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.

If longevity and consistency is the key to the Hockey Hall of Fame, then sign up Dave Andreychuk to the Hall right now. Andreychuk is among career leaders in Games Played and Points Scored and in terms of scoring proficiency for a left winger, he has few peers. He excelled at the Power Play, where he maintains the career record for the most Power Play Goals of all time. The culmination of Andreychuk’s career was at the age of 40 he became the oldest player to ever make his Stanley Cup debut. Fortunately for him, he achieved the dream of any one who ever laced up the skates when he led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a Stanley Cup win.

Is it possible to be one of the more inspirational players in hockey history yet have a career that is a somewhat cautionary tale to young players? With Theoren Fleury the answer appears to be yes.

When you look at the career numbers of Adam Oates, you wonder why it took so long for him to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame. With three Assists titles, and over 1,400 career points, Oates career numbers are easily Hall of Fame worthy. However Oates never played for a championship team, nor was he really associated with any one team as the longest he ever played for one franchise was a near six season stint with the Washington Capitals. Still, you can’t deny a Hall of Fame slot for a man with over 1,000 career assists, as there were few purer playmakers in the game of Hockey.