No. 118: ALEXANDER MOGILNY / "I was 12, travelled 5,000 miles on the train to Moscow with 100 rubles. When I got to the academy they weren’t expecting me. I didn't see my family for two years."

The scout who engineered Mogilny's defection called him "an old soul." With his career minutes before midnight, he bared that soul & aired his mysteries for me. "There are no straight lines for me."

89 in his prime

SEEMINGLY, the Hockey Hall of Fame’s selection committee doesn’t take as its challenge identifying the most deserving players to honor. Too often they make dubious picks and overlook accomplished and even transcendent players, those whom the elite deem the most elite. Each one passed over feeds the notion that the selection committee must have other agendas, favours called in, grudges with lifetime guarantees, guidelines mandated from on high, political boxes to check, et cetera. This brings us to the subject of Alexander Mogilny, who will not be honored this fall.