Hot and not
Max Domi, Arizona Coyotes
The rookie scored two goals in the Coyotes' 4-3 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks. Domi now has seven goals on the season and four points in two games against the Ducks.
Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
Getzlaf did not record a point and was minus-2 in the loss to the Coyotes and is still without a goal this season.
Who is a slam dunk to make the 2016 Hall of Fame class?
@Real_ESPNLeBrun: Hey, gang, only one game in the NHL last night with the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony taking over, and Craig and I were able to take it all in here in Toronto. What a class is was. I'm also wondering which players will be delivering their speeches a year from now. Because of a lackluster list of first-year players on the ballot, the Class of 2016 could be a special one highlight by some star players who are long overdue for induction. So, which players would you put into the class next year? For me, the two names that pop up are Eric Lindros and Dave Andreychuk. "The Big E" was the best player in the league, perhaps not for a long time but certainly long enough, and won a Hart Trophy along the way. It's just wrong that he hasn't gone in yet. Andreychuk's 640 goals are Hall-worthy, too. I could easily make the case for Sergei Zubov, Doug Wilson, Mark Recchi and lots of other guys, but let's start with Lindros and Andreychuk, I say.
@CraigCustance: No argument there, Pierre. I think it's past time to put Lindros into the Hall of Fame. Like him or not, he was one of the best in the game at his position for a stretch. The year he won the Hart, he put up 70 points in 46 games. That's 1.52 per game, and nowadays it's hard to even be at a point per game. He had 24 goals in 53 playoff games, slightly better production than his regular-season rate. It's time to put him in. My pet case is Zubov. He should get in, too. Only Sergei Gonchar has more points in NHL history among Russian defensemen. Zubov has two Stanley Cups, and when you talk to players of his era, they mention him in the same breath as some of the best defensemen of that generation. He was productive in the playoffs with 117 points in 164 games, a total that puts him in the top 15 all-time among defensemen. He doesn't have the Norris Trophy collection you'd want, but that was a reflection of the other great defensemen of his era and perhaps the result of his playing in a small market in Dallas. As I've said a few times, if he were Canadian this probably wouldn't be a debate.
@DownGoesBrown: I think Lindros is a slam dunk, and I've been banging the drum for years for Andreychuk to at least get into the conversation. It still amazes me how little serious consideration he seems to get with all those goals. But there's another name I want to throw into the mix, one that's been eligible for a few years without seeming to get all that much in the way of buzz. When I wrote about next year's potential candidates over the summer, one player stood out as having a much stronger case than I'd ever realized: Paul Kariya. He doesn't hit the magic milestones you'd like to see from forwards, falling just short of 1,000 points and barely topping 400 goals. But his career was hampered, and then cut short, by injuries, and guys such as Cam Neely, Peter Forsberg and Pavel Bure (and hopefully soon, Lindros) have paved the way for guys like that to get back into the conversation. Beyond that, Hall of Fame conversations always come down to longevity vs. peak, and I'm a guy who favors the latter. And at his peak, Kariya was absolutely considered one of the best wingers in the game. He played in seven All-Star Games and was the runner-up for the Hart Trophy in his third season. He was a first-team All-Star three times and made the second team twice. Those five total selections are as many as Lindros, Andreychuk, Recchi and Jeremy Roenick. Combined. Add in a 1.0 point-per-game average in his career in the Dead Puck Era, two Lady Byng Trophies and one of the most iconic goals in recent Stanley Cup history, and Kariya should be getting a lot more love.
@ESPN_Burnside: First, welcome, Sean, to our happy (if slightly disturbed) little group. Good to have you. And not just because I agree wholeheartedly on Kariya. Too good a player, too lasting an impact not to be enshrined, and next year is as good a chance as any. But can we give banging the Lindros drum a little break? Shouldn't the Hall of Fame be about players who have done more than meet the criteria of being among the best in the world for 20 minutes? With all due respect to Lindros, he has too small a body of work and too little impact both at the NHL (relatively speaking) and international levels for my Hall of Fame. But there is a guy in Zubov whose work on both fronts is exemplary. Zubov collected 771 points in 1,068 regular-season games, but that postseason record Craig mentioned is more impressive to me. Every player ahead of him on that list is in the Hall of Fame. Zubov, key to the New York Rangers' 1994 Stanley Cup win and an unsung member of a Dallas team that was an annual contender in the late 1990s (and finally a Cup winner in 1999), should join them.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
• The Tampa Bay Lightning announced Monday that left winger Ondrej Palat will miss three to five weeks with a lower-body injury.
• The Coyotes continue to deal with injury issues and have undergone some significant lineup shuffling in recent days.
• New York Rangers defenseman Dan Boyle is doing his best to accept a reduced role that has included being a healthy scratch in two recent games.