Daniel Alfredsson Belongs In The Hockey Hall Of Fame
For just a bit here, let’s not worry about what the Senators will do this off-season. Instead, let’s look at a positive. Daniel Alfredsson retired as an Ottawa Senator, and of course he has a case to make the Hockey Hall of Fame. It’s an interesting debate, but I think ultimately he deserves to get in.
Surely this will be a much more heated debate once he becomes eligible to enter the hall in 2017. It won’t be a one-sided discussion, as I know there are many who will say he is undeserving. They will say that he hasn’t won a Stanley Cup and that he never got the Senators deep into the playoffs, but those are such lazy points. Looking at his career as a whole, it is Hall of Fame worthy.
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Career Stats
Alfredsson had quite the impressive career, racking up 444 goals, 713 assists and 1157 points in 1246 games over 18 seasons. He wasn’t quite at a point a game pace over his career, but considering that he played until he was almost 42 is extremely impressive. Even after turning 40 he was able to score 79 points in 115 games.
Eight times in his 18 seasons he was able to get at least a point per game, and he hit the 100 point mark once in 2006. Besides his regular season point totals, he has had some other impressive feats as well.
He won the gold medal with Sweden in 2006, and also a silver against Canada in the most recent Olympics in Sochi. In 2006 he was one of the leaders on the Swedish team, and he ended up third in scoring with five goals and five assists in eight games. Even in Sochi as a 41-year-old he was able to score four points in six games, which put him tied for 20th amongst all players.
All in all, he has been amazing for Sweden at the international stage scoring 74 points in 88 games. The sheer number of games he has played while donning the Tre Kronor is an accomplishment in itself.
He also has a few other awards in his career, as he was rookie of the year in 1995-96, and has been named to seven All-Star teams. Furthermore, he won the King Clancy Memorial trophy in 2012 and the Mark Messier leadership award in 2013. He was Ottawa’s captain from 1999-2013, and for a couple of years he was the longest tenured active captain for any team in the NHL. He clearly is a fantastic leader, and the accolades speak for themselves.
Fans will say that he never got his team all the way, but you have to realize how hard it really is to win a Stanley Cup. Alfredsson played on a few dominant Senators teams, but other years there was no shot they were going to win it all. I would say in 2003, 2006, and 2007 they were extremely close and could have won, but you cannot pin that on Alfredsson for those losses.
In fact, he has a solid post-season track record. In 124 games he put up 100 points, which is tied with Joe Thornton, and ahead of players like Dave Andreychuk, Martin St. Louis, and Teemu Selanne. Out of those four, there’s a good chance all of them will get in the Hall of Fame. And Alfredsson had better post-season numbers than them. Furthermore, he led the league in playoff scoring in 2007, and if Ottawa had won the Cup he surely would have won the Conn Smythe trophy.
Overall Alfredsson was solid everywhere he played. Sure he never won a Cup, but it’s hard to fault one of the best leaders out there while the team behind him doesn’t have a good enough goalie or depth scoring.
Where Does He Rank?
Here’s part of a list of the top scoring players in the NHL of all-time:
There are so many good players on the list even in the top 100, but this is just from 51-70. As you can see, Alfredsson ranks 51st all time in NHL scoring. Considering there are 147 forwards in the Hall, he is right up there. If he were to enter as of now, he would sit 37th amongst players in points, so he certainly has a case.
Some notable Hall of Fame forwards who have less career points than him are Joe Nieuwendyk, Darryl Sittler, Glenn Anderson, Henri Richard, and Lanny McDonald. There are some players that have fewer points simply because they played at least a few hundred fewer games than Alfredsson, but the aforementioned players were at least close in terms of games played.
In fact, Nieuwendyk and Richard also played more games than Alfredsson and had fewer points. But those two as well as McDonald and Anderson also won Stanley Cups, so that obviously boosted fans perceptions of them. Only Sittler wasn’t able to win a Cup, but that just gives Ottawa fans more reason to believe that Alfredsson should be in the Hall.
He still deserves a spot after a couple of years of being on the ballot
So clearly he isn’t exactly out of his league when it comes to all time points. In the playoffs he ranks a bit lower at 87th in points, but there are some players who have a bit more playoff experience. That said, in both regular season and playoffs he has the numbers to make the hall of fame.
Summary
Is Alfredsson a slam-dunk candidate? No, not even close. He won’t get in right away, but I think he still deserves a spot after a couple of years of being on the ballot. There are some better players ahead of him that aren’t in yet, and he will have to wait his turn.
And it’s not as if my case for him making it in is iron-clad. I’m aware that it’s hard to make an argument that he for sure deserves a spot. There are always going to be plenty of worthy candidates, but I think eventually he should get in. Ranking 51st in career points is quite amazing, and worthy of acknowledgement. There are certainly worse players in the Hall of Fame, and Alfredsson has had an amazing career that should make him the third ever Swede to get elected in.