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Kevin Lowe and Ken Holland Named To Hockey Hall of Fame 2020 Class |
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Today, the 2020 class of the Hockey Hall of Fame was announced with Marian Hossa, Jarome Iginla, Doug Wilson, Kim St. Pierre of the Canada Women's National Team, and long time Oilers defenseman Kevin Lowe.
Kevin Lowe played in 19 NHL seasons, 15 of those with the Edmonton Oilers and the other 4 being with the New York Rangers. Through his career he played in 1254 games, scored 84 goals and 431 points. He was a part of 6 different Stanley Cup winning teams, five with the Edmonton Oilers and one with the Rangers.
Since 1980, Kevin Lowe is the 84th highest scoring defenseman in the NHL and 30th in even strength points. To this day, he remains the Oilers second highest scoring defenseman, 15 points ahead of Charlie Huddy and only 286 behind Paul Coffey.
It will be pointed out that Lowe's points were never as high as they could have been on one of the most offensively dominant teams of all time, but on that roster he was one of the Oilers best shut down options against the opposition's best lines and often Sather, Gretzky, and Messier would speak highly of Lowe as a strong leader in the room.
Fans nowadays, especially younger fans will not remember these things and instead think of Lowe as the guy who stood straight faced in front of the mic speaking of tier 1 and tier 2 fans, or as the figure they believed were pulling the strings behind the likes of Steve Tambellini. There was much maligned about this period of the Oilers history but Lowe is being recognized for his time as a player, not as part of the organization's management team.
If Lowe was never placed into the Hall of Fame I would not have been surprised, but his record and tenure with the Oilers certainly makes him a qualified candidate and I offer him my sincere congratulations.
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Not exactly Oilers news but the current General Manager of the team, Ken Holland, has also been inducted in this class as a Builder, due to his impressive years with the Red Wings organization.
From 1997 to 2019, Ken Holland served as the Red Wings General Manager, winning four Cups, more than any other team did during that time. The Red Wings also had the longest playoff record of any team in the salary cap era, which was part of their 25 consecutive years of making the post season.
Prior to serving as General Manager, Holland was an assistant GM, goaltending coach, and Director of Amateur Scouting for the Red Wings, and was a major part of bringing in the likes of Zetterberg and Datsyuk into the organization. While Ken Holland was with the organization in this multitude of roles, the Red Wings would win six President's Trophy Trophies. Ken Holland played an integral part of the Red Wings organization for more than three decades and is well deserving of this honour.
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Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't give a begrudging congratulations to Jarome Iginla. The Edmonton born native was a thorn in the side of the Oilers throughout his 16 years with the Calgary Flames. Iginla was the modern day power forward personified. Iggy finished his checks; hard, was a dominant scorer and excelled at both ends of the ice.
Iginla was one of those players who it was difficult to try and compare him to any player that came before him because his skillset was so unique. In the modern NHL today there are few players I would describe as an Iginla comparable (though Mark Stone comes to mind). No one should be surprised that Jerome Iginla was a first ballot Hall of Fame Inductee. He deserves it.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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