Alexander Mogilny's Hockey Hall of Fame induction is long overdue

Mogilny, Thornton, Keith and Chara were all NHL players, while Botterill and Decker are this year's women's inductions. Parker and Sauvageau were inducted under the builder's category. 

While every person here has a worthy resume for induction, Mogilny is the one who truly stands out. Especially since he had been passed over so many times, creating more and more outrage and anger among the hockey community for his continued omission. 

As a player, Mogilny's resume is more than enough.

He played 990 regular-season games, scored 473 goals (including a 76-goal season) and 1,032 points. Along with that, he was a Stanley Cup champion, a four-time All-Star and a gold medalist for the Soviet Union at the Olympics (1988), World Championships (1989) and the World Junior Championships (1989).

Whether it be in the NHL or on the international stage, Mogilny shined. 

But that only tells a part of his story.

Mogilny is also one of the biggest pioneers of men's hockey as he was the first NHL draft pick to ever defect from the Soviet Union to play in the NHL, opening the door for other players — including Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Bure — to soon follow in his footsteps. 

Mogilny defected following the 1989 World Championships in Sweden, boarding a plane and heading to the United States where he would start his career with the Buffalo Sabres. 

It was an incredibly risky move for Mogilny and his family as they were subjected to death threats for leaving the Soviet Union. That resulted in an incredible locker room exchange years later — as told by then-teammate Adrian Aucoin — between Mogilny and former head coach Mike Keenan.

“One time we’re in the locker room and Keenan is all over him. We were like holy s--t, normally he’s not on Mogilny like that,” Aucoin recalled.

“Mogilny looks up, he’s like, ‘Mike, have you ever heard of how I defected, how they f---ing threatened my family, how they wanted to kill everybody? You think you’re f---ing scaring me?’

“We were like, ‘Holy s--t.’ It was pretty crazy. Mike didn’t know what to say — he normally gets the last word.”

There are really two main ways for people to get inducted into any Hall of Fame.

You can either be an all-time great player, or you can be a person who significantly changes the game. Breaking a barrier, having some sort of huge accomplishment that impacts the game, changing rules or something else equally impactful.

In Mogilny's case, he did both. 

He was not only a Hall of Fame player, he also changed the game by helping to open the door for other Soviet players to make their way into the NHL. It made the league better and introduced new playing styles and skills to the league that did not previously exist. 

He should have been in the Hall of Fame years ago. The selection committee finally corrected that mistake. Better late than never.