By Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist

Today is the day that the Hockey Hall of Fame announces its choices for the Class of 2020. And it’s a day when I like to look over the list of people who aren’t in – but could be in.

In other words, I take a look at the all-time statistics in player points, goalie wins, and coaching wins. Active players are on the lists, even though they aren’t eligible. Some of the newcomers on the ballot this year are Jarome Iginla, Marian Hossa, Shane Doan and Brian Campbell.

Let’s look at the leaders; an * means he is still active:

Points

*Jaromir Jagr – 1,921
*Joe Thornton – 1,509
Pierre Turgeon – 1,326
Jarome Iginla – 1,300
*Alex Ovechkin – 1,278
*Sidney Crosby, 1,263
Jeremy Roenick – 1,216
Bernie Nicholls – 1,209
Vincent Damphousse – 1,205
*Patrick Marleau – 1,188

Rod Brind’Amour – 1,184
Daniel Alfredsson – 1,157
Marian Hossa – 1,134
Theo Fleury – 1,088
*Evgeni Malkin – 1,072
Henrik Sedein – 1,070
Dave Taylor – 1,069
Keith Tkachuk – 1,065
Ray Whitney – 1,064
Pat Verbeek – 1, 062

The Class of 2019 was an odd one in that it did not include any of the top scorers who were eligible. Going in were Guy Carbonneau, Sergei Zubov, and Vaclav Nedomansky. There are other reasons to include them, of course, but we’ll have to see how names like those in the top 10 do. Iginla ought to make it with no problem, and Alexander Mogilny’s name has come up even though he didn’t reach 1,000 points. The Athletic did a mock election on Tuesday that put Iginla, Mogilny, Hossa and Doug Wilson (defenseman and executive) in.

Goalies

*Roberto Luongo – 489
*Marc-Andre Fleury – 466
*Henrik Lundqvist – 459
Curtis Joseph – 454
Chris Osgood – 401
Ryan Miller – 387
Mike Vernon – 385
John Vanbiesbrouck – 374
Andy Moog – 372
Tom Barrasso – 369

Joseph didn’t win any Cups, but he sure won a lot of games. You’d think he would come up in the argument.

Coaches

*Joel Quenneville – 925
*Ken Hitchcock – 849
*Barry Trotz – 845
Lindy Ruff – 736
*Paul Maurice – 732
Mike Babcock – 700
*Alain Vigneault – 689
Mike Keenan – 672
*Claude Julien – 658
Ron Wilson – 648

You don’t hear Lindy Ruff’s name come up in these conversations, perhaps because he’s still an assistant. He’s the leader in the clubhouse, though. Mike Keenan sure is an interesting name, isn’t he?

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Budd Bailey

Budd Bailey has been involved in almost every aspect of the local sports scene for the last 40 years. He worked for WEBR Radio, the Buffalo Sabres' public relations department and The Buffalo News during that time. In that time he covered virtually every aspect of the area's sports world, from high schools to the Bills and Sabres and everything in between. Along the way, Budd served as a play-by-play announcer for the Bisons, an analyst for the Stallions, and a talk-show host. He won the National Lacrosse League's Tom Borrelli Award as the media personality of the year in 2011, and was a finalist for that same award in 2017. Budd's seventh and eighth books, one on the Transcontinental Railroad and the other about Ichiro Suzuki, are scheduled to be released in the fall.

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