Hockey Hall of Fame incoming class

By Rick Morris

Our good friend at Sportsology, Russ Cohen, passed along this article to us and allowed us to reprint it here. Like him, I share a tremendous respect for the Hockey Hall of Fame -- it's the only one of the "Big Four" that I haven't been to and I want to rectify that when I make it up to the fun town of Toronto some day -- and I am personally a huge fan of "The Professor" Igor Larionov. I even own a copy of the DVD that was released in honor of his retirement; it's pretty sweet -- it's got the all-star retirement game that was thrown in his honor and an accompanying documentary.

As such, I'm pleased to reprint Russ' article here.


Anderson heads interesting 2008 Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
By Russ Cohen

Glenn Anderson is a player who has been overshadowed by some of the greatest names to ever play the game. Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, Jarri Kurri and that list of ex-Edmonton Oilers seems endless and now Anderson is the latest from that group to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this November 10th.

“I’m really kind of humbled by it,” said Anderson, who is rarely a man of few words.

The other three inductees are Igor Larionov, Ed Chynoweth (in the builder category) and Ray Scapinello (in the referee/linesman category).

Back to Anderson: it seems this honor took him a bit by surprised, and even this veteran of six Stanley Cup Championship teams was at a loss.

“I did catch myself while walking on the streets of New York catching a second breath,” he said honestly. “It’s been a long time since I won a Cup. It’s up there with the greatest things I have had happen to me in my life.”

The New York experience from 1994 has obviously agreed with Anderson, but he hasn’t forgotten who helped him get inducted. You don’t get 94 playoff goals and 214 points (both good for fourth on the all-time list) all by yourself.

“You don’t realize how great the players are until you play with them,” he said, talking about his former teammates and his recent play with Larionov over in Russia.

“We were invited over by the President of Belarus,” Anderson explained. “We had a game over there and we opened a building. (Slava) Festisov had his 50th birthday in another game to open a building.”

Larionov and Anderson have stayed busy and the Russian player has his own reasons to be thrilled about being inducted.

“To be recognized is a huge part of Russian and international hockey,” he said. “It’s nice to see. For me to be inducted next to Slava and other Russian players like Valeri Kharmalov, who I got to play four game with before he died, and (Vladislav) Tretiak ...”

Scapinello never missed a game.

“I’m so humbled by this honor. Obviously the highlight of my 33-year career.”

Chynoweth had passed away in April, so his sons spoke on his behalf. He was one of the founders of the CHL.

If you haven’t made the trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame, check it out this November!

NHL draft guide: How stars lead to titles

By Rick Morris

As announced previously in this space, Sportsology and FantasyDrafthelp.com are joining up to produce HOCKEY DRAFTOLOGY, a comprehensive guide to the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and offseason as a whole. The issue will be released online, for free, at these two websites and SportsTalkNetwork.com this week (IMPORTANT NOTE: we had substantial bonus content come in at the last minute -- as such, the June 10 release date is null and void -- we apologize for that, but we assure you that the product will be more than worth the wait). Until then, the features to be contained in the guide will be released here individually in serialized form.

Today, we examine the role that the players at the top of the NHL Entry Draft will be expected to play for their teams.

As a team sport by and large incapable of devolving into the often-selfish “Me Ball” of the NBA, the NHL is rightfully held up as exemplary of true team play. However, does this tendency devalue the effect that true mega-stars have on the ability to win championships? FantasyDrafthelp.com decided to find out, in an attempt to ascertain exactly how important it is for teams to hit on their picks in the NHL Entry Draft.

First, we ranked the top players in our opinion in the last quarter century into three tiers, the top five, the second five and the third five. Then, we took a look at which teams had captured the Stanley Cup during that period of time and looked for any correlations. The results were very revealing.

Here’s the designation of the best players on each tier, in no particular order on each tier:

A) Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Nicklas Lidstrom, Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur

B) Steve Yzerman, Mark Messier, Ray Bourque, Dominik Hasek, Jaromir Jagr

C) Joe Sakic, Ed Belfour, Brett Hull, Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis

And here’s who’s won the Stanley Cup over the past 25 years:

1984: Edmonton A (Gretzky), B (Messier)*

1985: Edmonton A (Gretzky), B (Messier)

1986: Montreal A (Roy)

1987: Edmonton A (Gretzky), B (Messier)

1988: Edmonton A (Gretzky), B (Messier)

1989: Calgary C (MacInnis)

1990: Edmonton B (Messier)

1991: Pittsburgh A (Lemieux) B (Jagr)

1992: Pittsburgh A (Lemieux) B (Jagr)

1993: Montreal A (Roy)

1994: New York Rangers B (Messier)

1995: New Jersey A (Brodeur)**

1996: Colorado A (Roy) B (Sakic)

1997: Detroit A (Lidstrom) B (Yzerman)

1998: Detroit A (Lidstrom) B (Yzerman)

1999: Dallas C (Belfour) C (Hull)

2000: New Jersey A (Brodeur)

2001: Colorado A (Roy) B (Sakic) B (Bourque)

2002: Detroit A (Lidstrom) B (Yzerman) B (Hasek) C (Hull)***

2003: New Jersey A (Brodeur)

2004: Tampa Bay****

2006: Carolina****

2007: Anaheim**

2008: Detroit A (Lidstrom) B (Hasek)*****

* The ‘80s Edmonton teams had several other players who would have rated as “Honorable Mention.”

** Scott Niedermayer, who won Cups with New Jersey and Anaheim, would have rated as “Honorable Mention,” as would Chris Pronger with Anaheim and Scott Stevens with New Jersey.

*** To properly appreciate the greatness of the 2002 Red Wings, consider that Luc Robitaille and Chris Chelios would have rated as “Honorable Mention.”

**** If this feature was revisited in another decade, Vincent Lecavalier would probably make the cut, with Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards probably at least meriting “Honorable Mention.” Eric Staal would have a very good chance to make the list at that time also, so this “megastar principle” may yet prove to be the case for the 2004 and 2006 champions as well.

***** Neither Hasek nor Chelios skated for Detroit in the Finals.

So essentially, it’s every bit as important to have high-end impact players in the NHL as it is in the NBA. Only seven times since 1984 has a team won a title without an “A” caliber player on this list and also in a minority of cases (11), a team has captured the title without at least two players on this list. So after reading this feature, whether one quibbles a bit or not with the rating of certain players, this much is certain: teamwork matters, and so does coaching, but the high-octane engine of superstar power almost invariably is needed if a team is to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup in the end.