NHL Hall of Fame Class of 2009: Do We Underrate Steve Yzerman?

The NHL's Hall of Fame class of 2009 features a reunion of the Detroit Red Wings' 2001-02 Stanley Cup Championship team, and the completion of the best father-son duo in the history of the league. On Tuesday afternoon, Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Brian Leetch were announced as the newest members of hockey's most exclusive club.

New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello was also elected as a builder.

Not really any surprises here, as they make up one of the best quintets to ever enter Toronto.

Steve Yzerman. Spent his entire 22-year career with the Detroit Red Wings, scoring 692 goals and registering 1,755 points. He won the Lester B. Pearson Award during the 1988-89 campaign, while he also won the Selke Trophy, the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy during his career ... oh, and three Stanley Cups.

I realize suggesting this is probably kind of ridiculous given his career and the milestones he achieved, but is there a more underrated great player in the history of the league? After all, he spent his entire career in the shadows of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, when, in reality, he was probably right up there with them at his peak. And if he wasn't, he certainly wasn't far behind.

Let's consider points-per-game. Yzerman never led the league, but he finished in the top-five four times, including three consecutive years at the end of the 1980s when he posted the best three-year stretch of his career. The players that finished ahead of him each season?

1987-88: 1) Wayne Gretzky (2.23), 2) Mario Lemieux (2.18), 3) Denis Savard (1.64) 4) Steve Yzerman (1.59)

1988-89: 1) Mario Lemieux (2.62), 2) Wayne Gretzky (2.15), 3) Steve Yzerman (1.94) 4) Bernie Nichols (1.90)

1989-90: 1) Mario Lemieux (2.08), 2) Wayne Gretzky (1.95), 3) Mark Messier (1.63), 4) Steve Yzerman (1.61)

OK, maybe he was somewhat behind them, but still, that's solid company.

Brett Hull. Hull finished his career with 741 career goals and led the league three consecutive years between 1989 and 1992, scoring an incredible 228 times. His 86 goals during the 1990-91 campaign is still the third-best performance in NHL history.

He joins his dad, Bobby, as the best father-son duo in the Hall, as the two combined for 1,351 goals in their respective careers.

He's a two-time Stanley Cup champion, while he was a member of the 2001-02 Red Wings team with fellow inductees Yzerman and Robitaille. He also scored one of the most famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) game-winning goals in playoff history when he scored in overtime of Game 6 during the 1998-99 Finals.





Somewhere, Lindy Ruff is still screaming "No goal."

Brian Leetch. One of the best American-born players ever, Leetch played parts of 17 seasons with the New York Rangers before closing out his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins. He was a vital part of the 1994 team that ended the Rangers' 54-year Stanley Cup drought, as he recorded 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists) in 23 games on his way to the Conn Smythe Trophy. He won the 1988-89 Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year, and twice took home the Norris Trophy as the league's best defenseman.

His 1,028 career points are seventh all-time among defensemen, as he trails only Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Al Macinnis, Phil Housley, Larry Murphy, and Dennis Potvin.

Luc Robitaille. Perhaps the greatest draft-day steal of all time, a ninth-round pick in 1984, Robaitaille set an NHL record for goals by a left wing with 668 in his 15-year career, while he won his only Stanley Cup in 2001-02 as a member of the Red Wings (with Yzerman and Hull). An eight-time all-star and an eight-time 40-goal scorer, Robitaille had three different stints with the Los Angeles Kings (the team that drafted him), while he also suited up for the Red Wings, Penguins and Rangers.


So, is this the strongest Hall of Fame class ever? The only one that comes close in recent years would probably be the 2007 class of Ron Francis, Al MacInnis, Mark Messier and Scott Stevens.