This year's Hall of Fame inductees are....
Joe Nieuwendyk (KNEE-when-dike) Center. (SEN-ter)
Joe ended his 20 year career with 564 goals, 562 assists in 1257 games. And three Stanley Cup wins with three different teams.
Joe's rookie card is this 1988/89 OPC #16. To show you how times have changed, Joe had already played 2 seasons BEFORE this card came out, including scoring 51 goals the season before.
Mark Howe, famous for more than being one of Gordie's sons, retired after 22 seasons in both the WHA and then the NHL. Combined, Mark scored 405 goals and 841 assists. No Stanley Cups, but two Avco Cups in the WHA with Houston, '74 and '75.
Mark's rookie card is from the '75/76 OPC WHA set, which I do not have sadly. So enjoy his card from the '77/78 OPC WHA set instead.
Ed Belfour (BELL-4) Goalie (GO-lee)
Eddie the Eagle, probably best known for his masks than anything, finished a 17 year career with one Stanley Cup win in 1999 with Dallas. In those 17 years he had a record of 484-320-125 with a 2.50 GAA.
Ed's inclusion into the H.O.F. is marginal at best, however with the bar set at Grant Fuhr, quite a few goalies from the '90's are going to get in.
Ed's rookie card came in the horroble card year of 1990/91. Upper Deck (seen here), Bowman, Pro Set and Score all had rookie cards of Belfour.
Doug Gilmour (DUG) Center (DUG)
Another marginal entry into the Hall. Mostly due to media popularity. But when Glen Anderson, Bernie Federko and Clark Gilles are in the Hall.... the bar is now set pretty low....
450 goals 964 assists for 8 teams. Traded 7 times.
Dug's rookie card is the '84/85 OPC seen here.
Congrats to all the new entries into the NHL Hall of Pretty Good. I mean, Fame.
4 comments:
Joe and Ed were Stars...glad I got to see them play. Joe is looking like a good exec too as he has the Stars really clicking.
I like where your head is at with this post. You are going to be leading the Veteran's Committee for the Hockey Hall of Pretty Good when it comes time to re-examine the guys I booted out.
Do they consider the '75-76 to be the Mark Howe rookie, or would it not be the family shot from '74-75?
Either way, WHA sets are fun. :)
Ha - saw the first card and skipped right past the second in order to comment. My vote is '74-75.
Post a Comment