The Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2022 featured a trio of first ballot hall of famers, plus a long overdue induction for one of Sweden’s greatest players on Monday.
Roberto Luongo, and Henrik & Daniel Sedin were first ballot inductees, while former Senators’ captain Daniel Alfredsson finally heard the call at roughly 3pm ET on June 27th.
The class, which is also joined by Riikka Sallinen in the women’s category, and Herb Carnegie in the builder category, will see their names enter hockey’s hallowed hall in a ceremony later this fall.
The Sedins continued their legacy of doing everything together. From being selected 2nd & 3rd overall in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, to playing on the same line for virtually their entire careers, retiring together, and now entering the Hall of Fame together, the duo have quite literally been inseparable since birth.
Henrik was generally the set up man, racking up 830 assists during his career, while Daniel was more than happy to pull the trigger accumulating 393 goals during his time with the Canucks.
Despite both suffering injuries at various times in their careers, the twins finished with eerily similar stat lines in terms of games played (1306 for Daniel, 1330 for Henrik), and points (1041 for Daniel, 1070 for Henrik). They each took turns leading the league in points, capturing the Art Ross trophy in back to back years, and even took home “co-honours” in 2017-18 when the brothers shared the King Clancy Memorial Trophy award.
Meanwhile, a former teammate of theirs, Roberto Luongo, also received the nod in his first year of eligibility, and will join the brothers in the HHOF this November. Originally drafted 4th overall by the New York Islanders in 1997, the 43 year old spent the majority of his career splitting time between Florida and Vancouver.
Sporting a career 2.52 GAA and .919 SV%, Luongo helped Team Canada capture gold at the 2010 & 2014 Olympics and captured the 2010-11 Jennings trophy while with the Canucks. His 489 career wins are 4th all time, trailing only Marc-Andre Fleury, Patrick Roy, and Martin Brodeur. He also sits 9th all time on the career shutout list with 77 across 1044 regular season appearances.
Finally, former Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson received his long overdue call to the Hall of Fame following a sterling NHL and international playing career.
Taken 133rd overall by the Senators in the 6th round of the 1994 Entry Draft, the Swedish winger captured Olympic gold with Sweden in 2006, alongside a Calder, King Clancy, and Mark Messier Leadership awards in North America. His 1157pts (444G, 713A) were one of the higher career point totals amongst players not in the HHOF.
Following his retirement in 2014, Alfredsson began a “complicated” post playing career relationship with the Ottawa Senators. However with a transition in ownership, Alfie finally began to receive the groundswell of support from the organization and media usually required to get a candidate across the finish line in 2022.
The HHOF class of 2022 will be honoured during ceremonies over the course of the weekend between November 11th and 14th.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Michael Miller. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.