ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have named Tim Hunter the team’s assistant coach, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today.

Hunter, 51, has coached 1,041 games in an assistant role during his 13-season NHL coaching career. The former Stanley Cup winner was an assistant coach under Ron Wilson in all 13 previous seasons, including five years behind the Washington bench (1997-2002). Hunter helped the Capitals reach the Stanley Cup final in 1998 and the team reached the postseason in three of his five seasons with Washington, compiling a record of 192-159-51-8 (.540 percentage). Hunter coached current Capitals head coach Adam Oates, associate goaltending coach Olie Kolzig and assistant coach Calle Johansson during his tenure in Washington.

The Calgary, Alberta, native has a career coaching record of 499-394-70-84 with Washington, San Jose (2002-2008) and Toronto (2008-2011).

As a player Hunter played 16 seasons (1981-1997) in the NHL for Calgary, Quebec, Vancouver and San Jose. He won a Stanley Cup in 1989 when he was a member of the Calgary Flames. In 815 career NHL games the 6’2”, 200-pound right wing tallied 138 points (62 goals, 76 assists) along with 3,146 penalty minutes. He ranks eighth in all-time career NHL penalty minutes and still holds the Flames’ all-time franchise record with 2,405 minutes in penalties. He was originally selected by the Atlanta Flames in the third round (54th overall) of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.

(FROM PRESS RELEASE)

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have named Calle Johansson the team’s assistant coach, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today.

Johansson, 45, holds the record for the most games played as a Washington Capital, appearing in 983 games with Washington from 1989-2003. Johansson holds Washington records for points (474) and assists (361) by a defenseman and ranks third in goals (113) all-time. He was an alternate captain with Washington during the 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2002-03 seasons. Johansson along with current Capitals head coach Adam Oates and associate goaltending coach Olie Kolzig, played for the Capitals team that reached the 1998 Stanley Cup finals. He helped the Capitals reach the playoffs in 11 of his 15 seasons with Washington and holds franchise playoff records for games played (95) and points (54) by a defenseman.

The Goteberg, Sweden, native played in 1,109 career NHL games, collecting 535 points (119 goals, 416 assists) and 519 penalty minutes. Johansson was originally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round (14th overall) of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and was traded to Washington on March 7, 1989, with a second-round pick (Byron Dafoe) in the 1989 draft for Clint Malarchuk, Grant Ledyard and Washington’s sixth choice in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. The 5’11”, 203-pound blueliner played for Buffalo and Washington before retiring on August 7, 2003. Johansson worked briefly as a scout for the Capitals before coming out of retirement to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs at the end of the 2003-04 season. He appeared in eight regular-season games (collecting six assists) and four playoff games before retiring at the end of the season.

Johansson represented Sweden at numerous international tournaments, including the 1983 and 1984 (gold medal) European Junior Championships, the 1986 and 1987 (bronze medal) World Junior Championships, the 1991 Canada Cup, the 1991 (gold medal) and 1992 (gold medal) World Championships, the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Following his playing career, Johansson became a color commentator and provided analysis for Swedish television for both the Swedish Elite League (SEL) and the NHL. He was an assistant coach for Frolunda of the SEL during the 2006-07 season before returning to broadcasting.

(FROM PRESS RELEASE) 

The Washington Capitals are taking a big risk by signing Mike Green to a reported three-year $18.25-million dollar contract, as the defenseman has yet to show he can play at a high level for multiple seasons.

It is no secret Mike Green was at one time a face of the Capitals’ franchise. A founding member of the “Young Guns” quartet — a Capitals marketing campaign, not a new boy band — Green has broken the NHL record for consecutive games with a goal by a defenseman, earned the nickname “Game Over Mike Green” and been a Norris Trophy candidate. Several injuries and largely inconsistent play have made him anything but a lock to be a productive defenseman for the rest of his career though.

Green declined to sign is qualifying offer of five-million dollars from the Caps, but him walking away was something everyone knew would not happen. With the Caps letting Dennis Wideman walk to the Calgary Flames and an already thin defensive core, they couldn’t let him walk away or they would risk failing to field a competitive team. It is not as if they were out of options though and the one they chose, they may regret going forward.

Saddled with a concussion, ankle and wrist injuries the last few years, Green is becoming nothing but a question mark for this team. After starting out white-hot to start the season, Green went down after taking a puck to the face and never regained his form. He started out with three goals and three assists before the injury and after, he had just one assist in February, March and the handful of games in April. He may have contributed two goals to go with two helpers in the playoffs, but altogether his totals from last year do not justify the size of the contract he got.

Using CapGeek.com to look at Green’s cap-hit, quickly you find out he is being payed a similar amount of money as players head and shoulders better than him. Comparable hits include Brett Burns from the San Jose Sharks, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith from the Chicago Blackhawks, Dion Phaneuf of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins. During his three year stint as an offensive powerhouse from the blue line, Green might have deserved the same money as the players previously named, but not after the last two he has had.

When you talk about Green being overpaid, it isn’t an indictment on his ability or skill set, but instead on his ability to stay on the ice to use it consistently. Between 2006 and the end of the 2009-2010 season, Green was one of the top defenseman in the league. His stats have to come with a sort of asterisk though, as the team he played on was the definition of fire-wagon hockey. In the last two season, with a return to a defensive system, not only has Green only put up 31-points, but he also a paltry plus-11.

Perhaps most concerning about all of those stats, is it has come in only 81 games over two years. Considering an NHL season is 82 games long, it is not a good sign Green hasn’t even played the equivalent of one season over his last two. Recurring nagging injures and a few discipline problems have kept him in and out of the lineup. A guy cannot be defined by just two years of his career, but Green has only played a full season once in his seven years an NHLer, which is not good.

It is his consistent inability to stay on the ice that really makes this deal a head-scratcher. If you are the Caps why not head to arbitration, the worst case scenario is he earns more money for one year and you make him earn the long term contract next season. Now though, the team is linked to him for at least three years when they had other options.

Perhaps most puzzling about the extension is the Caps have a player in John Carlson ready to step in to the role currently occupied by Green shortly. Even though Carlson regressed a bit last year, the young hard shooting d-man plays the exact same game as Green and in at least a year should be ready to take over for Green. It seems feasible then, that Washington could have signed him to a shorter deal, especially since Green only wanted a two year deal originally.

Moving forward Washington has to live up to the decision it has made and while they may have a lot of cap space now, as they start to retool the roster, the space occupied by Green might be something they wish they could use. If he stays on the ice and comes back to form, Green’s deal is a steal and gives Washington flexibility, but if his career is any indication of his future, it looks like he might not be a risk worth taking.

FROM PRESS RELEASE…

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have re-signed defenseman Mike Green to a three-year, $18.25 million contract extension, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. Green will earn $6 million in 2012-13 and 2013-14 and $6.25 million in 2014-15.

“We are pleased to re-sign Mike Green to a new contract,” said McPhee. “Mike is one of the best young defensemen in the National Hockey League and is just entering his prime. He will continue to be a key part of our team moving forward.”

Green, 26, recorded seven points (three goals, four assists) and was a plus-five in 32 games with the Capitals last season. He finished the regular season ranked third on Washington in time on ice per game, skating an average of 21:02 per contest. Green missed 47 games due to injury in 2011-12. The blueliner added two goals and two assists as well as a plus-five rating in 14 postseason games with the Capitals, ranking second in points among Washington defensemen and tied for second on the team in playoff plus/minus.

The Calgary, Alberta, native has collected 251 points (82 goals, 169 assists) and a plus-62 rating in 398 career NHL games, all with Washington. He is one of just two active defensemen (Erik Karlsson) in the league to have registered a 70-point season and is the only active defenseman to have recorded two seasons of 70 points or more. Since the 2007-08 season, Green ranks fourth among NHL blueliners in points (236), second in goals (79) and his 0.77 points per game lead the league. The 6’1”, 207-pound defenseman is a two-time member of the NHL First All-Star Team and is a two-time Norris Trophy runner up. He was named to his first NHL All-Star Game in 2010-11 and was a finalist in back-to-back years (2010 and 2011) for the NHL Foundation Player Award, which is given to the player who applies the core values of hockey – commitment, perseverance and teamwork – to enrich the lives of people in his community.

Green currently ranks seventh all-time in points by a Capitals defenseman and sixth in goals. His six overtime goals rank second all-time in Capitals history behind only Alex Ovechkin (12) and his plus-62 rating ranks tied for 12th. He is one of only three Capitals blueliners to have recorded 70 or more points in a single season (Larry Murphy, Kevin Hatcher and Scott Stevens) and one of just two defensemen to have scored 30 or more goals in a single campaign (Hatcher).

Green was originally drafted by Washington in the first round (29th overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He won a Calder Cup championship with Hershey of the American Hockey League in 2006 and helped the team reach the finals the following year (2007). Green won a silver medal with Team Canada at the 2008 World Championships, recording the most points by a defenseman (12) while being named to the tournament all-star team. Green was named to the NHL Young Stars roster in 2006-07 after being named to the AHL All-Rookie Team in 2005-06 while with Hershey. Green spent a little more than four seasons with the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League (WHL) and helped Canada win a gold medal at the 2003 U-18 World Junior Championships.

If you are a hockey fan, then you have probably been following the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise story for the last week. What has been fascinating is despite the two players not being superstars, when they signed it seemed as if the teams who did not get them had lost out on this generation’s version of Wayne Gretzky.

While both players are extremely good, could the shear amount of discussion and media “buzz” about the two have created a perceived value higher than what it truly is?

Hockey isn’t the only league where we have seen solid players become perceived superstars through the buzz of media. Steve Nash is a very good basketball player, but I highly doubt he is going to put the Los Angeles Lakers over the top. No one would know that if they checked Twitter though, with people saying he makes the Lakers practically unstoppable. Now people would still be fantanical when it comes to moves like the one for Nash, but I highly doubt it would reach the levels we are currently at in the days before Twitter, Facebook and instant access to radio.

Any owners and general managers who says they do not pay attention to “the noise” on social media sites and large news networks is straight up lying. It is hard not to listen to the noise, since it is everywhere, but at the same time they truly would not be very good at their jobs if they did not gauge what their fans’, their true customer, demands and wishes were. Too often though, it seems the people creating the buzz about players seem to condem the owners and general managers who don’t listen to them.

It is fascinating to me to see pundits and members of the media eliminate NHL teams from the playoffs and crown others Stanley Cup Champions just because of a few signings. You would think after what we saw with Nnamdi Asomugha last year and how many crowned the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Champions with his addition, sports media personalities would learn from their mistakes. Yet, it seems every year a big free agent signing can cause analysts to go bonkers over some guy they themselves talked up.

Take a look at Prince Fielder and his signing with the Detroit Tigers for instance. People started calling him the best younger hitter in baseball and a better free agent target than Albert Pujols. Sure, he may have out hit Pujols early on this season, but look at where the Tigers are in the standings, below .500, and the Angels, in position to have one of the Wild Card spots. Sure, Mike Trout might have something to do with it, but the underlying theme is the big singing of Fielder isn’t making the Tigers a World Series lock like many predicted in January and it isn’t because Fielder has played poorly. Instead, it is because one player can only have a limited impact.

Much is the same with Parise and Suter, while talked up on Twitter, they aren’t going to guarantee Minnesota a Cup. Now is the interesting part of free agency where we truly test this media affecting free agency theory. With the media darlings off the board, who do they talk up next? Is it former Capitals left-wing Alexander Semin, or could it be someone like Shane Doan? Regardless, it will be interesting to see who gets the most buzz over the Internet, airwaves and through the “noise makers.” If the hot name is signed to a huge deal, even if he probably doesn’t deserve the money spent on him, it will be hard for anyone to say media isn’t influencing the way team’s spend their money.

As of now, I think it’s safe to say that the Washington Capitals have had an active offseason. Several new additions and a few departures that could change the makeup of this team for awhile.

The most noticeable change has been at the helm when former Capital center, and now Hall of Famer, Adam Oates was announced as the head coach of the Capitals on Tuesday. Oates was a great player throughout his career and played similarly to the way Nicklas Backstrom plays, but he had a much better knack for finding the back of the net. It will be interesting to see the playing style he will bring to the table and if much will even change. Early signs show that Oates doesn’t want to change much from the style of play that Hunter put forth because for the most part, it worked. Oates was on a New Jersey team that didn’t play overly aggressive hockey as it is, rather taking a more defensive approach. However, after watching their efforts against the heavily aggressive Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings, it brings a question to mind. Does this playing style work in this day and age? Two of the most noticeable techniques Kings Head Coach Daryl Sutter used were short shifts and a 2-1-2 forecheck. Short shifts are good because the players are always fresh and will have their legs by the third period, but the drawback is the marquee players have less time-on-ice. Sending two forecheckers has always been a favorite coaching ploy of mine when watching hockey because if you have a good forecheck, the opposing team may have trouble even clearing their own zone.

I bring these two coaching tactics up because it obviously worked for the Kings this year, but can it work for the Capitals? Probably not. The Capitals simply don’t have the personnel capable of playing this style of hockey. Short-shifting is a coaching decision and I would like to see Oates employ that startegy, but can he with Alex Ovechkin coming off a postseason regarding his lack of ice time? Probably not. Ever since Ovechkin has taken the C in January of 2010, his numbers have declined drastically for a superstar of his caliber. Has he been used correctly, or is the league starting to figure him out? I tend to agree with the latter of the argument as his playing style is becoming somewhat predictable.

There have been games I’ve watched where I’ve scratched my head wondering not only what the head coach was doing with “The Great 8,” but what Ovechkin was doing himself. I don’t like when Ovechkin doesn’t play on a line with Nicklas Backstrom. He needs that other offensive presence on the line with him in order to get opportunities. At the same time, he tries to create too many ridiculous and spectacular opportunities, that end up getting poked away by defenseman because he’ll either try to bum rush defenders and try to skate into the slot to shoot, or he’ll do a curl and drag up the left-side board and attempt a shot that may hit the goal, but more often then not gets poked or hits the rink ads. Taking a lot of shots is great, if they are quality and on net. Up until these playoffs, Ovechkin has been all about winning. These playoffs showed a side I only saw rumblings of in their 24/7 special for the Winter Classic against Pittsburgh, egotism.  Watching interviews of him, I couldn’t help but think of Terrell Owens. The guy has a gold chain with AO8 and he Reebok symbol on it. I realize it’s a brand and he’s told to market himself, but that comes off as selfish. Then, in these playoffs, he criticizes then Head Coach Dale Hunter for the amount of playing time he received, even though he team was winning. Is Ovechkin afraid to sacrifice his own personal accolades for his team? Does he press too hard for his own benefit? How will this affect the team?

In terms of forechecking, I think the Capitals lack the personnel to do it. Brooks Laich, Jason Chimera, Matt Hendricks and Troy Brouwer come to mind as great forecheckers, but four guys can’t do it. All four lines need to have the capability of doing an aggressive forecheck or else the opposing team will find the hole in the scheme, expolit it, and score.  Being a great forechecker means being able to skate all out, all the time and try to win every 50-50 battle possible. The Capitals have athletes, but some of the players lack the will to forecheck and finish defensive plays.

The question remains, will Oates make a difference? I think he’ll bring a new philosophy to the offensive side that will be more creative and require more passing. Maybe not as many shots on goal, but the opportunities will almost always be quality scoring chances. As far as defensively goes, they will have to harp on John Carlson and Karl Alzner once again in the hope that Mike Green and eff Schulz will rebound from sub-par seasons. It will be an interesting offseason, and I will discuss all their moves, once free agency begins tomorrow.

Tomorrow marks the opening day of NHL free agency and the Washington Capitals look to be at least mildly active with holes to fill, but General Manager George McPhee and the organization needs to pinch their pennies and save for the future in their moves.

The team made a big splash in free agency last year signing free agents like Joel Ward and Roman Hamrlik to contracts not exactly team friendly. Both players’ contract lengths and cap hits were not supposed to matter though, as they were supposed to help Washington bring the Stanley Cup home for the first time. Looking back now, Washington wasn’t as successful as they should have been, failed to improve on their previous playoff best and ultimately fell short of their goal, with Ward and Hamrlik providing little in the way of support. Now the team is saddled with two bad deals, two players who do not fit what they are looking for and cap hits they can not do anything about.

Perhaps the best news for GMGM is the fact this year is a new year. Part of the beauty of sports is the fact every year is a fresh start for a team. Owners and general managers can find new pieces and spare parts to combine and start another run at the elusive Cup. Despite being able to forget some of the mistakes of the past, the Caps need to remember how painful those big contracts will be heading forward and find solid players at the right price.

There are a lot of big name free agents out there for the Caps’ taking, guys like Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. Despite the two of them being tremendous talents, Washington should not even consider adding them. Yes they would be top players, but the risk of adding another bad contract to the books prevents the team from potentially locking up its star players like John Carlson and Karl Alzner in the future and also rebuilding if needed. Instead, the organization needs to add productive players who have short term deals.

Guys like Jiri Hudler, Niklas Hagman and Carlo Colaiacovo are players who are above average, but more importantly wont demand long contracts or high salaries to fill a need. Washington has holes on their top two lines and on their top defensive pairing and need to think smarter, not harder, when it comes to filling those holes. Look at an organization like the Detroit Red Wings, who have continued to fill their roster holes with lower priced castaways and aging veterans to the tune of two Stanley Cups and three finals trips in just over 10 years.

Fans may clamor for the big names in free agency, but the organization needs to resist the temptation, since this team could either be on the brink of long term success or catastrophic failure. Even if it may be a negative outlook to take, thinking the team in its current construction might not fair well, it is one the Caps need to keep in the back of their mind. Whoever they sign, they need to be able to jettison quickly, just in case they do have to reshape the team. Nothing can hinder a rebuilding or reloading plan more than a bad contract, just look at the Montreal Canadiens with Scott Gomez, so the Caps must make sure they do not give a player too much money or too many years.

There are a plethora of options out there for McPhee to peruse and ultimately offer deals to, he just has to make sure they are the right player at the right price. He has made mistakes in signings before — see Jagr, Jaromir — but has also shown a smart frugal sensibility by signing highly productive players like Mike Knuble and Matt Hendricks. Good players at better prices are available this year, it is just up to McPhee to make sure he finds them to ensure this team can succeed for years to come.

One of the things you have to accept as a person who writes or otherwise talks about sports is that not every funny, interesting or insightful thing out there is going to be written by you. Rather than finding this to be a threatening situation, it’s better to embrace it. If you recognize other great writing and share it, people will know that as they go about their busy lives, they can visit you and be exposed to a variety of entertaining pieces. They don’t have to sift through the rest of the entire Internet if you do it for them.

To that end, I’d like to share with you some of my favorite bits of sportswriting that I’ve seen across the Internet this month. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.

1. The No-Hitter Field-Stormer, or the Stranger in the Mob by Jon Bois on Baseball Nation

Jon Bois tirelessly documents the phenomenon known as field-storming – or streaking – at baseball games. The point of view from which he approaches this is simple: you would not want your son to be that person out there streaking, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with pointing and laughing at the spectacle. In Jon’s capable hands, you might think you are reading about performance art. Perhaps you are. This post is about a man who ran onto the field following Johan Santana’s no-hitter for the Mets and joined in the celebrating clump of Mets.

2. The Consequences of Caring by Bill Simmons on Grantland

Like him or hate him, Simmons is an oft-imitated and never-duplicated voice in sportswriting. Fifteen years ago, he was just another idiot with a website, and now he runs the Grantland brand under the ESPN umbrella, something that allowed him to do a “B.S. Report” podcast with President Obama. Sometimes the Boston homerism is too much. Sometimes he just writes about something I don’t care about. But sometimes he touches on a deep feeling that everyone can understand. In this article, he writes about his young daughter and her emerging sports consciousness as the Los Angeles Kings played for the Stanley Cup.

3. Coldhearted: Los Angeles, at Last! by Katie Baker on Grantland

Another Grantland writer who is a favorite of mine is Katie Baker, who writes for them about hockey. I don’t particularly watch a lot of hockey – in fact, I watched none prior to the playoffs of the recently-concluded season. Baker breaks it all down for the layman (or idiot) like myself, and she works hard to track down video to illustrate a play she references. Must be nice to write about a sport that lets video be posted on Youtube. She also captures the human side of sports like no other, as in the above: the Kings players who had just won the championship not as distant and inaccessible athletes but as real human beings with families, friends, and feelings.

4. Jake Arrieta is a Confidence Man by Andrew Gibson on Camden Chat

Full disclosure: this is my one homer pick. Andrew is my friend, podcast co-host, and Camden Chat is where I also blog. That said, there was a lot of chatter among the regular Orioles media prior to and after Jake Arrieta had a great start against the Pirates in the middle of the month. Were all his problems really just stemming from a lack of confidence? Andrew makes the observation that, while the results were good on the surface, his Pirates start wasn’t all that different from some of this others this year. His subsequent starts have been decent (except for one grand slam pitch) and good enough. Perhaps Jake will keep going in the right direction tonight.

5. The BCS finally has a stake driven through its heart… by Dan Wetzel on Yahoo! Sports

Wetzel wrote a book entitled “Death To The BCS”, part of a tireless crusade to advocate for some kind of playoff system in college football as an alternative to the BCS setup. So on the occasion of the NCAA finally embracing some kind of playoff for its Division I football, you can understand if Wetzel might be tempted to say I told you so. Actually, his summation is about the whole process, appreciating the product even as he points out its warts. NCAA football has never been one of my top sports to follow, probably because I never went to a university with a football team. Wetzel makes it easy to see why so many people care about it so much.

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So there’s some of the Best of the Rest for June. If you’re looking for something else to kill some time before you head for the beach this Friday afternoon, maybe these will do just the trick.

There is a new trend in town down in DC and Ted Leonsis is confident that it will bring the first ever Lord Stanley Trophy to our nation’s capitol. Adam Oates, former Center and Captain for our beloved Washington Capitals, has been named the new play-caller. Ironically he took over the Captain position from the same guy he takes over the coaching position, Dale Hunter. If this trend continues I can correctly predict the next coach of the Washington Capitals to be shared by Steve Konowalchuk and Brendan Witt who were Co-Captains after Oates was holding it from 1999 to 2001. Oates played five seasons and change with the Capitals, almost half of the 12 that Hunter played for the boys who now “rock the red.” He scored 73 regular season goals and six goals during the Capitals run towards the Stanley Cup Finals before getting swept by Detroit. He played with seven different NHL organizations with the Caps and Bruins tied for his longest stint with one professional organization.

Oates played with some great players during his time in Washington: Peter Bondra, Olaf Kölzig, Sergei Gonchar, and Dale Hunter headlining the squad. Now he will get the opportunity to coach one of the greatest players in the NHL over the last decade, Alexander Ovechkin. He was a captain on the ice and he’ll have to be a captain on the bench to get our boys a chance to hold Lord Stanley’s trophy. Hunter did an outstanding job after coming into a pretty horrible season’s start replacing Gabby, and turning the Caps into competitors. That is something that us Caps fans have grown to expect over the last few years since the change from Blue sweaters to Red. With expectations high, Oates has a lot of pressure. But owner Ted Leonsis has all the confidence in the world in #77 to come through for the city. After all, he was just an assistant for Stanley Cup runner up’s New Jersey. After watching the Kings hoist the trophy in the air, DC should hope and assume Oates is ready and hungry for a Stanley Cup of his own, since he is 0-3 in chances (the third was with the Mighty Ducks, yes the old Mighty Ducks in 2003 who lost to the Devils).

After staying up in London until 5 a.m. the day before a final several times to watch Dale Hunter’s boys give their best fight on the rink that we’ve seen in a few seasons in the playoffs for the Caps, it was sad to see Dale Hunter head back to ironically the city I was in, London, to coach the London Knights…only difference is, this is London, Ontario and not London, England.

TORONTO (June 26, 2012) — Bill Hay, Chairman and CEO of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Jim Gregory and Pat Quinn, Co-Chairmen of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Selection Committee, announced today Pavel Bure, Adam Oates, Joe Sakic and Mats Sundin have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Player Category. The vote took place today at the annual meeting of the Selection Committee in Toronto.

“The Hockey Hall of Fame is proud to welcome these four hockey legends as Honoured Members,” said Jim Gregory. “Their contributions to the game of hockey are well documented and their election to the Hockey Hall of Fame is richly deserved.”

Pavel Bure, a native of Moscow, Russia, joined the Vancouver Canucks for the 1991-92 NHL season and that season won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year. A six-time NHL All-Star, he was named to the first team in 1994. As a Florida Panther, he was the NHL’s top goal scorer for two consecutive seasons, from 1999 to 2001, before finishing his career with the New York Rangers in 2003.

Adams Oates played three seasons with RPI of the ECAC before signing as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Red Wings in 1985. He went on to play 19 NHL seasons with seven teams, including four 100-plus point seasons. The sixth all-time NHL career leader in assists with 1,063, Oates retired in 2004.

“Growing up I was a guy who was kind of overlooked and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go to RPI and have the time for my game to mature,” said Oates. “This is a tremendous honour and I look back and realize how lucky I was to have great coaches to help me along the way.”

Joe Sakic grew up in Burnaby, British Columbia, before starring with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League, winning the CHL’s Player of the Year Award in in 1987-88. Drafted 15th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1987 Entry Draft, Joe moved with the team to Colorado and went on to play his entire 20-year career with the same organization. Sakic captained the team for 17 seasons, second longest in NHL history and won Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001. An NHL First Team All-Star on three occasions, Sakic also played for Canada at three Olympic Games, winning gold and being named MVP in 2002.

“As a kid I always dreamed about making the NHL, but never really thought at all about the Hockey Hall of Fame,” said Sakic. “I was fortunate to play 20 seasons, which gave me the opportunity to build on my list of accomplishments. Having great teammates and coaches was a key component of this.”

Mats Sundin was born in Bromma, Sweden and was the first European born player to be drafted first overall in the NHL Entry Draft, in 1989 by the Quebec Nordiques. Mats spent 13 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, becoming the franchise’s all-time leader in goals with 420 and assists with 567. Sundin is the first Swedish-born player to reach 1,000 points in the NHL. He represented his home country internationally on 14 occasions, with the culmination being an Olympic gold medal in 2006.

“Three years have passed since I retired and it makes me realize how privileged I was to play my entire career in Canada, where hockey really matters,” said Sundin. “Having my hobby and love for a sport become my livelihood really allowed me to live out my dream.”

The 2012 Induction Celebration will be held on Monday, November 12th at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.