Savard, Mullen Get Hall of Fame Nods

Montreal-born Denis Savard and New York City native Joe Mullen couldn’t have more diverse backgrounds. But their outstanding NHL careers carried them to the same destination Thursday: election to hockey’s Hall of Fame.

Savard, whose dazzling “Spinorama” move helped him score 1,338 points over 17 seasons, and Mullen, whose hardscrabble youth playing roller hockey in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood was an unlikely prelude to a 17-year, 1,063-point career, were admitted in their first year of eligibility. Elected in the builder’s category was Walter Bush, a longtime U.S. and international hockey executive. They will be inducted Nov. 13 at ceremonies in Toronto.

Also honored were King broadcaster Bob Miller and Edmonton Journal reporter Jim Matheson. Miller, who has been the radio and/or TV voice of the Kings for 27 seasons, won the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for contributions to the profession and the game. Matheson, who has covered the Oilers since their World Hockey Assn. days, won the Elmer Ferguson Award for bringing honor to journalism and to hockey, as voted by the Professional Hockey Writers Assn. Both will be honored in November with plaques at the Hall of Fame.

“Whoever would have thought that this would happen 27 years ago, that we’d still be here?” said Miller, who was voted the honor by his peers in the NHL Broadcasters Assn. “There were some times in the first six years, with [owner] Jack Kent Cooke, that I figured, ‘I’m not going to last very long.’

“We’ve had some good years, some good games. I’m very honored. It’s very nice. It came as a big surprise.”

Savard was passed up by his hometown Canadiens in the 1980 draft but went on to excel for the Chicago Blackhawks. He later played in Montreal and Tampa Bay and won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Canadiens in 1993.

“In those days, Montreal had a pretty powerful team,” said Savard, now an assistant coach of the Blackhawks. “At the time, they had the mind-set young players should play in the minors a few years. I didn’t want to go to the minors. I wanted to play in the NHL right away.

“Going to Chicago gave me an opportunity to play, and the fact I went back home for three years and won the Stanley Cup there made my career that much better.”

Mullen, the first American-born player to score 500 goals and record 1,000 points, grew up a half-block from the old Madison Square Garden, where his father worked on the maintenance crew. He wasn’t drafted by an NHL team.

“Growing up in New York City, we definitely had more concrete than ice,” said Mullen, who played for St. Louis, Calgary, Pittsburgh and Boston and was a member of three Cup winning teams. “Roller hockey was a way for me to practice all the time.”

Contemporaries and friends, Mullen and Savard paid tribute to each other. “Watching Denis on the ice and seeing him do his thing was worth the price of admission,” Mullen said.

Said Savard: “The thing I remember most about Joe was he was a great two-way player.”

Miller, often overlooked in a city where Chick Hearn and Vin Scully have enjoyed distinguished broadcast careers, said he hoped the Kings don’t have a game on the day he’s scheduled to be honored.

“But if we do,” he said, “I think I have a good excuse to ask for the night off.”