The current lockout has left many hockey fans jaded, swearing that they’ve walked away from the game they’ve loved so dearly, vowing never to return. While there’s enough reason to be angry about the lack of progress concerning a new deal to end the NHL’s current lockout, this weekend should be a great reminder of why millions of fans fell in love with the game of hockey to begin with as four of the greatest players will be forever enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
While every induction class is special in its own right, the 2012 class waxes a little more sentimental for the city of Toronto as Maple Leafs fans will get to celebrate this weekend’s ceremony like no other as one of their own, Mats Sundin, will receive the ultimate recognition for his incredible career on the ice.
When the Quebec Nordiques drafted him in 1989, Mats Sundin had already made news becoming the first European to be drafted first overall into the NHL. Sundin entered the league with lofty expectations and he lived up to those expectations, surpassing the 30-goal plateau three times in his four seasons in Quebec including a 47-goal, 114-point campaign in 1992-93. For a franchise which had stunk up the joint in recent years, Sundin’s presence only helped turned the Nordiques into one of the league’s most intimidating forces. But if the 6’5, 230-pound Swede thought he didn’t need to live up to any more expectations, he was mistaken. Following the 1993-94 season, Sundin was traded to Toronto in a move that saw fan-favourite Wendel Clark shipped off to La Belle Province. Sundin had gigantic shoes to fill but again, he impressed. Sundin would spent his next 13 seasons with the Maple Leafs eclipsing the 30-goal plateau ten times, earning the team’s captaincy along the way all the while becoming the city’s most lovable figure even when the aforementioned Clark returned to the team during the 1995-96 season.
When Sundin’s tenure in Toronto came to an end, he moved onto Vancouver where he spent his final season (2008-09) with the Canucks. In his lone game at the Air Canada Centre as a visiting player on February 21, 2009, the newest Canuck received a thunderous standing ovation that would make even the game’s most inspiring figures jealous. The game went to a shootout where the winner was scored by none other than Mats Sundin himself. Leafs fans didn’t bother to care that their team had just lost. Instead, they gave Sundin another ovation that lasted just as long as their previous one.
Over the course of his 18-year NHL career, Sundin was the epitome of consistent as he recorded 1,349 points (564 goals, 785 assists) in 1,746 career games.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I spoke of the Hall of Fame’s 2012 class without mentioning the other inductees: Joe Sakic, Adam Oates and Pavel Bure.
A native of Weston, Ont., Adam Oates spent time with seven different teams over a 19-year career where he finished with 1,420 career points. One of the greatest passers in the game, Oates eclipsed the 100-point plateau four times while racking up 1,079 career assists. Although he was never able to win the Stanley Cup, he was instrumental in guiding both the Washington Capitals and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to improbable playoff runs in 1998 and 2003 respectively.
When he made his NHL debut for the Vancouver Canucks in 1991, Pavel Bure was the arguably the most exciting of the Russian contingent who made their exodus to North America after the collapse of the Soviet Union. While he was drafted 113th overall in 1989, Bure’s arrival to the Canucks forced VanCity to go wild with anticipation. Rarely had the NHL seen such speed and finesse before and Bure made his impact immediately, becoming one of the league’s premier players scoring 100+ points in two of his first four seasons. But despite guiding the Canucks to within a single game of winning the Stanley Cup in 1994, the remainder of Bure’s career would be an injury-plagued one, limiting him to 702 games over a 12-year tour of duty in the NHL. When he was healthy though, Bure was unstoppable, scoring 437 goals and adding 342 assists for 779 career points. After his tenure in Vancouver, Bure made stops in Florida and on Broadway with the Rangers before hanging them up in 2003.
Then, there’s Joe Sakic. The native of Burnaby, British Columbia, spent his entire 19-year career with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise where he scored 625 goals and 1,016 assists for 1,641 career points while leading his club to two Stanley Cup titles, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP in 1996.
Drafted 15th overall in 1987, Sakic was brought to Quebec in hopes of being the centerpiece of a franchise in need of serious rebuilding. While the Nordiques weren’t competitive in Sakic’s first years, his leaderships turned the club’s fortunes around. Unfortunately for Nordiques fans, the franchise would relocate to Denver before winning their first championship. Sakic and the newly-named Avalanche started a new chapter hoping hockey fans in Denver would be able to forget the city’s previous franchise, the hapless Rockies, who moved east to New Jersey in 1982. With the emergence of Peter Forsberg and Sandis Ozolinsh as well as the acquisition of Hall-of-Fame goaltender Patrick Roy, Sakic and the Avalanche were on a mission and made the most of their maiden season in the Mile High City, winning the Stanley Cup. Sakic would again lead the Avs to another Cup win 2001 and the following February would help lead Team Canada to their first Olympic gold medal in 50 years.
During his career, Sakic reached 100 points six times while maintaining a personality where he was one of the most likeable characters in the game.
While there have been plenty of wonderful Hall of Fame classes prior, 2012 marks a very special group of players who each found their own versions of success during the respective careers. For the fans of Toronto who are missing their beloved Maple Leafs in action, they can take a lot of comfort seeing one of their most beloved heroes receiving hockey’s most prestigious honour.
There’s plenty reason to be angry and bitter about the NHL’s current labour crisis but this coming weekend when four of the game’s greatest players receive the greatest accolade any hockey player can dare dream of, it will be a time to let the negativity subside while we raise our glasses and celebrate those who helped mould hockey into Canada’s greatest pastime.
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Ryan Cowley is a writer at Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter @RyanACowley.
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