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Montreal Canadiens: Three Former Habs Who Deserve Hall of Fame Nod Today – But Likely Won’t

By Ken MacMillan

TORONTO, ONTARIO - NOVEMBER 15: Guy Carbonneau attends a photo opportunity for the 2019 Induction Ceremony at the Hockey Hall Of Fame on November 15, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - NOVEMBER 15: Guy Carbonneau attends a photo opportunity for the 2019 Induction Ceremony at the Hockey Hall Of Fame on November 15, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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GLENDALE, AZ – MARCH 07: Sergei Gonchar #55 of the Montreal Canadiens  (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ – MARCH 07: Sergei Gonchar #55 of the Montreal Canadiens  (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

2. Sergei Gonchar

While John LeCalir played the beginning of his career with the Montreal Canadiens and it wasn’t a huge part of his Hall of Fame resume, Gonchar played the other end of his career with the Habs, and it was an even smaller part of his fantastic career.

LeClair played 224 games with the Habs and won a Stanley Cup in 1993. Gonchar had a long career but played about half a season in Montreal at the tail end of it. Though Montreal wasn’t a huge part of his hockey life, Gonchar is another former Canadien who deserves to be honoured by the Hall of Fame.

Gonchar was a first round pick of the Washington Capitals in 1992 and is probably the best defenceman to ever play for the Caps. He would score just seven points in 31 games as a rookie in 1994-95, but quickly developed into one of the best offensive defencemen in the game.

In his second NHL season, his first full season, he scored 15 goals and 41 points in 78 games for the Capitals. By 1997-98, he helped lead the team to the Stanley Cup Final by scoring seven goals and 11 points in 21 games while playing more minutes than anyone else on the team’s defence.

During the span of his career, which lasted over two decades as he didn’t return until he played for the Canadiens in 2014-15, Gonchar was the second highest scoring defenceman in the game, trailing only Nicklas Lidstrom. He led the league in goals by a defender in 2001-02 and 2002-03, led the league in assists by a defenceman in 2003-04 and 2006-07 and led blue liners in points in 2001-02 and 2003-04.

The Russian never did win a Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenceman, but he was in the top ten in voting on seven different occasions. He wasn’t named to an end of season First All Star Team, but was on the Second All-Star Team twice. All time, he ranks 17th in games played by a defenceman, 16th in goals and 16th in points.

His time with the Habs was limited to just his final 45 games where he scored one goal and 13 points. But his 1301 games, 220 goals and 811 points all rank higher than Sergei Zubov who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year. Scott Niedermayer is known as the best offensive defenceman of his generation but he scored 48 less goals and 71 less points than Gonchar while playing just 38 less games.

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