Messier, Francis to join Hockey Hall of Fame
TORONTO — Mark Messier aimed for championships during his 25-season career, not the Hall of Fame.
"It wasn't something in Canada as a boy that we aspired to," Messier said. "Our big thing was pretending we were an NHL player and scoring the winning goal to win the Stanley Cup. That was the dream."
He lived it, time and time again. Six to be exact.
Messier netted the decisive goal in 1994 to end the Rangers' 54-year drought without a title. Add that to his legacy born in Edmonton with the Oilers, who won five times in seven years.
Forever known as "The Captain" in both places, his No. 11 hangs from the rafters in each city that claims Messier as its own. Now the player with the rock-solid jaw, and perhaps the greatest leader in all team sports, takes the next step.
Three years removed from his playing days, Messier will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Monday. The 46-year-old former center will be joined by defensemen Scott Stevens and Al MacInnis, forward Ron Francis and builder Jim Gregory, an NHL executive and former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"The four of them, that's a very special kind," said St. Louis Blues president John Davidson, also a former Rangers broadcaster. "I'm on the selection committee and I don't know why we had the meeting."
This class could be the one with the least debate.
Messier is second on the NHL points list with 1,887, trailing only longtime teammate Wayne Gretzky, who won four Stanley Cup titles with him in Edmonton then joined him for another season in New York.
Francis is fourth in points (1,798) while putting a face to the Hartford Whalers franchise. Stevens played more regular-season games than any other defenseman (1,635) and was fifth overall. MacInnis tallied 1,274 points, third among blueliners.
He also played with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
"They all were great in their own game," Messier said. "Their professionalism, their commitment to being a professional on and off the ice. Real, real pros."
Messier faced MacInnis during the Battle of Alberta games between the Oilers and Calgary Flames in the 1980s, calling the defenseman "the backbone of those teams." Stevens was the captain in New Jersey when the Devils and Rangers battled across the Hudson River the following decade.
The Rangers had to get through Stevens and the Devils in a classic seven-game series to advance to the 1994 finals.
"One of the toughest competitors I ever played against," Messier said. "As an opponent he was a guy that you had to know when he was on the ice."
