The Hockey Hall of Fame Committee will meet tomorrow to determine who the next entrants in the hall will be. Former Penguins center Ron Francis is someone who has just become eligible for that honor.
While the Hockey Hall of Fame's rules aren't asinine or self-important like the Baseball Hall of Fame's, it does have a stupid rule that no more than four people can be in an enshrinement class in a given year. Normally that rule wouldn't be an issue but this year it is. A Who's Who of hockey is eligible this year and more than a few great players will have to be left out of the Hall if the rule is observed.
The players eligible include:
Igor Larionov - He was one of the first stars from the Soviet Union to play in the NHL. He helped blaze a trail for the scores of Russian players that came to the NHL in the 1990's.
Claude Lemieux - A gritty two-way player who won the Stanley Cup four times with three different teams. Only Wayne Gretzky (24) has scored more career game-winning playoff goals than Lemieux (19) who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1995.
Al MacInnis - Possessor one of the hardest shots in NHL history, MacInnis was one of the last defensemen to register a 100 point season when he scored 103 in 1990-91. MacInnis (1,274) is third all-time among defensemen in career points trailing only Ray Bourque (1,579) and Paul Coffey (1,531).
Mark Messier - One of the most famous hockey players ever, Messier was one of the NHL's "big three" along with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux in the 1980's and 90's. He trails only Gretzky (2,857) in career points with (1,887)
Adam Oates - Oates was one of the best pure passers in the game during the 1990's. He is sixth all-time in career assists (1,079) and 15th in career points (1,420).
Scott Stevens - Perhaps the league's best checker during the 1990's, Stevens helped the Devils become a viable NHL franchise by leading them to three Stanley Cup championships. And while he was mostly acclaimed for his defense, Stevens did score 908 points in his NHL career, an impressive total for a blue-liner who toiled during the NHL's "dead puck" era.
And Ron Francis:
Francis's resume includes:
1,798 career points. Only Gretzky, Messier and Gordie Howe (1,850) have more. That's some impressive company.
1,249 career assists. Only Gretzky had more.
549 career goals, 22nd all-time. That's more than bona-fide legends such as Maurice Richard (544), Stan Mikita (541) and Gilbert Perreault (512).
22 consecutive seasons with 50 or more points. That's no small feat considering one of Francis' seasons was the 1994-95 season that was shortened by a lockout and the final seasons of his career were also spent in the "dead puck" era.
1995 Frank J. Selke Trophy winner as the league's top defensive forward.
Four All-Star game selections.
Three-time winner of the Lady Byng Trophy (Don't laugh).
Considered by some to be the best face-off man in the 1990's.
Getting beat up by Alexei Kasatonov probably won't help Francis's cause however:
If we had a pecking order in terms of who should go in it would be:
1. Messier
2. Francis
3. MacInnis
4. Stevens
5. Oates
6. Larionov
7. Lemieux
That said, all seven should go in. They're all hall-of-famers. A silly rule shouldn't delay the process for any of them. The standard waiting period of three years for enshrinement was waived for Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. That rule was put aside for two special players. Why can't the "rule of four" be put aside for a special class?
EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS
Other former Penguins now eligible for the Hall of Fame include Marc Bergevin, Kelly Buchberger and Ron Tugnutt. Former Penguins who have been eligible for some time include Tom Barrasso and Rick Tocchett. The complete list of eligible players can be viewed here.
Georges Laraque's shoulder should be fine by the time training camp starts.
Shelly Anderson tells us the time is now for Jonathan Filewich, Tyler Kennedy and Ryan Stone.
Maxime Talbot is smooth enough to hit on Sonni Abatta. So we're thinking that talent should help him when he enters the World Series of Poker.
Tim Brent, who the Penguins just acquired from Anaheim, is excited to be getting a shot in Pittsburgh. Kudos to EN reader Jodie LeMaster for spotting that item.
The Atlanta Thrashers dealt the rights to forward Keith Tkachuk back to the St. Louis Blues. The Blues had traded Tkachuk to Atlanta before the trading deadline last season in exchange for a bundle of draft picks.
We are four days away from the free agency period starting and the NHL still doesn't have a salary cap figure determined for next season. Who said this was a garage league?
Wayne Gretzky's making wine? Oh do the puns write themselves with that one.
The Wheeling Nailers acquired Brendan Cook in a trade with the Columbia Inferno.
Today's Definition of Irony: On the front of the Nailer's home page, there is a link about the Nailers' Web sited being named the ECHL's Web site of the year. The only problem, when you link to the story the page doesn't come up.
Happy (belated) Birthday to Mondesi's House.
PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA SPOT STEVE McKENNA FOR US
EN's best Australian fan checks in with us:
"I've been doing a little hockey hunting down here and have discovered something bordering on cool. The Aussie IIHF team is coached by Steve McKenna. Being an Ex-Penguin is the only cool factor there though. His stats aren't very impressive, but I'm no expert on how that translates into coaching ability. Oh and we get to host Division 2 of the IIHF next year.
We also have a tragic name. The Mighty Roos. I'm embarrassed. Australian hockey is pretty unimaginative with naming teams. The national league (The AIHL) has Ice Dogs, Northstars, Avalanche. It's even worse in Western Australia. We don't have an AIHL team because the travel is a very big issue from here. Our local teams names are taken pretty much straight from NHL teams. No Penguins though. We have a grand total of two rinks and four sets of teams. On the upside, it's hockey season now.
I was on the other side of the country a couple of weeks ago and managed to take in a game between the West Sydney Ice Dogs and the Canberra Knights. My daughter and I turned up dressed in our Penguins jerseys, all set to be Ice Dogs fans, because she's living in Sydney now. I found it very difficult to maintain that stance when the Knights goalie stepped onto the ice. He was dressed up all pretty in BRIGHT YELLOW RBK PADS! Most distracting for a Flower Fan. He tried so very hard to be like Fleury, too. Poor kid. He's got the moves, but not the speed.
The rink we went to was decorated with hockey posters and they had a Mario Lemieux jersey on display.
The periods here are only 15 minutes long, which had me feeling a little bit ripped off, but hey, it's hockey. At least I got some. Now I have to find a team to love back here at home.
You were looking for Pens fans in Antarctica recently. I figure since Australia pretty much owns the place, I can vouch for the inhabitants. They are penguins, too, after all. - Lisa Weir, Perth, Western Australia
EN - First off, Lisa's devotion to this team never ceases to amaze us. It's one thing to be a Penguins fan in this city or even this continent, but be a Penguins fan on the other side of globe is quite another. And Lisa doesn't have any ties to Pittsburgh either. She's just a fan of the brand of hockey the Penguins play.
Thankfully for Australia, statistics appear to have very little to do with coaching success. Wayne Gretzky has more points than anyone and he's done very little as the bench boss of the Phoenix Coyotes. So by that logic, Australia should win the next IIHF tournament coming up with McKenna calling the shots.
There is nothing to be ashamed of with by the Mighty Roos name. The NHL is a league that had the Mighty Ducks for goodness sake. Mighty Roos is at least a tribute to the wildlife of Australia. Mighty Ducks was a tribute to a soulless corporation with mouse ears.
And don't fret about being unoriginal. The NHL has three Canadian teams that didn't exactly get too creative with their monikers:
Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
Vancouver Canucks
That would be like naming a team in Pittsburgh the Pittsburgh Pennsylvanians, the Pittsburgh Keystones or the Pittsburgh Yinzers.
And were' going to hold out for someone actually on Antarctica to chime in before we claim it. We think that's the fair way to handle things.
PEOPLE IN WEST VIRGINIA DON'T SMELL
We struck a nerve with some commentary about our wild and wonderful neighbors in a post about the NHL draft:
"I love your blog. I'm not going to lie, I check it every day. But honestly, the comment about not breathing in West Virginia was totally unnecessary. Unless, that is, you were going through the northern part of Hancock County by Mountaineer Racetrack, in which case I encourage it.
I'm from Weirton, which is a little south of the casino, and we're civilized, all the way down through Wheeling, home of the Nailers, who will always be the Thunderbirds in my heart. I own a full-season plan for the Pens, go to at least fifteen Pirate games a year, drive a black Cobalt with a Pens plate in front, have all my teeth, and talk with a Pittsburgh accent. I'm a full-blown Pittsburgher 362 days a year (all except for the Pitt-WVU football and basketball games), and I'm trying to get into Pitt Law School next year.
So give the northern panhandle a break, huh? It's not our fault three-fourths of the state lives up to the stereotype." - Joe Carpini, Weirton, W.Va.
EN-We apologize for the unjust stereotype and thank Joe for being civil in his disagreement to our comments. In honor of Joe, we will post a video of West Virginia quarterback Pat White making fun of Pitt's "Panther Growl" during last year's Pitt-West Virginia football game:
PEOPLE IN KAZAKHSTAN TRANSLATE STUFF FOR US
A fuzzy news item we had concerning the automobile of one Evgeni Malkin was cleared up by someone with a more fluent Russian tongue than us:
"According to the original Russian text, Evgeni Malkin was not in the car at the time of the accident: he let one of his friends drive his Mercedes while Evgeni was vacationing in France with his girlfriend." - Bolatbek Zhainazaro, Almaty, Kazakhstan
EN - We so want to make a lame Borat joke but we don't want disrespect our only known reader in Kazakhstan. So we'll just thank Bolatbek for the translation.
First Published: June 27, 2007, 7:45 p.m.
