Montreal Canadiens: Three Former Habs Who Were Snubbed By Hall of Fame Again

Sergei Gonchar

Turgeon’s 100+ game stint with the Habs was a short one, but not as short as Sergei Gonchar’s. The Russian defender finished his career with half a season in Montreal, but that was just a minor footnote on a phenomenal NHL career.

Gonchar had 41 points in his first full NHL season with the Washington Capitals and continued to pour on the offence for most of his career. He had eight straight seasons of 50 or more points and nine total 50+ point seasons in his career.

In 2001-02, otherwise known as the dead puck era, Gonchar kept it alive. He somehow scored 26 goals as a defenceman that season when the league was on the verge of shutting down for a year to try and figure how to get more scoring involved in the game. Gonchar had a career high 67 points the following seasons and matched that total again in 2006-07 with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Somehow, Gonchar never won a Norris in his career, but he was a top five finalist on four occasions and earned Norris votes in ten different seasons. From 1999-2000 to 2009-10, the only defenceman with more points than Gonchar was Nicklas Lidstrom. Oh, I think I just remembered why Gonchar never won a Norris, it’s because Lidstrom won them all back then.

Not much of it came in Montreal, but Gonchar had 811 points in 1301 career games and was arguably the best offensive defenceman of his era. He certainly deserves to be recognized by the Hall of Fame.

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