EHM The Blue Line

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=187396&hubname=

A very impressive career and a shoe-in for the HOF.

Best of luck to you Joe, hope you stay in hockey in some capacity.

A great player who had a great career.

I'm sure he will want to stay in hockey so no worries there.

As my friends and I used to call him "Bionic Joe" as he spent every offseason being "rebuilt" it seemed; both knees and elbow, etc.

I don't know about shoe-in for HoF though... his young career was spectacualr but like LeClair he was robbed by injures and his being a "leadership guy" and defensive/faceoff specialist for so many years I don't know how many people will reach back through that all to see the goalscoring of his youth... even moreso than with LeClair

Best of luck Joe; too bad to see another good guy driven from the game by injury.

Nieuwendyk was a phenomenal player. I'll always remember him as a Flame, and he also got them Jarome Iginla.

Minstrel wrote:I don't know about shoe-in for HoF though...

With his career numbers, 559 G, 559 A, 3 Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe Trophy, a Calder Trophy, an Olympic Gold Medal, and his longevity (20 years) I don't see how he isn't a shoe-in.

darn...sad new I really loved Joe, especially when he played for the Flames, but even after... That's another big loss for hockey The player i loved when i discovered hockey are now retired or soon to be... Hopefully, there are some great youngs that come in

BruceM wrote:

Minstrel wrote:I don't know about shoe-in for HoF though...

With his career numbers, 559 G, 559 A, 3 Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe Trophy, a Calder Trophy, an Olympic Gold Medal, and his longevity (20 years) I don't see how he isn't a shoe-in.

Just correcting myself, didn't have this years stats included.

564 G
562 A
1126 Pts in 1257 Games

1999 playoffs is what ill always remember him for, he won the Conn smythe that year, but most importantly he was insanely cluth vs the avs .

I love Joe as a Flame and can almost forgive him for being a Star (I hate you Dallas Stars!) because, as was pointed out, we got Jarome Iginla in return. I think Joe's heading for the Hall if for no other reason than his class. A few guys who have been passed over have been left out because they're questionable people. Joe is a shining example of what real men should be. Too bad there's not a "Man Hall of Fame".

Forsberg wrote:1999 playoffs is what ill always remember him for, he won the Conn smythe that year, but most importantly he was insanely cluth vs the avs .

And that's what won him the CS. As back then I could only watch the finals, I was kinda hoping it'd be Lehtinen, since I counted that he had a hand in something like 10 of the last 11 goals the Stars scored in the finals (and his defensive play was what we'd expect of him).

Sad to see a classy guy leave...loved him here in Calgary and even though he left to be a Star, as stated above, we got ourselves Jarome out of that deal