Canadiens: Three Recent Habs Who Will Be Hall of Famers

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The Montreal Canadiens did not have any of their former players voted into the Hall of Fame on earlier this week. The 2022 class was announced on Monday and it had a distinct Swedish and Vancouver Canucks feeling to it.

Twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin were voted in as well as former Canucks teammate Roberto Luongo. Daniel Alfredsson, a teammate of the Sedin twins on a few Swedish national teams also got the call to inform him he will be entering the Hall of Fame.

Finnish women’s player Riikka Sallinen was also elected and Herb Carnegie will go into the builder’s category. It is quite a deep class, though perhaps without an elite star player getting their name called.

The Sedin’s were great and Alfredsson was a really good player for a long time, but these were not the greatest players in the league for a decade or anything like that. They all had individual success at the NHL level and plenty of international tournaments where they showed off their talents as well.

The 2022 class will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame in November. There are no former Canadiens players on this list, but there are a few that deserved a little more recognition.

What the Canadiens do have is a plethora of their former stars that have already been inducted. They also have a handful of recent players who are not eligible to be inducted yet, but absolutely will be as soon as they are on the ballot.

These three players who recently wore a Habs jersey are just wrapping up their careers, but have done enough already to earn induction in the Hockey Hall of Fame. If Alfredsson eventually got the call, you can bet all three of these players will in due time as well.

Let’s take a quick at three players we very recently cheered for that may as well start writing their induction speeches to the Hall of Fame right now.

Corey Perry

Corey Perry only played one season with the Montreal Canadiens, but it seemed to be a renaissance of sorts. He started the year as a healthy scratch and was put on waivers, leading many to believe his career could be over.

But he stuck around and battled long enough to earn a regular role on the team and he would score 21 points in 49 games for the Habs in that odd 2020-21 All-Canadian Division season. This season, he was much better scoring 19 goals and 40 points in 82 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

He also lost in the Stanley Cup Final for the third consecutive season, but he has been solid in each postseason, scoring 11 points for the Lightning this year in 23 playoff games.

Perry’s sheer numbers aren’t the most impressive resumé but his career can’t be described by raw goals and points. He did reach the 400 goal threshold this season, and his next goal will put him into the top 100 all time. He also has 858 career points, and could reach 900 if he scores like he did this season in the final year of his contract. If he plays two more seasons, he will surely pass 900 points.

That would not be quite enough to put him in the Hall of Fame on its own. He is only 25 goals back of Bill Guerin for his career, and Perry has more points than the current Minnesota Wild GM who was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2013.

So, Perry is right there, but it a few other accolades that put him over the top. Perry led the NHL in goals in 2010-11 and was voted as the Hart Trophy winner as league MVP that season. A Hart and a Maurice Richard award are a couple of nice cherries on top of the career resumé.

He has also had a tremendous international career and won just about everything a hockey player can. In Junior, Perry was a key member of one of the best CHL teams of all time, leading the London Knights to an OHL Championship as well as a Memorial Cup. He was named league MVP in the regular season and also took home the OHL Playoff MVP that year. He also won gold at the World Juniors that season.

Since turning pro, Perry has won the Stanley Cup in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks. He won a World Cup, a World Championships, and two Olympic Gold Medals.

All that winning, plus a Hart and a Maurice Richard award, plus more than 400 close and possibly 900 points by the time he calls it a career adds up to a first ballot Hall of Fame player.

Shea Weber

Shea Weber had a lengthy stint as a dominant defenceman in the NHL. He was the most feared player in the league for a long period of time both because of his physicality and his booming slap shot from the point.

He was a second round draft pick of the Nashville Predators in 2003 but quickly proved that he was a steal. He became a fixture not just on the Preds blue line but also on Norris ballots as well as Canada’s national teams.

From the 2007-08 season to the 2016-17 season, Weber received Norris votes all ten years. He never won the award somehow, but finished twice on two occasions and was in the top four in five separate seasons.

He finishes his career with 224 goals and 589 points. He reached the 20 goal plateau on three separate occasions and set a career high with 56 points in 2013-14. In those ten years he received Norris ballots, Weber’s 164 goals were the most of any defenceman and he was fifth in scoring by blue liners with 435 points.

He may not have won a Stanley Cup, or even a Norris, but Weber did win two WHL Championships, a World Junior gold, a Memorial Cup, a World Championship gold, a World Cup and two Olympics gold medals.

For over a decade, he was the most feared defenceman on the ice and the best goal scorer from the position as well as one of the highest point getters among defenders. He won just about everything expect for a Stanley Cup, but definitely deserves to walk into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot.

Carey Price

Carey Price was the 5th overall pick in the 2005 NHL Draft and has been through just about everything in his career. From top prospect, to potential flop, to absolute stardom, to overpaid veteran to Stanley Cup finalist worth every penny to injured and over-the-hill to… well whatever comes next but nothing should surprise you.

Price was rewritten the Montreal Canadiens goaltending record book which is an incredible accomplishment. He has set the team record for most career wins, knocked Patrick Roy, Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden off the pedestal on his way to the top of that mountain.

He has received Vezina Trophy votes in seven different seasons in his career, and on four occasions earned some recognition in the Hart Trophy voting as well. In 2014-15, he won the Hart Trophy, Vezina Trophy, William Jennings, and Ted Lindsay Award.

He has also won a WHL Best Goalie, a CHL Top Goalie Award, a gold medal at the World Juniors where he was named MVP and Top Goalie, a playoff MVP in the AHL as a 20 year old, a Calder Cup, a World Cup, an Olympic gold medal and a Best Goalie at the Olympics Games.

A Stanley Cup would be a nice addition to the trophy case but Carey Price is the best goaltender of his era without one and he deserves to be a unanimous addition to the Hall of Fame as soon as he is eligible.

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