Boston Bruins great, Cam Neely, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last night. You can read the ARTICLE from the NHL web site. Many would say a very worthy choice. Some would say that he isn’t, and it has a lot to do with his numbers. He was short of 400 goals, and 700 points. Some of the lowest numbers in the HHoF. But let’s put this in perspective. He only played 13 seasons.
Most of the great hockey stars got their starts at a young age (this excludes goalie Johnny Bower who became a regular in the NHL at the age of 34 and managed to string together 12 HoF seasons with the Leafs). They usually start to take a regular shift (or for goalies, regular starts) at the age of 18-19. By the time they hit 40, they have played over 20 years. But Cam retired at the age of 31 because of injuries. He missed, possibly, a good 7 to 8 years of his career. And with the amount of goals he was averaging in those 13 seasons, he would have 607 goals if he had played 20 seasons, which would put him at 14th on the all-time list. And those numbers are skewed since he only played 2 seasons worth of games in his last 5 seasons (a total of 162 games). BUT in the 1992-1993 season, when he only played 49 games, he still managed 50 goals! If those aren’t HoF numbers, then I don’t know what are.
The only precedence we have is Mike Bossy. He only spent ten seasons in the NHL and had to retire due to injuries. The one thing that saved Bossy though was that he scored over 50 goals and played over 95% of the games in the first nine seasons, and totalled 573 in his career for 15th all-time.
But there was more to Cam Neely then his scoring numbers. He wasn’t a big guy, but he played big. He wasn’t affraid to hit. He wasn’t affraid to muck it out in the corners. He would play defense. He was a team leader. He wasn’t a one dimensional player like Pavel Bure, and that’s why he should be there. For more about Cam’s numbers and if he is “hall worthy”, you can read Scott Burnsides’ COLUMN.
Just like Cam’s game, there is more to the man then what he was on the ice. Some of you may know him from his small role as Sea Bass in the movie “Dumb and Dumber”. And one of my favorite ESPN commercials was Cam doing the gardening around the house after his retirement, saying how upset he was that ESPN finally decides to start their ESPNews channel and how it won’t help his career now that he retired.
“You guys wanna kick my dog while you’re here?”
There is also the humanitarian side. He set up his own foundation in the Boston area to help families where a member is battling cancer. He gets a lot of help from comedian Denis Leary and others, and usually hosts a stand-up spotlight type concert every year.
He was a great player, and it was a real shame that his career ended when it did. I know I didn’t get to see him nearly enough growing up in Detroit. But when I did get those chances, it was a pleasure.
Recent Comments