Alexander Mogilny again an embarrassing omission for Hockey Hall of Fame

The Hockey Hall of Fame announced its 2024 class on Tuesday afternoon, and it is an impressive list consisting of Pavel Datsyuk, Shea Weber, Jeremy Roenick, women's national team members Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl and builders Colin Campbell and David Poile.

But it is the name not in that group that continues to baffle hockey observes as Alexander Mogilny was again shockingly omitted from the Hall of Fame.

It remains a baffling decision by the committee. Not only because of Mogilny's career achievements, but because of the role he played as a pioneer in the NHL. 

On the ice, Mogilny was a dazzling player who scored 473 goals with 1,032 career points in 990 regular-season games with the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks.

He made All-Star teams with all four teams, won a Stanley Cup with the Devils and led the league with 76 goals scored during the 1992-93 season. 

All of that alone is a Hall of Fame resume. 

But what separates Mogilny is the way he helped change the game and the league by defecting from the Soviet Union to play in the NHL at a time when that was not only considered taboo to do, but when it was also incredibly dangerous for players to consider. Despite threats from the Soviet government toward himself and family, Mogilny boarded a plane in Stockholm, Sweden, following the 1989 World Championships and headed to Buffalo to join the Sabres.

That defection opened the door for other Soviet and Russian players to make the jump to the NHL and completely changed the landscape of the league. Within five years, some of the league's best players were of Russian descent, and Mogilny was one of the players who helped pave the way for them. 

In a way, that impact could make a compelling case for him in the builders category, and that is before you even get into his playing contributions (which are also worthy). Add the two things together and he should be a slam dunk. Every time he isn't, it gets more and more embarrassing for the committee.