The Puck Stops Here

After the playoffs end, the Hall of Fame committee will induct the class of 2006. While I am thinking about it I thought I would post the players I would induct were I a member of the committee. Here were my picks last year. You might notice none of my choices were inducted. So I could pick the same crew as last year, but I won't. There are some newcomers this season who are ready for induction.

In 2007, there will be a large class of new potential inductees as all the players who retired at the end of the 2003/04 season are eligible as well as those who retired before the start of the 2005/06 year after the lockout ended. As a result, this is the last chance (for a while anyway) for the players who were considered in 2005 to get serious Hall of Fame consideration.

From the group of newcomers who are first time eligible, I would induct Patrick Roy, Doug Gilmour and Phil Housley.

Patrick Roy is pretty obvious. Many consider him the best goalie of all time.

Doug Gilmour is the 16th highest point scorer of all time. He was also a respected defensive forward who garnered the 1993 Selke Trophy and serious Hart Trophy consideration.

Phil Housley is the 33rd highest point scorer of all time (and he did it from defence!). He is the fourth highest point scoring defenceman of all time. While some criticized his defence at times, if you put any importance into scoring, the fourth highest scoring defender ever belongs in the Hall of Fame.

As my fourth and final pick (the Hall is limited to 4 skater inductions per year - under normal circumstances) I bring back Dino Ciccarelli. It is politcs and not hockey that keep him out. He may not have been the most likeable person to the members of the Hall of Fame committee. He retired the nineth highest goal scorer of all time (though has dropped to 13th since retirement). If we believe goals are important to hockey, a player like Ciccarelli needs to be in the Hall of Fame.

In the past, I supported Mark Howe and Sergei Makarov for the Hall as well. I still do. I think they will have to wait for another year. Maybe after the glut of lockout retirements have passed.