At around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Washington Capitals named Adam Oates as their new head coach.
Less than two hours later, Oates received another important call: the call into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Oates, along with Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin and Pavel Bure, has been elected into the hallowed halls.
Before Tuesday, Oates had the dubious distinction of being the highest-scoring retired player eligible for election into the Hall of Fame that had not yet been elected with 1,420 points. He earned those points over 19 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues, Boston Bruins, Caps, Philadelphia Flyers, Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers.
Oates ranks sixth in NHL history in assists (1,079) and 16th in total points. He is the sixth Cap to be elected into the Hall of Fame, joining Mike Gartner (2001), Rod Langway (2002), Larry Murphy (2004), Scott Stevens (2007) and Dino Ciccarelli (2010).
The ceremony takes place November 12 in Toronto. The entire league is off that day.
I guess Oates didn't have a bad day. His phone, however, may explode.
Sports
Adam Vingan is co-founder and editor of Kings Of Leonsis, a Caps-centric blog. Follow him on Twitter @AdamVingan and e-mail your story ideas to adamvingan (at) gmail.com.
