Late yesterday afternoon, news came out for this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame inductees:

Martin Brodeur was a lock as a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Jayna Hefford, with her ridiculous resume that I think is made out of gold paper and written in gold ink with a gold pen, finally got into the Hall of Fame as the sixth women’s hockey player to get the call.

Martin St. Louis is almost as obvious a choice.

Alexander Yakushev is only less obvious to Millennials like me who had to look up who he was, but, after having done that... yeah, that’s a good call.

Willie O’Ree??? FINALLY!

But, there was one more name that was shocking to see included as a builder along with Mr O’Ree.

That’s right, Gary Bettman. The active Commissioner of the NHL was I guess eligible and will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I’m actually not upset about this choice when it comes to the merits of his case. I mean Gary Bettman’s resume speaks for itself:

  • Three work stoppages in his time as commissioner, an NHL record
  • Five NHL franchises failing and moving to another city (Minnesota North Stars, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, Hartford Whalers, Atlanta Thrashers) in his time as commissioner, an NHL record.
  • A lasting legacy in the gritty determination that is his insistence on the Arizona Coyotes continuing to do whatever the fuck it is they’re doing there.
  • Seven expansion franchises (Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights) with an eighth (Seattle) coming soon. Of those seven, one has already failed (Atlanta) and moved back to a city he had formerly moved the team from (Winnipeg) to the massive success story that is the Arizona Coyotes, one has been scuffling with attendance and performance forever it seems (Florida), and one was expanded where he had already taken a team from (Minnesota).
  • Has the highest career boos/60 than any Commissioner in league history, and it isn’t even close./

My only quibble with it is that it seems weird that players have to wait a certain amount of time after retiring before they’re considered eligible (Hayley Wickenheiser much?) but apparently that doesn’t matter for commissioners?

ONTO THE LINKS!

Brampton Thunder legend Jayna Hefford gets the call | by nafio

Deep Analysis of all 46 Free Agent Centres | by Katya

Qualifying offers have been extended for all Maple Leafs RFAs | by Katya

Back to Excited Episode 24: Draft Postmortem and John Tavares ft. Kevin Papetti | by Arvind, Fulemin and Kevin

Humboldt Broncos alum Chris Van Os-Shaw brings heavy heart to Leafs camp | by Scott Wheeler at The Athletic

Grading the Toronto Maple Leafs’ OHL selections in the 2018 NHL Draft | by Brock Otten at MLHS

The Case for Bobby Ryan on the Leafs next season | by Ryan Fancey at TLN, and without reading it I’m assuming that the entirety of the article is “because trading for him also gets you Erik Karlsson”.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Golden Knights sue StubHub for $1.5M from playoff ticket sales | by the Las Vegas Review-Journal

THE OFF SEASON SIGNING FRENZY HAS BEGUN!

#TavaresWatch continues

Happy Wednesday everyone!

From The Branches