Senators Keep Rolling

Even without Jason Spezza in the lineup, the Sens continue to win games and look impressive. On an eight game winning streak going into tonight's game against Washington, the Sens have already put a little bit of distance between themselves and the other Eastern Conference teams. Detroit has done much the same thing in the West and is also now on an eight game winning streak. The two teams are in many ways similar and each has a Swedish right-winger who is setting the pace for the race to the Hart Trophy. Both Henrik Zetterburg and Daniel Alfredsson are racking up points while playing a complete game in all three zones and all situations.

The other news around the NHL today is the official announcement of Eric Lindros' retirement. The subsequent question has been whether or not he deserves to be admitted to the Hall of Fame when the time comes for that. The best article that I have read with regard to that question was by Stephen Brunt in today's Globe and Mail. Based on the standards that have been set by the Hall of Fame, Lindros' resume stacks up fairly comparably especially with Cam Neely whose career was similarly shortened and whose career overlapped Lindros'. Lindros did put up good point per game numbers, won in international hockey (though never won a Stanley Cup and only played in one final) and was for a period of time one of the games more intimidating players.

The question, I guess, should be can the Hall of Fame now begin to adjust its admission standards. To a lesser extent, the question is also whether sentiment enters into it and if it does, certain aspects of Lindros' personality and certain off-ice actions may hold him back. Certainly other factors have kept Dino Ciccarelli, a career six-hundred goal scorer, out of the Hall while several guys who never even approached that number being inducted ahead of him. Lindros certainly never lived up to the hype and the trade that paved the way for him to enter the league is considered one of the worst ever. It is reasonable to debate whether his career even stacks up to Peter Forsberg's, just one of the players included in the package that went to Quebec. To my mind, those sorts of questions mean that any consideration of Lindros has to be made in conjunction with the other eligible players in his year. Certainly, I would take Forsberg ahead of him (if his foot situation forces him to also retire this year) and he would definitely fall short of this year's class of Messier, Francis, MacInnis and Stevens as well as Igor Larionov who was overlooked this year. The question will be answered three years from now and will probably be easier to judge with at least that distance.