[News] Selanne, Kariya, Anderychuk, Recchi, Goyette inducted into the HHOF

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

It's tough - where do you draw the line on longevity.

Even if you don't have a great top end (best season he was 4th in goals and 9th in points), you have to have some reward for being able to play at a high level for a very long time.

Even if he wasn't great at his peak the 640 goals have to be rewarded and are very impressive.

What I also find funny is that we keep hearing this about Andreychuk today but Recchi wasn't much different.

Andreychuk - GP:1639 G: 640 P:1338 P/G:0.82
Recchi: GP: 1652 G:577 P:1533 P/G:0.93

Recchi had a higher peak and better points per game but also had the benefit of playing with prime Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Eric Lindros, & Sidney Crosby.

There was a reddit thread on Recchi this morning, and my view was the same there: Recchi will eventually get in because of counting stats, not because he was elite. Just like Andreychuk and a multitude of guys already in there.

[Geeoff]

Interesting class:

Selanne: elite talent and longevity
Kariya: elite talent poor longevity
Recchi and Andreychuk: elite longevity but never elite talents

Hard to call the class weak though with a legit 1st ballot Hall of Famer like Selanne

[East Coast Flame]

Teemu4ever. What a legend. Love that guy.

I'm really happy Kariya made it as well. One of my favorite players growing up.

Don't really feel like Recchi and Andreychuk should be there, but it is what it is.

Great to see Goyette get in too. Well deserved.

[manwiches]

http://www.tsn.ca/selanne-and-kariya...rever-1.789412

The last one is a nice quip to hear. I was under the impression he hated the game, and wanted nothing to do with it. It sounds more so, and I already knew this from being a fan, that he is an extremely private person.

“It’s great that you were inducted with me, Paul, so we can fly together and you can pick up the tab for the private plane!” Selanne joked with Kariya on a conference call with reporters.

Kariya has taken up surfing three to four times a week in Southern California – considering Monday a lucky day “because I didn’t get eaten by a shark” - and snowboards or skis in British Columbia in the winter.

Hockey Hall of Fame chairman Lanny McDonald joked Selanne earned his “Finnish Flash” nickname on Monday because he phoned Kariya to break the news before McDonald could even get to Kariya. Selanne joins Jari Kurri as just the second Finnish born player ever inducted.

“Teemu always joked I could read his mind,” Kariya said. “Off the ice it wasn’t hard, he was always watching Baywatch shows.”

Kariya, 42, netted 989 points in 989 games. Known for not only his skating and vision, but also his lethal backhand – perhaps one of the best backhand shots ever – he finished in the top seven in league scoring four different times.

Kariya said Monday he is perfectly happy living a life outside of hockey, even if Selanne has tried to drag him back in. Kariya said it took him a full year of rehab for him to feel “normal” again after the concussions, but has no headaches or restrictions and lives an active lifestyle.
“I’m grateful for every second I played in the NHL,” Kariya said. “I didn’t retire willingly. If there was any way to wave a magic wand and go back and play again, even through all the ups and downs, I would do it again in a heartbeat. There are no fences to be mended. I appreciate the opportunity I was given. I haven’t been out publicly as much but that’s just me as a private person. I am still a fan of the game. I still watch, and I’m excited to see where the game goes next.”

[hah]

No Paul Henderson

[BlAcKNoVa]

Lanny calling Teemu!

https://streamable.com/to4gv

[boogerz]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Not one player on that list is not worthy of the hall.

How do you justify putting Andreychuk in the HHOF?

Andreychuk:
1x 3rd Team All-Star (not an official award though)
2 top 10 finishes in goals
1 top 10 finish in assists

Not once in his 23 year career was he ever considered one of the best players in the game. For comparison, Selanne and Kariya are below. Andreychuk is an embarrassing pick and the selection committee should feel bad for lowering the bar so low


Selanne:
2x 1st Team All-Star
2x 2nd Team All-Star
1x 3rd Team All-Start (not an official award though)
3 top 5 finishes in Hart voting (including one year as the runner-up)
3x Rocket Richard (one is retroactive)
7 top 10 finishes in points
6 top 10 finishes in goals
5 top 10 finishes in assists
684 goals and 1457 points playing mostly in the dead puck era


Kariya:
3x 1st Team All-Star
2x 2nd Team All-Star
1 top 5 finish in Hart voting (runner-up)
4 top 10 finishes in points
4 top 10 finishes in goals
2 top 10 finishes in assists

[killer_carlson]

Glad to see Goyette get in. Good for her.

As for the guys, Theo should be in before Recchi in my opinion.

[Violator]

I figured the reason Anderychuk got in was because of the few years he played for Toronto

[OzSome]

Good on Selanne and Kariya getting in the HOF. I always like Selanne. He came so close of being a Flame in his rookie year. Flames tried to sign him only for the Winnipeg Jets to match and beat the offer.

[powderjunkie]

If Dino Ciccarelli is in, then I guess Andreychuk can too. But that's the worst argument ever.

Is Keith Tkachuk now the non-active goal leader outside the hall (538)? Pat Verbeek not far behind at 522. Turgeon, Roenick, and Bondra also over 500. Bondra has the best gpg of the group. Ovechkin, Hossa*, and Marleau still active over 500. Only Shanahan has both more goals and PIM than Tkachuk.

[1qqaaz]

I am in the minority that greatly values career longevity and huge totals.
I don't really care how great someone was for 1 year. I care about how good they were over 20 years.

That said, I'm glad to see Kariya get in. I think all 4 are deserving for the honour.

However, the same cannot be said for Jeremy Jacobs. Definitely not one of the good guys in hockey. But I guess owning a team for 40+ years gets you in, no matter the character.

[868904]

I don't think any GM in the right mind would have traded Kariya in his prime for Andreychuk in his prime.

I don't think any GM in the right mind would have traded Roenick in his prime for Andreychuk in his prime.

I don't think any GM in the right mind would have traded Tkachuk in his prime for Andreychuk in his prime.

I don't think any GM in the right mind would have traded Fleury in his prime for Andreychuk in his prime. Theo must be so pissed off right now that Andreychuk made it and he hasn't.

Hell I wouldn't have traded Gary Roberts in his prime for Andreychuk, and I don't think Roberts is even close to a hall of fame candidate.

As Ray Ferraro said, the HHOF should be reserved for players who teams had to actually game plan against. Ferraro never played on a team that had to game plan against Dave Andreychuk and I don't think he's alone in that.

Longevity should be a minor criteria, something that should be looked at after they've past the main criteria such as dominance and elite talent.

[FireGilbert]

Selanne and Kariya are no brainers as they were two of the top wingers of their time. If Kariya wasn't concussed he likely would have ended up with similar career stats to Selanne.

I can also understand Recchi making the hall. He put up some very good stats playing most of his career in a low scoring era, was a regular at the All Star game, and 5 Cups (3 as a player) is impressive.

Andreychuk on the other hand is not a HOF player. He put up most of his points in a high scoring era yet never once cracked 100 in a season and only made the All Star game 2 times. Let's think about that, the All Star game has the top 8 LWers in the game participating and Andreychuk only made it twice. How can you be a HOFer if you are only considered top 8 at your position twice?!? I can't help but thinking his contribution the Leafs conference finals runs has caused him to be overrated by HOF voters in the centre of the hockey universe. It is the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of pretty good at standing in front of the net scoring power play goals.

[ToewsFan]

Way to go, Teemu!

Can't say I agree with the Andreychuk induction.

[Hanna Sniper]

wow Andreychuk , the HHoF finally has a player that can't skate backwards

[OILFAN #81]

Who gets in next year?

Brodeur is the slam dunk lock. St. Louis and Mogilny would be my votes. 4th player, maybe Alfredsson or one of the guys who never got in this time around.

[dash_pinched]

Steve Dangle makes the case for Theo...

All four of Bure, Forsberg, Lindros and Kariya deserve their spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame due to their incredible NHL careers despite circumstances that kept them from playing longer.

With that said… why isn’t Theoren Fleury in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Theo Fleury scored over 90 points four times in his career and over 100 points twice. His 1,088 points puts him 61st in career NHL scoring, just 11 points behind Glenn Anderson, a Hockey Hall of Famer who played in 45 more games and in an era with more scoring.

Fleury won a Stanley Cup with Calgary in 1989 and won gold with Canada in 2002. He was top five in Hart voting twice, including once as a 22-year-old.

How about this: Fleury played in more games and scored more points than all four of Bure, Forsberg, Lindros and Kariya. “Well they had more points per game than Fleury!” Bure, Forsberg and Lindros did, but Kariya did not.

Let me be perfectly clear: I am not saying these things to downplay Paul Kariya’s accomplishments. He deserves to be in his rightful spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame. That’s also true for Selanne, Recchi and Andreychuk based on other players the Hall has inducted.

What I am saying, however, is that if we look at the careers of previous inductees — if we look at the hardware and if we look at the numbers — Theoren Fleury should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Yet, Fleury’s last regular season NHL game was in 2003, over 14 years ago, and he’s still not in the Hall.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/p...n-theo-fleury/

[Gaudfather]

Duha had an interesting hit on the Big Show this week talking about the HHOF selection process. He has been on the selection committee for 14 years. Says it takes 14 of the 18 committee members agreeing to the selections.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/960/the-big-...key-hall-fame/

[jlh2640]

Sigh, I dont think Theo ever gets that call