Mario Lemieux has always been regarded as a Hall of Famer. Now he is one, officially.
The Hockey Hall of Fame waived the usual three-year waiting period to consider players for the honor when they made the recently retired Lemieux one of three new members Tuesday."Although I had heard rumors that I might be inducted this season, I was not at all prepared for it," Lemieux said in a prepared statement. "I am overwhelmed by the thought of entering the Hall of Fame this November, especially in light of the fact that so few have gone in without waiting the three years."
The Hall has inducted eight other players without the normal waiting period: Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau, Terry Sawchuk, Red Kelly, Ted Lindsay, Maurice Richard and Dit Clapper.
Also entering this year with Lemieux in the players' category will be Bryan Trottier, and in the builders' category, Glen Sather. The three will be inducted into the Hall on Nov. 17.
Also to be honored will be Hockey News founder Ken McKenzie, who won the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, and longtime Philadelphia Flyers radio voice Gene Hart, the winner of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award.
The usual wait was waived in Lemieux's case, the Hall said, because of his "outstanding pre-eminence and skill."
Lemieux overcame Hodgkin's disease and a serious back injury during his extraordinary 12-year career in Pittsburgh.
Along with Wayne Gretzky, Lemieux was the dominant scorer of his era. Lemieux finished with 613 career goals and 1,494 points in 12 seasons. He captured three Hart Trophies (league MVP), six Art Ross Trophies (top scorer) and two Conn Smythe Trophies (playoff MVP).
After winning the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie in 1984-85, Lemieux made the first All-Star team five times. His best season was 1988-89, when he had 85 goals and 199 points.
In 1991, he scored 44 points in 23 games in leading the Penguins to the Stanley Cup. He had 34 points in 15 games the next year as Pittsburgh defended its title.
That season, Lemieux was limited to 26 regular-season games because of back problems. He would undergo two career-threatening injuries on his back.
Even worse was the battle with Hodgkin's disease, which sidelined him for the entire 1994-95 season.
"I think it's fantastic," Montreal's Mark Recchi, a former linemate of Lemieux, said Tuesday. "If anybody, he deserves it. He made hockey in Pittsburgh."
Trottier was brilliant in his own right. During an 18-year career, he scored 524 goals and had 1,425 points in 1,279 regular-season games with the New York Islanders and Penguins. He won the Calder, Hart, Art Ross and Conn Smythe Trophies.
Trottier was a key member of the Islanders teams in the early 1980s, when they won four straight Stanley Cups.
STILL NO LINDROS DEAL: Eric Lindros was no happy camper.
One day after a new contract between Lindros and the Flyer seemed immiment, the negotiations stalled on the opening day of training camp Tuesday, leaving both parties frustrated but willing to continue talking.
"When you're dealing with a lot of money ... you just don't whack this out overnight," Lindros said. "It takes time."
Lindros, his father-agent Carl and Flyers general manager Bob Clarke all said they weren't sure when negotiations would be concluded, although the elder Lindros seemed much more optimistic about the prospects for a new deal than his son did.
Carl Lindros said negotiations are "moving forward, but it's just that we're moving forward a little slower than anticipated. The point is I think both parties are committed to a new contract being done."
Clarke, in a statement released by the team, said Lindros rejected an offer that "would make him the highest-paid player in the NHL."