Feb 4, 2020
Smyth among five players going to IIHF HOF
Former NHL forward Ryan Smyth, who wore the 'C' for Canada at the World Championship more than any other player in tournament history, is among five players and one builder who will be inducted this spring.
TSN.ca Staff
,'Captain Canada' is going to the IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame.
Former NHL forward Ryan Smyth, who wore the 'C' for Canada at the World Championship more than any other player in tournament history, is among five players and one builder who will be inducted this spring.
Smyth, who played 19 NHL seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche, won gold for Canada at the World Junior Championship (1995), World Championship (2003, 2004), Olympics (2002), World Cup (2004), and Spengler Cup (2012).
Forward Alexei Yashin and defencemen Kimmo Timonen, Mark Streit and Mathias Seger will also be inducted in the player category, while South Korea's Mong-Won Chung will go in as a builder.
Yashin, who played 12 seasons in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators and Islanders, played in nine World Championships (gold in 1993, bronze in 2005), three Olympics (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), and two World Cups (1996, 2004).
Streit, who played in 786 NHL games with the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins, captained Switzerland in nine of the 13 World Championships he played in and in three of his four Olympics appearances. He also played in two World Juniors at the start of his career and with Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup.
Timonen played at five Olympics, winning silver in 2006 and bronze in 1998 and 2014. He also played at seven World Championships (three silver) and the 2004 World Cup. He also played 1,108 career NHL games with Nashville, Philadelphia and Chicago.
Seger captained the Swiss national team at the World Juniors in 1997, the World Championship team four times (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014) and for the Olympic team in 2014 in Sochi.
All six individuals will officially be inducted in a special ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland on May 24.