Paul Henderson is 81 years old and hardly a day does by when he isn’t asked about the winning goal he scored 52 years ago in Moscow.
It was the Canadian hockey moment for an entire generation — a generation that grew up before Sidney Crosby’s golden goal at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
And after so many awards, the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, entrance twice into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, there still seems to be one award missing.
Why not put Henderson in the Hockey Hall of Fame? Why not elect him in the builders’ category?
Henderson had a fine NHL and WHA career, playing 1,067 games and scoring 757 points. Just not fine enough to make the Hall of Fame as a player. He had three Hall of Fame weeks in the Canada-Soviet Union series, scoring seven goals in eight games, including the winning goals in the final three games — all of them huge historic victories for Team Canada in the most political, intense, gut-wrenching series in hockey history.
Who should be recognized in the builders’ category of the Hall? Those who grew the game. Those who enriched the game. Those who changed the game.
Henderson did all of that. And more. Considering his age, this isn’t something to be simply considered right now. This is something that needs to be taken care of. As soon as possible.
THIS AND THAT
How could Crosby not know that the Pittsburgh Penguins would be this lousy this season? Reminds me of Mats Sundin’s final years in Toronto. He was always so optimistic about the team when the season began. The Leafs missed the playoffs in Sundin’s final three years in Toronto. Pittsburgh will miss for the second straight time this season … I’m not sure if I were Leafs management, I would be enthusiastic about having Auston Matthews play for Team USA in February, considering he was hurt in last year’s playoffs and has been injured recently. The last thing the Leafs need is for Matthews to go missing come April … It is amazing company that Connor McDavid finds himself in, now the fourth fastest scorer to 1,000 points in hockey history. The three before him: Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy. The difference to date, other than the statistical changing of eras, is that it was easier to accumulate points back then, and championships. Gretzky won Stanley Cups in his fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth NHL seasons. Lemieux won in his seventh and eighth years. Bossy won his his third, fourth, fifth and sixth seasons. As hard as it may be to believe, this is McDavid’s 10th year in Edmonton, still waiting to hoist the Cup … If goal-scoring is the hardest thing in hockey to do — which I’m told all the time — why are so many NHL goals disallowed? Change the rules. Change the replay rules. Be progressive about this. If you need to watch the replay a bunch of times, you have your answer. It’s a goal … A question worth asking: Are Cam Talbot and Logan Thompson the best goaltenders available for Team Canada? Has it really come to that? They have better numbers than Adin Hill and Jordan Binnington, better than Stuart Skinner and Sam Montembeault. It’s a thin list of Canadian goalies to choose from … The defenceman who doesn’t get enough attention or Team Canada talk: Travis Sanheim with the Philadelphia Flyers. Some like him to find his way onto Team Canada … My roster-juggling: You can have one of David Kampf, Pontus Holmberg, Steven Lorentz and Connor Dewar on your team but you can’t have four of them at the same time.
HEAR AND THERE
Best thing about the Grey Cup game: The final three minutes. Really, it’s the best thing about Canadian football. Eight of the past nine Grey Cups have been settled in the final minutes … Best thing about Grey Cup is the week leading up to it. The fun. The parties. The atmosphere. The people. I’ve been to 25 of them. I hate missing them, especially when the Argos are playing … I’m 6-0 in covering the Argos in the Grey Cup … Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea reminds me of his Detroit Lions counterpart, Dan Campbell and Campbell reminds me of O’Shea. Tough guys. Tough football players. Big time on-field gamblers. Players love playing for them. This is O’Shea’s fifth straight Grey Cup. This should be, could be, Campbell’s first Super Bowl season … And I wonder — always do about this — if an NFL team would ever take a shot at O’Shea and whether there would be interest from him at all. Marc Trestman is the most recent CFL coach to move into the NFL and that didn’t work out so well in Chicago. Trestman, by the way, is on Jim Harbaugh’s staff with the improving and contending Los Angeles Chargers … The O’Shea situation reminds me of when the Leafs had an AHL farm team in Newfoundland and Cliff Fletcher was quoted as saying their best prospects happened to be the coaches. The coaches at the time were Marc Crawford and Joel Quenneville. They went on to win a bunch of Stanley Cups. Fletcher won his only Cup in Calgary … Another coaching prospect story: When Argos coach Ryan Dinwiddie was the backup quarterback with the Blue Bombers, the QBs behind him on the roster were Zac Taylor and Kliff Kingsbury. The three became good friends. Taylor is currently the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Kingsbury, a former head coach in Arizona, is the offensive coordinator for Jayden Daniels in Washington with the Commanders. Dinwiddie is in the Grey Cup for the second time in three years … Is Winnipeg’s Stanley Bryant the best offensive lineman in CFL history? If not, who was better? … Should the retiring programming whiz Paul Graham from TSN be considered a candidate for the soon-to-be-vacant CFL commissioner’s job? He loves the CFL. He knows business and TV. They should talk to him … You can call holding on almost every play in football — it really is that subjective — but how do NFL officials regularly miss face-masking calls? When you see a guy’s head being yanked forward or back, often rather violently, it’s pretty obvious. You know what it is. Throw the damn flag … Rookie receiver Makai Polk was the Argos’ best offensive player in the second half of the season. He could be a game-changer Sunday night.
SCENE AND HEARD
Zdeno Chara left. Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired. Tuukka Rask went home. You chip away at the veneer of the Boston Bruins, losing Hall of Fame or almost Hall of Fame players and what do you have left? You have a team that’s struggling to make the playoffs and looks to be playing on fumes … The classic era Hall of Fame baseball ballot is out, featuring those who missed out the first time around. The group of eight includes Luis Tiant, Steve Garvey, Dick Allen and Tommy John, all of them candidates of substance. Three more missing from that list: Dave Stieb, Carlos Delgado and Dwight Evans … If Fred McGriff is in the Hall, why not Delgado? … In honour of the Eras Tour, a list of my favourite Taylors: Lawrence Taylor, James Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Bobby Taylor, Andy and Opie Taylor and coach Eric Taylor … And wondering, did Aunt Bee have a last name? Was she also a Taylor? … I don’t have a favourite Jonas Brothers song because I don’t know a single Jonas Brothers song … As the Raptors sink towards the bottom of the NBA, thoughts to turn to possible first pick overall Cooper Flagg. The phenom turns 18 next month. Years ago, Toronto would have had Allen Iverson had the NBA not blocked the expansion team from picking first. Now that would have been fun … The Blue Jays have hired David Bell, former manager of the Cincinnati Reds, for a front office position. He’s from the famous baseball Bell family that includes dad Buddy Bell, the 18-year major leaguer, and grandpa Gus Bell, who played just 15 years. David played 12 years himself before managing the Reds. One concern, though: When the Jays were searching for a manager after John Gibbons, they selected Charlie Montoyo over Bell. That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement … I would have loved to see the Jays add Joey Votto to a prominent management position of some kind the way San Francisco promoted Buster Posey to a high level spot. Votto’s view of the game is extraordinary …. Those who have been around Jays management this off-season talk about a sense of desperation, led by Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins. They are managing for their jobs this off-season and it feels like it. This is their last shot. It’s go big or go home time for the Jays.
AND ANOTHER THING
The NBA has a problem it may not be able to solve. It is paying huge salaries and charging huge ticket prices and too many players are missing games for injuries and other reasons . Right now, the Raptors are paying $80 million to Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley. They’re not playing for the last overall 2-11 Raps. Joel Embiid has played one game this season, which is one more than Kawhi Leonard has played. Zion Williamson has played half of New Orleans’ 12 games. These are the players you buy tickets to watch. Soon, arenas will not be as full … Would love to know what Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of the board of the NBA, thinks of all this. But we rarely hear from Larry. Boy, we have a lot of questions for him. NBA and more … The former Raptor Norm Powell has emerged as a star in his 11th NBA season. He’s scoring 25 points a game for the Los Angeles Clippers … Pat Summerall’s daughter, Susie Wiles, is the new White House chief of staff. There is no word on where the daughters of John Madden or Tom Brookshier may fit in … Former Raptors whiz Morris Peterson has six kids and, if you can believe it, three sets of twins … Is it just a coincidence that Victor Wembanyama has become a scoring machine —112 points in his past three games — since Gregg Popovich took leave of his coaching job in San Antonio after suffering a stroke? It is something to see … The best part of the early season for the Raptors: Gradey Dick. He’s already had five games with 25 or more points, two games above the 30-point mark … Tough year for both NHL Robertson brothers. Nick Robertson isn’t scoring much with the Leafs. Older brother Jason Robertson isn’t scoring much with the Dallas Stars. Jason is in tough to make Team USA for the 4 Nations Face-off … Caitlin Clark on what the Taylor Swift experience is like: “I’ve seen her three times now and every time the show has just gotten better. And you leave even a bigger fan.” In a different way, kind of like seeing Clark play basketball … The Winnipeg Jets lead the NHL in wins, goals scored, goals against and power play. And they don’t sell out every game. In the smallest building in the NHL. Go figure … How much has coach Craig Berube influenced the Maple Leafs defensive play? Put it this way: The Leafs are sixth in the NHL in goals against. They haven’t finished better than sixth in 32 years. The only time the modern Leafs have been better than a 2.61 goals against was in the dead puck era, when Hall of Famer Ed Belfour was in goal in 2002-04 and Pat Quinn was coaching … I’ll bet the same people who are so offended by Chad Kelly, who was never charged with any crime, had their television sets on Friday night to watch the convict Mike Tyson (found guilty of rape and assault) in his debacle of a fight against Jake Paul. Tyson can’t knock out anybody any more — he couldn’t 25 years ago — but he did knock out Netflix. The network couldn’t handle the huge audience and crashed often because of it. Say this for the washed-up old man, he’s a draw. People love him … Before leaving, a quick Grey Cup prediction with an asterisk: I am never right about these things. So bet accordingly: Winnipeg 26, Toronto 22. Enjoy the night. I apologize in advance for being wrong … Happy birthday to Dennis Maruk (69), Dwight Gooden (60), Lorne Michaels (80), Israel Idonije (44), Mitch Williams (60), Elvin Hayes (79), Carol Huynh (44), Frank Bruno (63) and Jim Boeheim (80) … And hey, whatever became of Adriano Belli?
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