19. Great little quote from the cheap seats:
“Glad they got something for me.” — Ed Jovanovski, who was traded by the Florida Panthers to the Vancouver Canucks in a seven-player deal for Pavel Bure (as told to Panthers reporter George Richard).
18. Mats Sundin was just happy to be on a lineup card in which his name was not followed by the name Jonas Hoglund.
17. Anyone else worried that Sundin was going to tell the story of his own conception?
16. Joe Sakic looks like he just played a men’s-league game, showered frantically, forgot a towel so he dried off with toilet paper, quickly buttoned on tux and walked onstage. Love it.
15. Daniel Alfredsson pouring on the praise for Sundin was a nice touch. Would love to see Mats fly back to Toronto when Alfie’s due and repay the favour.
14. Talking about his lack of regrets, Pavel Bure told Sportsnet this week that he doesn’t see the glass half-empty nor half-full. He sees the glass filled to the brim, 50 per cent with water and 50 per cent with air. Bure resisted the temptation to say that commissioner Bettman’s Hall of Fame speech was equally full — 100 per cent with hot air.
13. Now I remember why the skate on that old Canucks logo looks so damn fast.
12. All-class, no-brainer move having Pat Quinn on hand to welcome the inductees at the midday press conference. Quinn coached Sundin in Toronto and Bure when the Russian rocketed into the NHL as a Canuck. He also coached Sakic (assistant captain) to Team Canada gold at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. And a little-known fact: For a brief period in the early-’90s, Quinn’s go-to breakfast cereal was General Mills’ Banana-Flavoured Adam Oates.
11. Gary Bettman was not booed upon introduction. So, you know, there’s that. The commish got away with a civil golf clap.
10. NHLPA chief Donald Fehr showed up at the ceremony. Said he wanted to leave early.

Don Fehr just walked into the Hall of Fame. Said he wants to see some of the celebration but will leave early to get some work done.

— Christine Simpson (@SNChrisSimpson) November 12, 2012

By “early,” of course, Fehr meant 59 days after the ceremony was supposed to start.
We’ll check in with him at an empty Hall in early January, at which point we expect he’ll be planning to make a call about having a lunch to set up a potential meeting about an unconfirmed conference call to schedule a sit-down with his brother Steve.
9. Sergio Momesso shoutouts: 1; Stephen Harper shoutouts: 0
8. One of the best parts of Oates’ speech was reminding us of Cam Neely’s 50 goals in 44 games (1993-94). (Even though Oates embellished slightly by saying 50 in 42, we’ll let it slide. Emotional night to get all stat nerdy.)

7. Stan Kroenke shoutouts: 1; Jeff Brown shoutouts: 0
6. Pavel Bure was a perfect gentleman on the red carpet. Except for that one time he blatantly elbowed usher Shane Churla in the face.

5. Adam Oates spent minutes delivering an emotional, heart-warming, inspiring acceptance speech. We were surprised to see that Brett Hull didn’t run on stage at the last second, scream “Boo-yah!” and drop the mic.

4. Still waiting for the New York Rangers to sign Joe Sakic’s HHOF plaque to an offer sheet. Then, even though they can’t really afford it, have the Nashville Predators match it.
3. The 2012 class combined for 6,315 career points, hundreds more than such esteemed recent classes as 2009 (Steve Yzerman, Luc Robitaille, Brian Leetch, Brett Hull combined for 5,568 points), 2007 (Ron Francis, Scott Stevens, Al MacInnis and Mark Messier combined for 4,370 points) and 2001 (Jari Kurri, Dale Hawerchuk, Mike Gartner and Viacheslav Fetisov combined for 4,370 points).
2. Seriously. That Nordiques logo is badass. Get that city a team again.
1. Adam Oates looks like a dead ringer for Ray Liotta. Not when Liotta is killing a man, but rather when Liotta is doing the prep work so someone else can kill a man.