Henrik Zetterberg did not receive the call to join the HHOF this Wednesday. What is the case in favor of the former Red Wing captain, Conn Smythe winner, and Triple Gold Club member?

On Wednesday, the Hockey Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2023, and once again, Henrik Zetterberg was not amongst its number.  The former Red Wing captain became eligible for the Hall in 2021, but his wait to gain entry has grown by at least another year.  After the Hall of Fame thrice rebuffed his bid to enter, what is the case for Zetterberg being enshrined?

That case is complicated by the fact that his boxcar statistics do not scan as Hall of Fame-worthy.  In 1082 NHL games, the Swedish-born forward scored 337 goals and gave 623 assists for 960 points, and at first blush, those figures of Hall of Very Good written all over them.  By traditional counting stats, Zetterberg might not pass muster.

If you look at his best season (2007-08), Zetterberg looks closer to a Hall of Famer: 43 goals, 49 assists, 92 points.  However, he finished just tenth in Hart Trophy voting that year and third for the Selke, perhaps signaling that he was never sufficiently appreciated in his prime.  Of course, some more appreciation came when Zetterberg capped that campaign with 27 points in 22 playoff games, a Conn Smythe, and, most importantly, the Stanley Cup.

According to the Hall of Fame's web site, players gain eligibility based on "playing ability, sportsmanship, character and contributions to his or her team or teams and to the game of hockey in general."  

The key to Zetterberg's Hall of Fame case is recognizing that he merits induction for two reasons: The quality of his peak and (relatedly) that for a time he was the best in the NHL at what he did.

Henrik Zetterberg was the ultimate winning player.  So often when a player is referred to as "two-way," it really means they are just good at defense.  Zetterberg was a true two-way superstar: Elite in his own end and a legitimate offensive superstar.

There are few players whose precise peak can be articulated as definitively as Zetterberg's: the legendary Conn Smythe shift 3-on-5 against the Penguins in Game 4 of the '08 Cup Final.

Kirk Maltby and Andres Lilja took penalties 33 seconds apart, and Detroit—up 2-1 in the series and the game—would have to work down two men for 1:27.  Not quite ten minutes remained in the game.  After a timeout, Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Niklas Kronwall took the ice to begin the kill for the Wings.

To be even more specific, the moment that will forever be associated with Zetterberg's name came 30 seconds into the kill, having already blocked a shot.  

Sergei Gonchar slapped a high-low pass to Marian Hossa along the goal line.  Hossa played a cross-crease pass to Sidney Crosby at the far post.  A gaping net awaited Crosby's shot; a wide-open tap-in beckoned.  

Instead, a firm stick check from Zetterberg stymied any chance that might have come and dropped Crosby, a player whose strength and leverage have long paved the way for his success, to the seat of his pants.

It is as memorable, as iconic, a defensive play as any from the NHL's salary cap era, but Zetterberg wasn't done.  Before the Pens' 5-on-3 expired, he would foil an attempted zone entry from Evgeni Malkin and dance through the offensive zone to kill off a few more crucial seconds as Maltby's minor ticked below 15 seconds remaining. 

Legendary broadcaster Mike "Doc" Emrick recognized it for what it was straight away: "a Conn Smythe shift."

Two games later, he would squeeze the Cup-winning goal through the pads of Marc-Andre Fleury, then hear his name called as the Conn Smythe-winner, the post-season MVP.

I must admit I'm a bit skeptical of the idea that a Hall of Fame case should rest on awards.  The voters and voting are fickle, making it seem a bit silly to hold faith that their resolutions ought to provide the sport with any sort of historical clarity.

But...if any one award can vault a player into the Hall of Fame, shouldn't it be this one, the Conn Smythe?  Henrik Zetterberg was the best player on one of the most iconic teams of the NHL's salary cap era.  Shouldn't that be more than enough to supplement regular season numbers that are merely great instead of Hall of Fame-worthy.

Including Zetterberg, 10 players who are eligible for the Hall have won the Conn without being inducted.  The others are Justin Williams, Tim Thomas, Cam Ward, Brad Richards, JS Giguere, Bill Ramford, Claude Lemieux, Butch Goring, and Roger Crozier.  They are mostly goalies who had one outstanding run (e.g. Thomas and Ward), players whose case for the trophy was dubious at the time (e.g. Williams and Richards), or players whom the media never took kindly to (e.g. Lemieux).  The award was first presented in 1965 to Jean Believeau.

The greatest knock against Zetterberg (his counting stats) is in many ways a byproduct of the fact that the end of his career was long and injury-plagued, but when you flash back to the summer of 2008, it would have been impossible to deny that Zetterberg was one of the best players in the NHL.  He was the kind of player you could build a franchise around and never look back.  In that moment, he was as dominant a two-way force as any player in the league, and that has to matter to this conversation.

The above chart from HockeyViz.com shows Zetterberg's "isolated impact" as of spring 2008.  What it makes clear is that Zetterberg did everything with grace: driving offense, defending, shooting, playmaking, drawing penalties, etc.  27 at the time, Zetterberg was already in the latter stages of what advanced stats suggest is a player's prime, yet still his dominance was all-encompassing.  That case would only grow stronger if we had access to shot data rom before his age 27 campaign.

The Hall's criteria says nothing about longevity, but it doesn't say anything about a player's apex either.  The beauty of the institution's nebulous standards (which are frustrating in other ways) is that there doesn't have to be a standardized set of achievements as a prerequisite for entry.  

Some players can get in based on their ridiculous production; others can get in for their long-standing connection to winning.  Some players can be inducted based on their ability to sustain a high level of success; others can get in based on how good they were at their peak.

Henrik Zetterberg epitomized so much of what made the '08 Wings great: skillful and rugged, a dominant possession player, a winner.  He is also one of thirty players in the Triple Gold Club for winning a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal, and the men's World Championship.

No, he doesn't have gaudy numbers to his name or a robust trophy cabinet, but Henrik Zetterberg won all the awards that matter most: the Cup, the Conn, Olympic gold.  At his peak, he was the league's most dominant 200-foot player.  There is no need to over-complicate matters from there.  Whether you distill it to a single shift or look back on a career's achievements, Zetterberg belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame.