The call to the Hockey Hall of Fame was a long time coming for Alex Mogilny. And what did the former Maple Leafs forward do after he got it? He went back to bed.
Sure, it was the middle of the night in Russia, but it was also fitting because the speedy skilled winger pretty much always danced to his own drummer.
鈥淲e did wake him up in the middle of the night,鈥 said Mike Gartner, the incoming chair of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Hockey Hall of Fame has named six players to its Class of 2025: decorated defencemen Duncan Keith and Zdeno Chara, forwards Joe Thornton and Alexander Mogilny and women鈥檚 stars Jennifer Botterill and Brianna Decker. (June 24, 2025 / The Canadian Press)
Mogilny had been eligible for the hall since 2009, three years after he played his last game with the AHL’s Albany Devils. He was a sublime talent whose level of interest at time could frustrate his coaches but whose resum茅 is as good as they come.
He was among the first of the players from the former Soviet Union who made their way to the NHL. He is a member of the triple gold club: an Olympic gold medal (1988 in Calgary), a world championship (1989) and a Stanley Cup (2000 with New Jersey).
Mogilny played 990 career games in the NHL with 473 goals and 559 assists for 1,042 points with Buffalo, Vancouver, 色色啦 and New Jersey. His 76 goals in 1992-93 is tied for the fifth-most by a player in a single season.
He played three seasons with the Maple Leafs toward the end of his career. His coach, Pat Quinn, called Mogilny 鈥渢he most talented player I had鈥 in a 2008 interview.
Another former Leaf, Joe Thornton, was named to the hall and wasn’t available to talk about it either. He had been ignoring his phone, not knowing the call was coming. He finally answered, said something like 鈥淗oly doodle,鈥 but was getting aboard a plane.
A third inductee, defenceman Zdeno Ch谩ra, a Stanley Cup champion in Boston, hadn’t even been told the good news by the time the hall held its news conference. The hall had trouble tracking down the renowned world traveller and renaissance man.
It was left to a fourth inductee, Duncan Keith, a three-time Cup champion with Chicago, to try to put it into words.
鈥淎s a kid growing up in Fort Francis (Ont.), my dream was to play in the NHL,鈥 Keith said. 鈥淐ouldn’t be more honoured. I feel so fortunate to have played with so many great teammates that pushed me and made me a better player.鈥
He said he grew up watching Mogilny. 鈥淚 still remember going to Vancouver Canucks games and watching him and seeing how fast he was and his amazing speed. I can remember it very clearly, just how good he was in person 鈥 You see it on TV, but it was another level being able to witness that in person.鈥
Thornton played 1,714 NHL games with Boston, San Jose, 色色啦 and Florida. Like Keith and Ch谩ra, he made the hall in his first year of eligibility.
His one season in 色色啦 was 2020-21, the year played without fans during the COVID-19 pandemic. He won gold in the 2010 Olympics for Canada, and won gold twice at the World Cup of Hockey in 2004 and 2016. The long-time captain of the San Jose Sharks had 430 career goals and 1,109 assists for 1,539 points. He also won the Hart Trophy as most valuable player in the NHL in 2006.
Keith and Thornton were teammates on the 2010 gold-medal team in Vancouver.
鈥淚 knew how good of a player he was, but it wasn’t until I got to play with him at the Olympics that you realize just what a great teammate he is,鈥 Keith said. 鈥淚 only got a short time, two or three weeks with him at the Olympics, but I know as a younger player he made me feel so comfortable.鈥
If there was a subtheme to Tuesday’s announcements, it was the Hall catching up with some players who had been overlooked before.
That included Canadian Olympian Jennifer Botterill, now an analyst with “Hockey Night in Canada,” getting the call alongside American Olympian Brianna Decker.
Botterill, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, last played in 2011 and had been eligible since 2014.
鈥淭he one thing that I describe about the evolution of women in the game of hockey is that I really love that it’s a choice now,鈥 Botterill said.
Jack Parker, the longtime coach at Boston University, and Dani猫le Sauvageau, the former coach of Canada’s women’s team and the current GM of the PWHL’s Montreal Victoire, were inducted in the builders’ category.
This was outgoing chair Lanny McDonald’s last year making the phone calls to pass on the good news to the inductees.
鈥淚 know what Santa Claus feels like when he hands out gifts,鈥 he said.
The Hall of Fame induction weekend will be Nov. 8-10 in 色色啦.
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