At 3:00 PM on June 25, the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF) announced its 2024 class of inductees and a few big names are still missing from the list for seemingly no reason whatsoever. To be eligible for the HHOF, a player must not have played professional or international hockey for three years. One of the pioneers of the game met this criterion 15 years ago and yet his phone always remains silent when it’s time for the calls to the Hall; Alexander Mogilny. With each year that passes by, it’s becoming weirder and more cringeworthy. Let’s have a look at Mogilny’s credentials.
The First One to Defect
Nowadays, seeing a Russian player get drafted and come over to North America to play in the best league in the world is a common occurrence. It wasn’t once upon a time. Someone had to make that leap of faith first to pave the way for countless talented players to join the NHL. That someone was a young Mogilny.
After winning the World Junior U-20 Championship with the Soviet Union, team captain Mogilny decided he had enough and wanted out of the Soviet hockey system and the country. His representative and translator called the Buffalo Sabres organization to let them know he was in and to try and arrange the defection. The Sabres representatives met him in Stockholm, Sweden to bring him back to the USA. They needed to get him to safety, get travel documents, and reach a contract agreement, it was almost a spy movie. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend Sportsnet’s feature on the story titled Defector.
Had Mogilny not had the guts to do this, how long would it have taken his countrymen Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Vladimir Konstantinov to come over? Would we have had the chance to be delighted by the Russian Rocket Pavel Bure? Who knows, but it took someone to believe and jump head-first into the unknown to break that barrier.
Mogilny’s Success in the League and on the International Scene
Before fleeing Russia, Mogilny had already made a name for himself on the international scene by winning an Olympic gold medal at the Calgary Olympics in 1988 and the World Championship with Russia in 1989 on top of having won the World Junior Championship three times.
In Buffalo, Mogilny progressively got used to North American hockey and in his first year, he had 43 points before improving by 21 points the following year, and another 20 in his third year. With his 84 points in the 1991-92 season, the 23-year-old felt on the verge of having a breakthrough year. It did come in the following season when he scored 76 goals in 77 games and added 51 assists for the highest point total of his career with 127. That season, he was also tied with Teemu Selanne as the top goal scorer. People tend to remember Selanne more because he was a rookie and won the Calder Memorial Trophy largely because of that achievement, but Mogilny did it as well.
In July 1995, after six years, 381 games, and 444 points, the Sabres traded Mogilny to the Vancouver Canucks for Micheal Peca, Michael Wilson, and Vancouver’s first-round pick at the 1995 Draft, the 14th-overall pick with which they drafted Jay McKee. The Russian spent five years in Vancouver playing 312 games and putting up 308 points in the process. In March 2000, the Canucks traded him to the New Jersey Devils in return for Brendan Morrison and Denis Pedersen.
While Mogilny battled injuries when he played for the Devils, in 1999-00 he won the first and only Stanley Cup of his career. This allowed him to enter the Triple Gold Club having won an Olympic and World Championship gold medal and Lord Stanley’s Cup. To this day there are only 30 members in the Club.
In July 2001, Mogilny signed a four-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he only played three since the lockout made him lose a year. In three seasons with his new team, Mogilny played 176 games and added 166 points and a Lady Bing Trophy to his impressive resume.
After the lockout, the right winger came back to the Devils. However, he only played 34 games and added another 25 points. When he pulled the plug on his NHL career, he had played 990 games and gathered 1,032 points.
What’s Missing?
The answer seems to be nothing, to be honest. This year, Shea Weber will be inducted into the HHOF in his first year of eligibility. The former Nashville Predators’ and Montreal Canadiens’ captain has never won a Stanley Cup or any individual trophy. At one time, he was an excellent shut-down defenseman, but not until the end. His last couple of years were tough and there were plenty of turnovers, but that doesn’t matter does it? Yes, I know it’s the HHOF and not just the NHL Hall of Fame, but shouldn’t players who have won both in the NHL and on the international scene be let in? Mogilny has been waiting for 15 years and Weber gets in right away? That’s not even taking into consideration what he did for the advancement of the game.
Related: Shea Weber Is not a Hall of Famer
Patrick Marleau was also in consideration this time around and like Weber, he never won the Stanley Cup or any individual award. His main achievement is that he’s broken the record for the most games played which was held until then by Gordie Howe. It’s not about how many games you play, it’s about what you do in those games. Give Marleau a participation ribbon if you must, but please, induct players who have had real success.
As for Jeremy Roenick, he’s never won anything in the NHL and his point-per-game average is lower than Mogilny’s. Personally, when I think about Roenick, the first thing that comes to mind is the fact he’s been burned by Patrick Roy in a playoff interview. After he was criticized by Roenick in the papers, a media member read him what the Blackhawks player had said. With a large grind, the goaltender said: “Tell Jeremy I can’t hear him, I’ve got both of my Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears.” Does that make JR a legend? Allow me to doubt it…
As long as the HHOF continues to make these kinds of decisions, it will keep on losing its credibility and if they’re not careful, they could end up being a laughing stock just like the Baseball Hall of Fame is (from ‘The Baseball Hall of Fame remains one of the silliest things in all of sports,’ USA Today, 1/25/23).
