(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Here on Bleacher Report, we're looking to start an NHL mailbag—something that's been an on and off attempt for a while, but now we're getting serious about. Got a question about anything NHL? Post it to my profile or email it to me at bryanthiel74@hotmail.com and we'll get to all of them in an upcoming mailbag.

Induction into the Hall of Fame is the most prestigious award any athlete can receive in any sport. If you're inducted into Cooperstown (New York), Canton (Ohio), the Hockey Hall of Fame (Toronto) or Springfield (the Basketball Hall of Fame—don't worry, I didn't know either), you feel honoured both as a professional, and on a personal level as well.

Induction into a Hall of Fame for fans, though, offers them two opportunities:

1) They're given the opportunity to reminisce about a career that most likely defined their childhood. All of the memories of their favorite Hall-bound player come flooding back and the past receives second life.

Along with that, you get to share with your children and young fans about how player X changed the game for the better, improved your team and was the reason you fell in love with the game before the Commissioner moved your favorite team to Phoenix.

2) It lets people do what they do best: Argue and fight about whether the honor is deserving or not.

The arguing is well-deserved, though—not on the part of the player, but the sport itself. After all, if people didn't argue about who was representing their favorite sport through the annals of time, then people wouldn't care and the sport would die out.

Kind of like Rock, Paper, Scissors...oh wait...

But what else do you expect? Unless the player is head and shoulders better than the rest, the argument about whether their induction is deserving or not will always stand.

Take Cam Neely for instance: Yes, he scored goals at an alarming rate and yes, he was the modern-day power forward (people say Neely defined this role, but they forget about Gordie Howe), but there are a lot of fans who feel that's not enough.

The goals-per-game stat is outstanding (396 in 726 career games) but after that, nothing else really matches up: A big qualm is that Neely wasn't a point-per-game player (although he was close with 694 in 726 games), and he didn't really hit any major milestones (500 goals, 1,000 points, 1,000 games) which is actually a testament to the impact he left on those who watched him.

Then the argument becomes: If Cam Neely can get in, then certainly someone like Pavel Bure should get in too.

That's what's nice about this year's class, though: Every single player was one of, if not the best, at what they did.

Steve Yzerman, despite Bill Clinton waffling on how to pronounce his name, broke the mould of leaders.

In saying this, he never really did anything out of the ordinary, but players such as Yzerman and Mark Messier are paired together in history as men who could simply get their teams to that next level, be it in the preseason, regular season, or playoffs.

The man won Stanley Cups, he scored goals (692) and he proved that the smaller forward could still be an effective player as the NHL began to get bigger.

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