(WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - It took 17 long years, but the wait for Alex Mogilny has finally come to an end.
The former Buffalo Sabres winger was selected on Tuesday as part of the Class of 2025 for the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
The Sabres knew what a supreme talent he was, and took a flier on him by drafting him in the fifth round of the 1988 NHL Draft. However, they thought it was a long shot that he’d actually come and play.
Mogilny’s story of how he defected from Russia has been well-documented over the years. Then general manager Gerry Meehan went and met him in several different countries, being chased by the KGB after he left his junior team to come to the United States.
After having seasons of scoring 30 and 39 goals, Mogilny had a team-record and league-leading 76 goals in 77 games during the 1992-93 season. He also had a career-high 127 points, but didn’t lead the Sabres in scoring that year. Mogilny’s center Pat LaFontaine had 95 assists and 148 points over the course of the season.
During his six seasons with the Sabres, the native of Khabarovsk in the old Soviet Union scored 211 goals and registered 233 assists for 444 points in 381 games.
In July of 1995, Mogilny and a fifth-round pick were traded to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Michael Peca, Mike Wilson and a first-round pick, which turned out to be Jay McKee.
Mogilny went on to play a total of 16 seasons in the NHL, where he played a total of 990 games, scoring 473 goals and adding 559 assists for 1,032 points. He also spent time with the Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils, where he won his only Stanley Cup back in 2000.
In addition, Mogilny was a predominant player during his time in the NHL and the international ranks. Not only did he win a Stanley Cup, but he was also an Olympic gold medalist, a World Championship gold medalist, and a World Junior gold medalist.
Mogilny also won the Rocket Richard Trophy and Lady Byng Trophy during his time in the NHL, while also being the league's first European captain and a two-time NHL All-Star.
In 2011, Mogilny became the 39th inductee of the Sabres Hall of Fame along with the late sports news columnist Jim Kelley.
I wish I could tell you why it took until he was 56-years-old to go into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but at least he will be inducted this coming November.
Some of the other notable inductees in the 2025 class of the Hockey Hall of Fame include Zdeno Chara, Duncan Keith, Joe Thornton and Jennifer Botterill.