Mats Sundin was never the best player in the NHL. He never won a major award and he never won a Stanley Cup. Despite lacking these typical qualifications, Mats Sundin is a Hall of Famer.

On Monday, November 8th, the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted five new members. The committee ended up selecting only one NHL player, Dino Ciccarelli, who scored over 600 goals in his career, but never won a Stanley Cup or an individual award. In addition to Ciccarelli, the committee inducted long-time Detroit executive Jim Devellano and Daryl ‘Doc’ Seaman, the latter playing an integral part in moving the Flames from Atlanta to Calgary. The Hall also inducted its first female members, finally selecting Cammi Granato and Angela James, which was long overdue.

I am not a fan of Ciccarelli’s induction to the Hall of Fame. Sure, he scored a ton of goals, but most occurred during the 1980s when goaltenders seemingly forgot how to play their position. By 1980 the 50 goal plateau had only been reached 24 times, yet during the 1980s it was reached an astonishing 76 times. The feat was even met by nobodies like Jacques Richard, who exploded for 52 goals in 1980-1981, while never breaking 30 goals or 50 points at any other point in his career. The 80s was full of these guys! Goals were free and Dino cashed in.

Ciccarelli is a good player (you can’t score over 600 goals and 1200 points and be bad), but he isn’t Hall of Fame great. He only led his team in scoring in three seasons. He never won a major award and he never even made the NHL First or Second All-Star team. Furthermore, he never won a Stanley Cup, although he did make the Final twice (with Minnesota in 1981 and Detroit in 1995). I don’t consider this a major failing considering a player could be stuck with bad teams most of his career, but I reserve that clause for the best players of their era – Dino does not fit this distinction.

Over the next few posts I’m going to outline who I believe should make the Hall of Fame in 2011. I already presented the case for Eric Lindros this summer, which, as expected, drew considerable opposition. The following candidate might draw some of the same criticisms that Lindros did, but he wasn’t generally regarded as a dick, so the discussion should at least be civil.

Pavel Bure, known as the Russian Rocket for his blazing speed, is the first in a three-part series of posts (since we’ll count the Lindros post) examining which players the Hockey Hall of Fame needs to assemble for their 2011 induction class.