November 13, 2006
The Next Eight Former College Hockey Players That Will Be Inducted Into the Hockey Hall of Fame

• Chris Chelios: Should the former Wisconsin Badger decide to retire — he says he can play until he's 50 — he'll take with him two Stanley Cup rings, three Norris Trophies, and five first-team and two second-team All-Star selections. He'll also rank among the top 10 in NHL history in games played.

• Brian Leetch: Few remember that it was Leetch, not Mark Messier, who earned Conn Smythe honors in 1994 when the Rangers ended their half-century Stanley Cup drought. The ex-Boston College standout was a two-time Norris Trophy recipient and earned first- or second-team All-Star status on five occasions. He was also the seventh defenseman in NHL history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau.

• Brett Hull: Only Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe scored more goals than the Golden Brett's 741 career lamp-lighters. The erstwhile Minnesota Duluth star was the 1991 Hart Trophy winner after scoring 86 goals for St. Louis, the third-highest single-season mark in league history. The three-time first-team All-Star and 1990 Lady Byng Trophy recipient is also one of four players — and the only non-Edmonton Oiler — to record more than 100 playoff goals.

• Joe Nieuwendyk: The ex-Cornell great's case for inclusion in the HHOF is hurt by the fact that he was never named an NHL first- or second-team All-Star. What he does have going for him is that he's one of three players in league history to win a Stanley Cup with three different teams, and he captured the 1999 Conn Smythe Trophy as a member of the Dallas Stars. The 1988 Calder Trophy winner will finish his career among the league's top 50 scorers.

• Ed Belfour: An undrafted free agent from North Dakota, Belfour burst on the scene in the early 1990s with the Chicago Blackhawks. A four-time Jennings Award winner and twice the recipient of the Vezina Trophy, Belfour was a two-time first-team All-Star and earned one second-team all-league nod. When he hangs his skates up for good, he'll leave the game as the second-winningest goalie in NHL history, third in games played, and among the top 10 in shutouts.

• Glenn Anderson: Few realize that Anderson played one season at the University of Denver and spent a year with the Canadian National Team before joining Edmonton in 1980-81. He never won any individual honors or gained a mention on the league's postseason All-Star teams, but he did hoist the Stanley Cup on six separate occasions (five with the Oilers, once with the Rangers) and ranks among the NHL's top 50 in career goals. Anderson is also among the top five in league history in playoff goals (93) and points (214).

• Adam Oates: Like Anderson, the former Rensselaer product lacks in personal accolades, his lone major award being a second-team All-Star selection in 1991. Unlike Anderson, Oates never won a Stanley Cup, let alone six, but he stands 15th on the list of the league's all-time scoring leaders with 1,420 career points and sixth in NHL history with 1,135 assists. The five guys ahead of him on the assists chart — Gretzky, Ron Francis, Messier, Bourque, Coffey — are all in the Hall or Hall-bound.

• Lou Lamoriello: The ex-Providence player and coach is a virtual lock to be welcomed to the Hall in the Builder Category for his work in turning the New Jersey Devils from a laughingstock to winners of three Stanley Cups. He's done it with a lot of help from the college ranks, using a fourth-round pick in the 1998 draft to take a smallish forward named Gionta, signing pesky Michigan standout John Madden to a free-agent deal, and inking Brian Rafalski, a little-known Wisconsin defenseman who had toiled for four seasons in Sweden and Finland.

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