Bure night: Trevor, the wife and Ron frickin' MacLean

Well that's that. From Jim Hughson at the podium to Pat Quinn seated at centre ice to the spirited fans chanting his name, the pre-game ceremony at Rogers Arena last night was a proper blast from the past and a success in enshrining Pavel Bure's superlative time as a Canuck.

Pavel Bure joining Smyl, Linden and Naslund in the
highest-possible honour to be bestowed on a Vancouver Canuck.
Photo by Sheriff Earp on Flickr.

Pavel Bure, the Green Power Ranger and DJ Tanner

I've never made it a point to watch the HHOF's annual induction ceremonies.  Speaking for all my fellow twenty-something diehards, we're really only now entering an era in which the careers of the players being honoured are truly relevant to us.  Five years ago, for example, of course we recognized that Mark Messier and Al MacInnis were players that belonged in the Hall, but as our demographic goes, when those two were in their primes, we were really more preoccupied with, say... Devil Sticks.  Or Tommy, the green Power Ranger.

So while it did take me a full week to actually sit down and YouTube it, this year's HOF ceremony was different – for obvious reasons.  Last Monday, Pavel Bure (yes, he of triple deke fame) stood behind the mic in Toronto, capping off the latest flurry of debate regarding his merits as an NHL and Canucks legend.  Before we delve into the Russian Rocket's slice of this year's HOF pie, however, how about the other three inductees?

Though he made a living terrorizing Canucks fans, Joe Sakic deserves special recognition around here, having been born and raised in Burnaby.  In the same way that Griffiths Way pays homage to the Canucks' former owner, about ten kilometres east, people are similarily reminded of the former Nordique and Avalanche captain when they turn on Joe Sakic Way to access Bill Copeland Arena.  Simply put, he's the greatest hockey player ever to have called Vancouver his childhood home.

Conversely, it's easy to dismiss Mats Sundin's induction in this city, considering his brief and uneventful tenure with the Canucks (if you remember, much was made in the media about the Swede receiving equal attention to Bure on the team's website when they were initially voted in several months back).  But believe it or not, the guy deserves some credit from a Canucks point-of-view.  Sundin left a team he captained for over a decade to play for us.  His signing also arguably coincided with Ryan Kesler's breakout as an offensive threat.  And that's a valuable legacy around these parts.  If you're not buying it, you have to admit it was fun knowing Vigneault could have thrown out a line of Sedin, Sedin and Sundin at any moment, just to mess with Don Cherry.

As far as Adam Oates goes... much respect, but unlike the rest of his class, his career had little impact on the West Coast.  Being the eldest of the 2012 quartet, his best years were played in the aforementioned Power-Rangers-before-hockey era of my generation.

And so we come to Mr. Bure.  While the HOF commitee may have deemed him least-deserving of hockey's highest honour by way of his six-year wait (Sakic and Sundin were inducted in their first years of eligibility; Oates was in his fifth), Bure is undisputed as the most exciting, talented and skilled of the four.  Call it the Most YouTube-Friendly Award.

To actually comment on his speech, Bure came across as a truly humbled individual.  That may seem like a given considering the honour in question, but to a lot of people who have followed his career, his character hasn't always been portrayed as such.  If you believe the reports that Bure declined an invitation to the Canucks' Ring of Honour, you may not consider him to be the most appreciative person. 

With that in mind, it was refreshing to watch the ten minutes allotted to Bure last Monday, because it was exclusively a celebration of the guy's God-given talent.  It wasn't a debate pitting him against the Canucks' former management.  It was Pat Quinn comparing him with Bobby Orr in a class of the most skilled and exciting players ever.  Sounds like hyperbole, but Quinn is not a man short on hockey cred.  Sadly, Bure's on-ice reputation is too often overshadowed by his supposed character off of it.

...Valeri Bure's answer to
his brother's HOF ring.

Finally – given the early-ninetees flavour of this article, I would be woefully amiss if I didn't ask: Was that really Candace Cameron of DJ Tanner fame all grown up and back on television, sitting behind Bure's mom in the audience?  (You can add Full House to the list of things that were more important than Mark Messier's career in my formative years.)  I suppose that's the universe's way of evening things between Pavel and Valeri.

So here's to the Hall for finally getting it right and Quinn for speaking the truth.  Here's to Pavel for hockey's highest honour and Valeri for his.

-HC

The Rushin' Rocket and Geoff Courtnall's HOF foul

The Province ran an article today, blasting Mikael Samuelsson for a recent Swedish interview disparaging Alex Burrows and his finger-biting antics in the 2011 SCF.  Good for Botch.  But he and his paper missed another interview foul in their own backyard when they reached former Canuck Geoff Courtnall for comment regarding Pavel Bure's HHOF induction just over two weeks ago.  Read on for the article they should've printed.

My apologies to Pavel Bure.  For a blog sullying his good name by association, BTD has been woefully silent on last month's Hockey Hall of Fame induction.  Somewhere out there, sitting on millions of rubles and memories of Anna Kournikova, I know the Russian Rocket's been waiting for my two kopecks on the matter...

By now you've surely read the dozens upon dozens of articles covering the drama of Bure's overdue selection into the Hall.  If not, don't worry...as with anything in the media, they're all echoes of the same stories we've been hearing since his departure 13 years ago:

*Most electrifying Canucks player ever, yes.
*Most electrifying player of his time, (arguably) yes.
*Vancouver needs to retire his number, of course.
*The Canucks organization hated (and still hates) Bure, naturally.

The last one is questionable, but that debate is a can of worms worthy of putting the current Luongo-Schneider drama to shame.  (You can read the Sparknotes version of Bure vs. the Canucks in this Province article.)   At any rate, those four statements essentially form the skeleton for 99% of the media's coverage on Bure's pending induction.  That's why one particular article stood out last month in the wave of coverage following the announcement.

In an interview with The Province, former Canucks teammate Geoff Courtnall provided some bold insight into Bure's previous non-selections.  Word for word, Courtnall blamed the Hall for "prejudice towards Russian players in the NHL."  While it's not an original perspective (here's to you, Don Cherry), nor one of much consequence to Courtnall (I doubt he has any illusions of receiving a call himself from the HOF), it's interesting nonetheless. 

Here's why.  In addition to Russians, you can presumably extend this prejudice that some feel exists in the NHL towards Europeans, in general.  For all the hype Bure's HOF snubs have garnered over the last half decade, it's kind of poetic that in the year he does get the call, another glaring pass has been made towards Brendan Shanahan, a Canadian.  In addition to Bure, Shanahan was overlooked in favour of Swedish centre Mats Sundin (perhaps the Hall isn't so much anti-Russian as it is pro-Toronto).  It's hard to imagine such a prejudice as Courtnall has suggested exists when a Russian and a Swede get voted in for the Hall ahead of a Canadian with 600 goals.  The retired power forward and current league disciplinarian now enjoys the distinction of being the most prolific point-scorer in NHL history not in the Hall of Fame (among those who are eligible¹).

Besides Shanahan, another Canadian remains waiting in the wings in Eric Lindros.  The latter is arguably much less of a snub than Shanahan, but the former Flyer's injury-shortened career is almost a carbon copy of Bure's.  Along with Bure, pre-concussion Lindros had few peers to match his skill and dominance in the 90's.  Their stats are near-identical.  779 points in 702 games for Bure; 865 in 760 for Lindros.  Both starred in their teams one-off playoff runs – Bure in 1994 and Lindros three years later.  And while the Rocket garnered a few more individual awards by comparison (a Calder and two Maurice Richards), Lindros's Hart holds considerably more NHL cred.  Even off the ice, Lindros' departure from Philadelphia had all the controversy Bure's did in Vancouver.

So.  Geoff Courtnall.  While you gotta admire him coming to Bure's defence, his claim appears to be unfounded.  For what it's worth, his accusation does provide an effective starting point to analyze the Hall's incosistencies.  At any rate, Vancouver can finally put the issue to rest.

Regarding his play on the ice, the NHL was exceedingly lucky to have seen as supremely talented and entertaining a player as Bure was.  This city, all the more so to have had him on our side.  I can appreciate the reasons why he wasn't chosen in his first six years of eligibility – first and foremost, for lack of longevity – but byegones will be as such.   Starting now, we can officially appreciate Bure's place among the league's very best of all-time.  Meanwhile, Detroit and Philadelphia can continue the same weeping and wailing we've endured for our former superstar.  (Only difference is, Geoff Courtnall, theirs are Canadian.)

-HC

¹ Ahead of Shanahan are Jagr and Selanne, who are still active, as well as Recchi and Modano, for whom the three-year waiting period has not yet passed.  Next on the list is Pierre Turgeon.

*See the discussion regarding this article on the Canucks.com forums here.