Phil Housley may have played for eight NHL teams but pegging him as a journeyman is far from accurate. Housley would shatter well over 1,000 career points, an excellent number for a blueliner, but his multi-team status likely kept him out of the Hockey Hall of Fame for an extended period of time.

With 477 career NHL points (and 283 in the WHA), the professional statistics speak to a very good player, but not that of a Hall of Famer. This is very much the consensus of most hockey pundits and fans alike. However, we are all familiar with the intangible legacy of the 1972 Canada/Soviet Union Summit Series. Coming off his most productive NHL year with 38 goals, Henderson was an afterthought selection to Team Canada. Henderson responded with the best hockey of his career, leading the tournament with ten points. Of course, it was that final point, a goal with thirty-four seconds remaining, that he will be known forever for. That goal won the series and made him an icon in Canada. It is a moment that is played over and over again on Canadian television and will be replayed for generations to come. When critics say that Paul Henderson would not be in the Hall of Fame discussion if he hadn’t scored “the goal,” but what they have to remember is one thing: HE DID score that goal.

Dubbed “The Next One”, Eric Lindros never really lived up to the mammoth expectations heaped upon him. This isn’t to say that Eric Lindros didn’t have a good career, as he most certainly did. He won the prestigious Hart Trophy in 1995 and had 115 points the following year. Lindros did average well over a point a game in his career but the issue was that his career was cut short by concussions. Throw in the constant issues he seemed to have with various managements, Lindros was not always the most beloved man in hockey. With a career riddled with concussions and controversy, a man who had the size, speed and skills to be a legend could very well be a “bubble” pick to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Pavel Bure was one of the greatest goal scorers the game has ever seen; the problem was that we did not see that for as long as we should have. On three occasions, Bure would lead the National Hockey League in Goals, and had he not battled a plethora of injuries in his career, he probably would have scored a lot more. Overall, the Russian sensation only played in 702 games (with 437 goals) and he only played 70 games in a season five times. It is believed that his lack of longevity delayed his entry into the Hall of Fame, as he has to wait until his sixth year of eligibility before he was finally inducted in 2012.