Class of 2012

This is your class of 2012 that will be going into the Hockey Hall of Fame.  Mats Sundin, Joe Sakic, Pavel Bure, and Adam Oates will be inducted this Fall in Toronto.  Personally, I'm a little surprised that it's this foursome.

If you were to ask me who the locks were for this year's class, I'd tell you Sakic and Brendan Shanahan would be the favorites, so not having Shanahan in this class is a little surprising.  Now, if I had to take one player off this list, it would be Sundin.  Yes, Sundin has the more impressive International resume, and yes, he was the face of the Toronto Maple Leafs from the late 90's to 2008.  However, he didn't put up impressive enough numbers to leapfrog Shanahan, and is minus a Stanley Cup, which Shanahan has three.  Shanahan was never a leading man at any point (the Hartford stop in the 1995-96 season notwithstanding), which is the one argument a Sundin backer can make.  Both deserve to be in the Hall...I would only put Shanahan in before Sundin, though.

Sakic was the slam dunk as far as the Hall of Fame selection goes.  The face of the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise from 1990 until 2009, he tied a record for most goals in a playoff season en route to a Conn Smythe in 1996 and played perhaps his best hockey in a two season stretch in which he won the Hart Trophy, a Stanley Cup (his second, with the first in 1996), and was the best player in the 2002 Olympics en route to a Canada gold medal.  He let his numbers speak for themselves, and speak, they did.

Say what you shall about Bure, but when he was healthy and without contract issues, he was the most dynamic player on the ice.  Knee injuries cut his career short at 33 years old, and contract issues with the Canucks in 1998 would mar a career that saw 437 goals in 702 games.  The former Calder Trophy winner was a threat for 60 goals every year, which he did once or twice in his career.  As a Canuck fan, I can never say anything bad about him, even after the contract issues that led to his departure.

Oates' induction was long overdue, and it comes on a day when he was named the new head coach of the Washington Capitals.  His game was dishing out the puck, which he did well, and Cam Neely and Brett Hull were the biggest benefactors to his skills.  1,079 assists and almost eight years after he left the game as a player, he finally gets his deserved call, and will be coaching a likely future Hall of Famer in Alexander Ovechkin.