The Hall of Fame case for Hakan Loob

It’s that time of year, folks. While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has thrown everyone’s lives and plans into disarray, there’s one thing that hasn’t been disrupted: the annual Hockey Hall of Fame deliberations. The 18 members of the induction committee will have their 2020 selections announced on Wednesday afternoon.

We’re making the case for a few former Calgary Flames. Next up is Hakan Loob.

Following in the footsteps of countryman and Hall of Fame defender Borje Salming, Loob may have been the second truly great Swedish NHLer. He burst onto the scene in 1983-84 for the Flames had scored 30 goals. He followed that with seasons of 37, 31, 18, 50 and 27 goals. He became the first Swedish-born player to score 50 goals in 1987-88 and won the Stanley Cup in 1988-89.

Returning home to Sweden, Loob continued to be one of the most consistently reliable scorers in the Swedish Elite League. He had 500 points in the Swedish top league to go along with his 429 NHL points. He was a fixture at the top of the Swedish offensive leader-board for years.

In addition, Loob was a tremendous international star for Sweden in events such as the World Juniors, World Championships and Olympics. He was one of the first members of the Triple Gold Club – alongside countrymen Mats Naslund and Tomas Jonsson. For his contributions, Loob has already bee inducted into Sweden’s Hockey Hall of Fame and the IIHF’s Hockey Hall of Fame.

The big knock on Loob is the lack of NHL longevity. He only played six seasons in North America, which makes it tough to compare his production to his NHL counterparts – nobody’s really sure how impressive scoring at his rate in Swedish hockey should be.

I think about Sergei Makarov’s induction when thinking about Loob’s contendership: Makarov played six seasons in the NHL (plus a four game stint with Dallas that we’re ignoring), but his real candidacy recognizes his importance in Russian hockey and his NHL stint just put a bow on it. Loob might not have been as epic a presence in Swedish hockey as Makarov was for Russia, but he was still hugely important.

The Hockey Hall of Fame isn’t just for recognizing NHL accomplishments, and Loob’s overall resume is superb enough to warrant his induction.