NHL Announces Its 2013 Hall Of Fame Inductees

Jun 27, 2013; New York, NY, USA; NHL vice president of hockey and business development and director of player safety Brendan Shanahan arrives at the Westin Hotel for the NHL Board of Governors meeting. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier today the NHL announced its 2013 Hockey Hall of Fame inductees, while none of the names are too surprising, many will still complain about those that didn’t get in today.

Twitter is already full with people complaining that the late, great Pat Burns was snubbed once again and thats just one example.

But enough with those that didn’t get in, lets turn our attention to the people who were fortunate enough to have their names called today and they are: Scott Niedermayer, Brendan Shanahan, Geraldine Heaney, Chris Chelios and Fred Shero.

Scott Niedermayer played 18 seasons in the NHL and participated in over 1,000 NHL games for the New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks. He is a 4-time Stanley Cup champion, played in 5 NHL All Star games, won a Conn Smythe (playoff MVP) in 2007 and a Norris (best defenseman) in 2004. Niedermayer also has an Olympic Gold medal on his shelf. When he hung up his skates in 2010, we all knew it was only a matter of time until Niedermayer would be in the HOF.

Brendan Shanahan was no slouch either, the NHL’s current Vice President of Hockey and Business Development, is also the Director of Player Safety and he played 22 seasons in the NHL. He is the only player in NHL history to have 600 goals scored and 2,000 penalty minutes, thats quite a feat. Shanahan played in 7 NHL All Star games and won 3 Stanley Cups as well as an Olympic Gold, like Niedermayer it was only a question of when for Shanahan.

Geraldine Heaney is an Irish-Canadian woman who represented Canada’s women’s ice hockey team countless times and was considered to be the female version of Bobby Orr because she was always just that much better than everyone else. She won an unheard of 7-straight Gold medal’s for Canada at the IIHF Women’s World Championships (the only person ever to do so) and won an Olmypic Gold medal in 2002. She is one of the greatest and most decorated hockey players of all-time, male or female.

Chris Chelios is one of the greatest American-born defensemen of all-time. Chelios holds the record for most games played by a defenseman, won 3 Stanley Cups and 3 Norris trophies. He also played in countless All Star games while playing in the NHL for over 20 seasons.

Fred “the Fog” Shero was (he passed in 19990) a Canadian-born NHL player, coach and general manager. He spent most of his playing career in the minors before excelling as an NHL coach and GM. He won 2 Stanley Cups as a coach and appeared in a few more finals. He is crediting with being the first coach to hire a full-time assistant coach, employ offensive and defensive schemes, was the first to make his players watch film and train in-season. He was a revolutionary and a bit of an odd duck, however you saw Shero the game of hockey misses him and his unique personality, they also miss his original ideas. His son, Ray, is currently the GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Well there you have it, those are your 2013 NHL Hall of Fame inductees, like it or not.