Who's in, Who's Out for the Hall of Fame?

Question

The NHL released their list of nominees for the hall of fame, and outside the favorites, who do you think will get in?

The favorites are:

Messier
Francis
Macinnis
Stevens
Larionov

Although only 4 will get in

If the NHL were allow 6 people in (the 5 above and 1 below) who would be the 6th person and which person is the biggest longshot?

The remaining players are

Adam Oates
Claude Lemieux
Pavel Bure
Doug Gilmour
Tom Barrasso
Phil Housley
Mike Richter

So who on that second list should go, and who should be taken off the list?

Answer 1

To pick someone off the second list to be inducted, my vote would have to be for Mike Richter. And even though he just retired a couple days ago, Brian Leetch should be a shoe-in next time. He was another phenomenal player that helped brake the Rangers curse. :)

Answer 2

Wow it's almost unfair that any of the first five will get snubbed this year, but it's going to be near impossible for anyone else to get into the Hall this year. It's basically down to those five.

Messier is a slam dunk. Six Cups and second all time it career points. Booyaaaaaaaaaaaah

Francis won a Selke for being the best DEFENSIVE forawrd. Not bad for a guy who is 4th in career point and 2nd in career assists. Plus something about two Cups. Slam Dunk.

Al Mac won a Cup and a Gold Medal. He also won the Conn Smythe. 1274 points for a defenseman is not too shabby. That's not a record but that has to be close. He was pretty much the ultimate power play point man.

So I think those three guys are definitely in, and it's between Larianov and Stevens for the fourth spot. Their numbers career accomplishments don't quite stack up to what those guy did on the ice, but they both belong in the Hall of Fame eventually.

Larionov had trouble breaking the "communist barrier." He came into the league at age 30 and still managed to rack up 644 points and three Cups. Back in Russia he was almost a point-a-game player. Just as importantly, he was huge in breaking the "communist barrier." I think his whole body of work gives him the nod into the Hall of Fame.

Stevens won wings as a captain but he's also going up against guys who have all won rings. His stats also don't quite stack up with, say, MacInnis. That's no knock on him, he'll get in next year I'm sure. But this year it's just really really tough competition.

I give Oates the best shot from your second list 14th all time in points and sixth in assists? Oates never won a Cup though, and he didn't really get any personal accolades either (except for a bunch of Byng nominations).

Oates was always underrated. Even Wikipedia says he is four foot eleven. LOL. I kinda hope he gets into the Hall, he deserves it. If not this year, he'll get there in a few years for sure.

Answer 3

Taking 1 off that first list is near impossible. Messier, Francis have to be locks....Taking away Larionov "appears" to be the easier chose but he was one of the best ever, too bad communism kept him away from the NHL. Imagine the numbers if he came here at 18 or 19, during the scoring era of the late 70s and 80s. I would give Macinnis a slight edge over Stevens, and I mean slight. Stevens had 900 pts, but turned into a Defensive D halfway through his career.

As for you would get in...not richter or barrasso. Bure was cut too short. Lemieux, nope. Housley was way too one dimensional for me..Oates and Gilmour are the same, but I would choose Gilmour because of his playoff successes. More complete player.

Answer 4

From the first list

Messier
Francis
Stevens
Larionov

I think Macinnis will be the odd man out but I do think he will get another shot at it.

From the second list...

I think Bure and Gilmour have the best shot at getting in.

I would peg Barrasso as the longshot. He had a very good career and has the "out -of-highschool" thing going for him but other than the cups in Pittsburg he hasn't done much. Plus, he never made many friends.

Answer 5

The first part of your question is tough. All five should be locks to get in. Messier and Francis are absolute locks. Choosing between MacInnis, Stevens and Larionov is very tough. I would say Larionov is in. It's the Hockey Hall of Fame, not the NHL Hall of Fame so my thought is Larionov gets in for his overall body of work not just his NHL work. Now that I have it down to Stevens and MacInnis it's still just as tough. MacInnis has better offensive numbers, Stevens has more rings. Personally, I would give the nod to Stevens for the rings and his leadership qualities but MacInnis should get in. My choice from the first list for not getting in is MacInnis.

The biggest long shot is Claude Lemieux. Despite his playoff heroics, his overall career doesn't match up to the other players in my mind. (I did not look up and compare the actual numbers of the players on the second list.)

The player I would include from the second list is Mike Richter. He is arguably the best US born goaltender ever (I would chose him in that category over Barasso).

Answer 6

Wow, this is tough.

Out of the favorites I would take Macinnis off the list and add two from the remaining players.

I would put in Adam Oates and Mike Richter.

I hope Claude Lemieux never makes it and I don't think Gilmour and Barrasso deserve it--I'm not saying they were bad players, they were good but the Hall is for the great players.

Answer 7

Of the top list Stevens looks like the odd man out. Of the guys on the bottom list Richter would be my first choice although i have a hard time leaving Oates out. As far as who should be removed, Claude Lemieux was a very good ROLE player on several teams but not even remotely deserving of Hall consideration and while Barrasso, Bure and Gilmour all had very good careers none of them did enough consistantly over the long haul to be voted in. All do deserve to be recognized as the outstanding players they were and deserve to have their names thrown into the talk but none quite measures up to the Hall standards (Housley I think eventially gets in).

Answer 8

Messier is a given as is Stevens, as for the others Larionov gets a nod for his WHOLE hockey career which means do we go with Francis (2 cups) or MacInnis (1 cup).
As for the other list, as much as we hate him Lemieux has how many cup rings?
Hard to ignore Housley, Barasso and Richter.
That leaves Bure, Gilmour and Oates on the outside looking in for another year or two.

Answer 9

On the second list, I'd pick Pavel Bure to be inducted: he's got two Rocket Richards, a Calder, played for the tough Soviet Union team internationally, and got silver for the Russian ice hockey team in the Olympics.

Ahh, I just can't pick anyone to take off the 1st list... If Claude Lemieux didn't win the Stanley Cup on 3 different teams (he's like one of four players or something to do so) he wouldn't be on a list, of course, but he's almost gets my vote to be off any list because he was such a dirty player.

Additionally, Messier is definitely the favorite of the favorites. Everyone's in love with him. Lol.

Answer 10

drop stevens from the first list, put phil housley in the guy played forever at a high level, the long shot would bure in my opinion because he wasnt a defensive player only offense and only dominated for a 3 or 4 year stretch. claude lemieux should go in the hall of ******* for the way he played the game

Answer 11

Well, th 5th person I would pick would be Mike Richter. great goalkeeper. hall of fame career. He's bound to get in at some point.

Messier and Francis are sure things. they are the only two who stand no chance of not getting in.

The biggest long shot though would probably be Lemieux, his dirty play just makes him a little difficult to think of as hall material.