Hockey Hall of Fame announces class of 2017

The Hockey Hall of Fame has joined the frenzy of news in the hockey world this past week and announced the class of 2017. There are some big names, and even two from the same team.

Seven names were announced by the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2017. These include Teemu Selanne, Dave Andreychuk, Mark Recchi, and Paul Kariya for their NHL playing days. The other three are being inducted for their work either outside of the NHL or as a member of a front office in the league. The three includes Danielle Goyette, Jeremy Jacobs, and Clare Drake.

Teemu Selanne played was undeniably the most talented player involved in the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2017. Over the course of 1,451 NHL games, most of them with Anaheim, he scored 684 goals and had 773 assists. Selanne broke the 100-point mark in a single season twice, with the first coming in 1996-97 in 78 games (51-58-109) and the second coming in the 1998-99 season in 75 games (47-60-107).

Dave Andreychuk was no slouch either. Andreychuk played in 1,639 NHL games over his 26-year career with the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning. During his long career he had 640 goals and 698 assists for a total of 1,338 career points. Andreychuk also finished with 1,125 career penalty minutes.

Mark Recchi, like the other two, was another player who had a long and storied NHL career. Over the course of his 28-year career Recchi played in 1,652 games in the NHL, scoring 577 goals and adding 956 assists to his impressive total. Recchi also broke the 1,000 mark in career penalty minutes, finishing with 1,033 in total.

The fourth and final NHL player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this year was Paul Kariya. Kariya was taken as the fourth overall pick of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by the Anaheim Ducks, the team he would play a majority of his 989-game NHL career with. Kariya was a point-per-game player during his career, with 402 goals and 587 assists for 989 points. It should also be taken into note that Kariya played in one of the least offensive eras in NHL history.

This is the second Hall of Fame induction that Danielle Goyette has on her resume, having been inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame back in 2013. During her time with Team Canada, Goyette won a total of two Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, eight IIHF World Women’s Championships gold medals, and one silver in that tournament as well. Goyette is also Canada’s all-time leading scorer at the IIHF World Championships with 29 goals and 53 total points.

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Clare Drake is being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2017 for his work outside of the NHL as well. He has been referred to as the “John Wooden of college hockey” due to his unprecedented success during his coaching career with the University of Alberta Golden Bears. Drake is also the only university to coach to win a national title in football and hockey in the same year, he achieved the feat back in 1967.

The final member of the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2017 is Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs. He has been the owner of the Boston Bruins for over 40 years. Jacobs also received the Lester Patrick Award, an award given to honor individuals who have shown outstanding service to the sport of hockey in the United States.