Alexander Mogilny is finally a Hockey Hall of Famer

Just when you were starting to think it would never happen, it finally did.

At 3 a.m. in the morning in Khabarovsk, Russia – closer to Beijing and Tokyo than to Moscow – the phone rang at the home of the president of Kontinental Hockey League team Amur Khabarovsk. The 56-year-old, roused from deep sleep, reached for the phone and answered it, to receive a simple message.

“Alexander Mogilny, congratulations on being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.”

If only Mogilny would have known that he would have to wait a year for every year of his career before finally joining the pantheon of hockey greats that is the Hall of Fame.

After seventeen years of waiting, the seventeen-year veteran finally received the call that only a select few will receive at the end of their careers. The first NHL drafted player to defect from the Soviet Union, Mogilny has had to wait a long, long time to get in.

?I am happy to be part of a great organization like the Hockey Hall of Fame,” Mogilny said. “I want to thank both my Russian and NHL teammates for helping me achieve this honor.?

The charismatic winger had one of the greatest goal-scoring seasons in NHL history in 1992-93 with 76 as a member of the Buffalo Sabres, behind only Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers – 92 in 1981-82 & 87 in 1983-84), Brett Hull (St. Louis Blues – 86 in 1990-91) and Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins – 85 in 1988-89). Mogilny was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame in 2011.

Between 1989-2006 Mogilny racked up 1,032 points (473 goals, 559 assists) in 990 games for the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs. He would win the Stanley Cup with Martin Brodeur and the Devils in 1999-2000 and the gold medal with the Soviet Union at the 1988 Calgary Olympics and the 1989 World Championship, making him a member of the IIHF Triple Gold Club.

Mogilny is the 14th Sabres player to enter the Hall of Fame, and will be inducted alongside Jennifer Botterill, Zdeno Chara, Brianna Decker, Duncan Keith, Jack Parker, Daniele Sauvageau and Joe Thornton on Monday, November 10th.

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