The Daily Faceoff Show: Henrik Lundqvist is a first ballot locker for the Hall of Fame class of 2023. Who else is?

Monday saw the 2022 selection for the Hockey Hall of Fame announced, with Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Roberto Luongo, Daniel Alfredsson, Riikka Sallinen and Herb Carnegie all inducted this year.

With that, we can start looking at the potential for next year’s class, which also contains an easy selection of goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist. Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna discussed The daily faceoff show whether Lundqvist is a first-round Hall of Famer, as well as other players who could join the Hall of Fame class of 2023.

Mike McKenna: “Lundqvist is going in the first round. If he doesn’t, there’s something incredibly wrong with everyone. His career save percentage, his trips through the playoffs, his deep runs on those teams with the New York Rangers, his stalwart in the net and his good until the very end. I think he is an absolute lock.

I’m still surprised that someone like Alexander Mogilny or Mike Vernon isn’t really in the room yet, that surprises me. But of that list, who do you see as a first-round Hall of Famer besides Lundqvist? »

Frank Seravalli: “That’s really it. I think you can make a really good case for Ilya Kovalchuk as a point-per-game player, as someone who was one of the top scorers of his generation.

Justin Williams has played long, had impressive careers and, of course, the nickname Mr. Game 7, but I don’t think that’s enough to get you into the Hall.

Mike Green was someone who was a two-time first-team All-Star, twice a Norris Trophy runner-up. I still don’t think that’s enough to get him in. There was a significant downturn for Green in his career, it was really once he left Washington, had a good year or two in Detroit, and then he really wasn’t a very productive player towards the end. end of his career.

And Brent Seabrook won those three Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks, and was such a big part of it. Another guy who had close to 500 points, played long in the league, and chewed up a lot of minutes for the Blackhawks, but never really passed the eye test for me, and didn’t really have that kind of, if it makes sense when I say it, the Hall of Fame aura or mystique that surrounded it.

But Lundqvist, for sure, he’s the only guy like you mentioned. When you consider the first 10 years of his career, and of course he won a Vezina Trophy, but the first 10 years of his career, consecutively, he finished sixth or better in the voting for the Vezina Trophy, a four-time finalist . Ten consecutive years of being in the top six at your job is an incredible track record of success. Also, I believe a career save percentage of .919 over a ton of games, almost 900 games played as a goaltender, which is a huge workload.

Mike McKenna:  » It is enormous. And that’s just his consistency. How I always admired Lundqvist as someone who 1) could play a lot, 2) always got the most out of the game, but was also a trailblazer. As if he really had a big impact on young goalkeepers with the way he played. We would look to people like Luongo and Lundqvist for the next wave of technological innovation, systematic innovation, so I’m all aboard the Lundqvist bandwagon.

I agree that Kovalchuk could make it happen. But is next year Mogilny’s year? He’s the one I keep watching, I think he deserves to be in the room, I’d love to see him.

Frank Seravalli: “Yeah, Mogilny is one, and I saw a lot of people barking about Rod Brind’Amour. I thought maybe Guy Carbonneau a few years ago, as a defensive forward, would have really opened the door for someone like Brind’Amour, who was just an absolute compiler in his career. I think at some point Rod Brind’Amour comes in, and it’s probably going to take a class of weaker first-time candidates like this coming in 2023, which could open the door for someone like him . There were a lot of people clamoring for Daniel Alfredsson, and of course he ended up being admitted this year, so maybe in the future Rod Brind’Amour is next on the list.

I also wanted to highlight Théo Fleury, a point-per-game player. And the way we look at mental health and how everything has changed with the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of Graham James, to still be a points-per-game player, to lead the league in scoring, what a fantastic career he had, and I think we should probably look at his career in a different light now than we did when he retired from the drug addiction and alcohol abuse that he went through. Going through this to the other side and having such a good career is damn amazing.

You can watch the full episode here…