All Hail Glenn and Igor
The Hockey Hall of Fame is a nice museum and a highly flawed institution.
There's bound to be controversy when membership is decided in secret by a handful of sportswriters, ex-players and cronies.
But when they keep picking borderline guys like Dick Duff and Clarke Gillies, it makes the Hall look like an insider's club that can't be taken seriously.
So it's nice to report that the cronies got it right this year. On Tuesday, the Hall announced it will induct two new members next fall: the great Glenn Anderson and the even greater Igor Larionov.
They are the only players elected in 2008, which is as it should be. Two per year ought to be the maximum.
The current maximum is four players per year, one reason why the list of honored members is littered with dubious names.
Having said that, the four stars elected in 2007 were truly deserving. So that's two good years in a row for the selection committee.
Now all they need to do is prune the incumbent membership by about 25 percent. Then we'd have a real Hockey Hall of Fame.
Photo: Igor Larionov in 2002 (Ian Tomlinson/Getty Images)
Comments
I mostly agree with your opinions on this blog, but, hey guys who win 6 respectively 4 cups ought to be noticed in some other way as well.
If the Hall of fame only recognizes individual talent you might be right with the border line guys comment, but I think you have to take their overall impact on their respective teams into account, so yes, they should be there.
ah, forgot, of course,
congrats to Glen Anderson, whom I see once in while, playing open hockey at Chelsea Piers, here in NYC and to Igor Larionov, on of the true greats ever to play the game.
It would be interesting to run a poll on who shouldn’t be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. I vote for Cam Neely. That should make some fans happy…