Mark Recchi was the only retired player with 500 or more goals and more than 1,500 points to not be in the Hall of Fame. Recchi has been a part of 5 Stanley Cups with three being a player (1991 Penguins, 2006 Hurricanes, and 2011 Bruins). Upon his retirement, he took a job with the Pittsburgh Penguins and has since been a part of two Stanley Cup wins (2016 and 2017).
Paul Kariya
Although he had a short career due to concussion issues, he did, however, have a good career averaging a point a game with 989 points (402 goals and 587 assists). He played with four different teams throughout his career with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators, and the St.
Louis Blues. He helped the Ducks to the 2003 Stanley Cup Final where they lost to the New Jersey Devils. In 2002 in won gold with Canada in the Salt Lake City Olympics. However, Paul credits much of his success to Teemu who he played along with in Anaheim and Colorado. Teemu and Paul credit each other to part of their success to the chemistry they had while they played together.
The others
Besides the four NHL players 3 other people are being inducted into the Hall of Fame they are Danielle Goyette, Jeremy Jacobs, and Clare Drake. Goyette is a very talented Canadian women’s hockey player. She has three Olympic medals (gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and in 2006 at the Turin Olympics and silver in 1998 at the Nagano Olympics).
She also has seven gold and a silver medal for Canada at the IIHF World Women’s Championship. The Hall of Fame is a huge honor for all hockey players and she is more than deserving of the honor. Jeremy Jacobs has been the owner of the Boston Bruins since 1975 and became chairman of the NHL Board of Governors in 2007. In 2015 he won the Lester Patrick Award for his service to the game of hockey in the United States. Finally, Clare Drake is known for his 28 years of service behind the bench at the University of Alberta. With Alberta, he has won six national championships. He also was a coach of the World Hockey Association for the Edmonton Oilers and was an assistant to the Winnipeg Jets in the 1989-90 season.
All three of these people are more than deserving of this great honor.
The Induction
On November 13th in Toronto, all seven of these individuals’ lives will change as they will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. All of these players and personnel are more than deserving of the honor of being inducted. Their contributions to the game of hockey have not gone unseen or noticed.
