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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger •
The Hall of Fame festivities were held last night in Toronto with Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, Steve Yzerman and Brian Leetch being inducted. That occasion spurred the sports talk shows in Toronto to ponder the nominees for next year's class and raised the question of whether former Leaf and fan favorite Doug Gilmour would make the list. Unlike the Baseball Hall Of Fame, where reaching certain current milestones like 3000 hits gains you virtually certain entry(unless you do something incredibly stupid like Pete Rose or Rafael Palmeiro), the Hockey Hall Of Fame also places a level of importance on players who obtain championship rings.
Players like Clark Gillies, a prominent member of the great New York Islander dynasty in the early 1980’s or Bernie Federko, a great playmaking center for the late 70s/early 80s St. Louis Blues, have been admitted in recent years and their entry has raised eyebrows for not being Hall of Fame material. My purpose here is not to defame either player, because they both had excellent careers. Gillies was an impact player, and intimidating presence and the prototype of what we now call a power forward, but his numbers (319 goals, 697 points in 958 games) are comparable to former Leaf Wendel Clark(330 goals, 564 points in 793 games) and in spite of the place that most Maple Leaf fans hold in their hearts for Wendel, he is not a Hall of Famer. Without his Stanley Cup rings, Gillies’ individual achievements fall short. Federko has great stats(369 goals, 1130 points in 1000 games) but he never won a Stanley Cup. The closest he ever came to winning a championship was a loss in the conference finals to Calgary in 1985-86, a year in which he tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with a 23 year old center named Gilmour.
Doug Gilmour's statistics are terrific(450 goals, 1414 points in 1474 games, also scoring 188 points in 182 playoff games). He had a 42 goal, 100+ point season for St. Louis in 1986-87. In 1989, he was an integral part of the Flames championship run, scoring the game-winning goal for Calgary in the elimination game versus the Montréal Canadiens. In consecutive years, 1992-93 and 1993-94, it is arguable that Doug Gilmour was the best player in the NHL because he carried the Toronto Maple Leafs to two conference finals on his back. After being traded to New Jersey in 1997, the remainder of his career was spent more as a journeyman. If that fact is a negative mark on his viability for the Hall of Fame, then a player like Phil Housley, who becomes eligible next year should be not be considered at all since he played for 9 teams in his career as opposed to Gilmour’s 7 teams.
Tonight, the Minnesota Wild come to the ACC to play the Leafs. The Wild are 6-10-0 and are in the basement in the Western Conference with 12 points. They also boast the league's second worst road record at 1-8-0, with only the Carolina Hurricanes having a worse record. The Wild's big free-agent signing, Martin Havlat has only managed one goal and seven points so far this season. Niklas Backstrom will get the start in net for Minnesota and Jonas Gustavsson will start his fourth consecutive game for Toronto. Michael Komisarek was slightly injured on Saturday night versus Detroit, but it has been reported that he will not miss the game tonight.
From the desk of Mike "In Buffalo" Augello
Players like Clark Gillies, a prominent member of the great New York Islander dynasty in the early 1980’s or Bernie Federko, a great playmaking center for the late 70s/early 80s St. Louis Blues, have been admitted in recent years and their entry has raised eyebrows for not being Hall of Fame material. My purpose here is not to defame either player, because they both had excellent careers. Gillies was an impact player, and intimidating presence and the prototype of what we now call a power forward, but his numbers (319 goals, 697 points in 958 games) are comparable to former Leaf Wendel Clark(330 goals, 564 points in 793 games) and in spite of the place that most Maple Leaf fans hold in their hearts for Wendel, he is not a Hall of Famer. Without his Stanley Cup rings, Gillies’ individual achievements fall short. Federko has great stats(369 goals, 1130 points in 1000 games) but he never won a Stanley Cup. The closest he ever came to winning a championship was a loss in the conference finals to Calgary in 1985-86, a year in which he tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with a 23 year old center named Gilmour.
Doug Gilmour's statistics are terrific(450 goals, 1414 points in 1474 games, also scoring 188 points in 182 playoff games). He had a 42 goal, 100+ point season for St. Louis in 1986-87. In 1989, he was an integral part of the Flames championship run, scoring the game-winning goal for Calgary in the elimination game versus the Montréal Canadiens. In consecutive years, 1992-93 and 1993-94, it is arguable that Doug Gilmour was the best player in the NHL because he carried the Toronto Maple Leafs to two conference finals on his back. After being traded to New Jersey in 1997, the remainder of his career was spent more as a journeyman. If that fact is a negative mark on his viability for the Hall of Fame, then a player like Phil Housley, who becomes eligible next year should be not be considered at all since he played for 9 teams in his career as opposed to Gilmour’s 7 teams.
Tonight, the Minnesota Wild come to the ACC to play the Leafs. The Wild are 6-10-0 and are in the basement in the Western Conference with 12 points. They also boast the league's second worst road record at 1-8-0, with only the Carolina Hurricanes having a worse record. The Wild's big free-agent signing, Martin Havlat has only managed one goal and seven points so far this season. Niklas Backstrom will get the start in net for Minnesota and Jonas Gustavsson will start his fourth consecutive game for Toronto. Michael Komisarek was slightly injured on Saturday night versus Detroit, but it has been reported that he will not miss the game tonight.
From the desk of Mike "In Buffalo" Augello
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