Recap: Mogilny Enters Hockey Hall Of Fame | BLOG

On Monday night, former New Jersey Devil Alexander Mogilny finally took his rightful place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Mogilny joined Jennifer Botterill, Zdeno Chara, Brianna Decker, Duncan Keith, and Joe Thornton in the Player category as members of the Class of 2025.

For all your Hall of Fame coverage, make sure to check out the content below!

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Mogilny Election to Hockey Hall of Fame Caps Remarkable Journey

The tale of Alexander Mogilny's defection from the Soviet Union in 1989 to play in the NHL is Hall of Fame-worthy on its own merit.

An escape on an off day in Stockholm during the 1989 IIHF World Championship. A race to the car. Evading the KGB by switching hotels and aliases. Leaving family behind without a guarantee he would see them again.

"It's a story and a movie in and of itself," Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine said. "For Alex to do what he did, it took so much courage. He was a pioneer. He helped create the necessary changes that really helped shape Russian players coming to the NHL forever and a day. It's an incredible story. And then for Alex to turn out to be the player that he was, it is a movie."

With a happy ending, finally.

Mogilny used speed, shooting ability on way to Hall of Fame, LaFontaine says

I'll share a story with you about Alexander Mogilny that describes just how immensely talented he was as a player.

When I was traded to the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 25, 1991, a few people said to me that Alex is so far in front of everybody that he holds onto the puck too long. I always saw Alex as a player who has amazing talent. I didn't look at the negative. I never thought of it until I was traded to Buffalo and people started to tell me a few things about him.

Well, it was the season after I was traded and one day in practice, I just realized why he's holding onto the puck for "too long," as it was described to me. I saw that he was just so far in front of everybody that he couldn't pass it to somebody all the time because at times, there was nobody else there keeping up with him. That's why he was used to holding onto the puck.

Now, leading up to this, I had taken Alex out to lunch to get to know him. He loved sushi so we would go for sushi. Very personable. Very funny. Around a crowd, he was probably more quiet and shy, but he had a real dry sense of humor. He was fun to be around. Great guy but somewhat misunderstood at times because there were some things he had to learn coming here.

I can't imagine what it was like for him to defect, the courage that it took. He had to learn a new language. He was by himself. This was all new to him.