Careers are longer, so career totals are larger, so membership in the Hockey Hall of Fame grows at a pace almost parallel to the number of NHL teams. During the eighties there was not a year when more than three players were inducted. From 2010-20, only two classes didn’t have at least four.

So Marian Hossa, 57th on the all-time list of NHL scorers, becomes a Hall of Famer despite never having finished in the top nine of a Hart Trophy balloting. A year ago Sergei Zubov, 20th all-time in defenseman scoring but with just two top five finishes in Norris Trophy voting, was selected. The numbers made successful cases for them. By impact, well that’s much more subjective, like the bigger picture answers to these questions:

1) Did the opposition consider this player a feared presence; the primary focus of game planning?

2) Was he repeatedly responsible for his teams’ success in the playoffs?

3) Did anyone ever circle a date on a calendar to go watch him?

Stats matter of course. Jarome Iginla is one of 20 players in NHL history to score 600 goals, all but Alex Ovechkin already in the Hall. Iginla’s 68 points in 81 playoff games indicate he didn’t melt, even if only one of his Calgary teams had a long post-season run. There are a lot of honorees with 500 goals, finishers only by trade, who don’t answer any of the above questions in the affirmative. But 600 is an elite level, making Iginla’s selection in his first year of eligibility easy as an empty-netter.

Doug Wilson won a Norris and had three other top five finishes in the voting. His election was overdue.

Kevin Lowe? For him one must use a different criteria than Norris votes earned. Offensive stats have always been the criteria in that balloting, even though it's been shown repeatedly that stars have to learn how to sacrifice points to win championships. Come playoff time, somebody had to play in the Oiler end to win five Cups and few ever headed a bomb squad to defuse the opposition’s top threats as reliably and tirelessly as Lowe. At the kind of game he played—impeccable angles, quick stick, quick feet–he was one of the best ever without question.

So here’s to the defenders. If nonsensically, the NHL continues to have a best defensive forward trophy but not one for the best defensive defenseman, then it’s up to the 18-person Hall selection committee to recognize the art of keeping the puck out of the net.

Perhaps Lowe’s recognition after almost a two-decade wait is even a good sign for the last line of defense: The goalies. As they make up almost 17 per cent of the six persons on the ice and have only 13 per cent representation in the Hall, they clearly are facing tighter scrutiny.

There have been only six male netminders inducted in this century: Marty Brodeur, Dominik Hasek, Patrick Roy, Rogie Vachon, Grant Fuhr and Ed Belfour. All except Vachon were no-brainers.

Here’s to high standards, but not double standards. The committee continues to not budge on Tom Barrasso, Mike Vernon, Chris Osgood and Mike Richter, all a lot better in their times that just good. Meanwhile, here are some of the forwards elected since 2000: Paul Kariya, Cam Neely, Clark Gillies, Denis Savard, and Dick Duff. For lack of longevity as the top player in the league at his position or a significant playoff success, these well above average players are no more obvious Hall of Famers that the aforementioned goalies.

Mike Vernon won two Cup seven years apart and, as pointed out recently by Eric Duhatschek in The Athletic, had an excellent record in repeated playoff tests against the two greats of his era-Fuhr and Roy. Vernon also had the second most wins over a 20-year period. To me, he did enough. So did Barrasso, who won two Cups, had five top five Vezina finishes and, in case personality matters to any members of the committee, was no less a miscreant then Belfour.

The more teams, the fewer the opportunities to win it all, the more even one Cup has come to mean, all the better for Jonathan Quick when his time comes. But where will that leave Carey Price, arguably the best of this era? Or Roberto Luongo, who is third all-time in victories and had five wins in the 2010 Olympics but got a team out of the second round only once?

Richter is the goalie who most has slipped through the cracks. If shortage of opportunity is going to be argued on behalf of Luongo and Price, then Richter’s final five-plus seasons with bad Ranger teams cost him an impossible-to-ignore placing on the all-time victory list. He still won more NHL games than Frank Brimsek, Johnny Bower, Bernie Parent, Ken Dryden and Gerry Cheevers.

Richter also won a Cup and did something that dwarfed numbers. He was brilliant in the U.S. 1996 World Cup triumph. If the 1980 Olympic team was the greatest inspiration for the growth of the game in the United States, it was the 1996 American club that made us unquestionably competitive with Canada. It was a watershed moment in the game and Richter, more than anyone, was responsible for it.

Sergei Makarov, Igor Larionov, Vladislav Tretiak, and Vaclav Nedomansky are not in the Hall off their accomplishments in North American leagues, So it is incongruous to ignore Richter’s performances in one of the most significant international triumphs ever. His is a unique and powerful Hall of Fame credential, even if he was just a goalie.

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