To the surprise of absolutely no one, the great Joe Sakic has been named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. A terrific player and a class act almost approaching the level of Steve Yzerman, Nick Lidstrom and Teemu Selanne. A very well deserved honor for a great player and a fine human being.
Also elected: Pavel Bure (dynamic scorer) and Adam Oates (one of the best set-up men ever). Both are reasonably deserving choices although not on Sakic's level, which is why they each had to wait a few years (sort of like little Doug Gilmour last year).
Then you have the fourth inductee, Mats Sundin. A good player certainly but a first ballot Hall of Famer - that's pushing the envelope quite a bit! Still, in fairness to Mats (who had his best year ever with the Quebec Nordiques) he was also a class act, he was consistent, and perhaps most importantly he always gave it his best even though he spent 13 years stuck in the living hell of hockey's worst franchise. For sure he would have been far more successful if he had been on a good team - for most of his 13 years there he was the only half-decent player so the voters probably took that into account and gave him some sympathy votes. I'm happy for the guy even though someone like Brendan Shanahan was probably more deserving.
