Hockey Hall of Fame Induction: 6 Best Moments from Pavel Bure's Career

Yesterday evening, Pavel Bure was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame after six long years of eligibility, along with Joe Sakic, Adam Oates and Mats Sundin. 

Bure spent the majority of his NHL career with the Vancouver Canucks. He is arguably the best player to ever suit up for the team, and is renowned as one of the most explosive goalscorers the league has ever seen. 

In honor of his induction, let's take a look at the top six moments of Bure's short but incredible career. 

6. All-Star MVP in 2000

To be named an NHL All-Star and play a game with the league's best is a great achievement. 

Pavel Bure enjoyed that honor six times throughout his career, and was even named the All-Star MVP in 2000.

At the time, the All-Star game was in the North America vs. World format. The World prevailed 9-4 in the game, and Bure notched three goals and one assist. 

To gauge how great this achievement really is, just take a look at some of the names he had to out-play to do so: Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, Eric Lindros, Joe Sakic, Jeremy Roenick, Teemu Selanne, Mats Sundin and Jaromir Jagr (to name a few). 

5. 1998 Winter Olympics

In 1998, Pavel Bure helped Russia win the silver metal at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. He was the captain of team Russia, and was named the best forward of the tournament. 

To shed some light on how dominant he was, Bure became the first player to score five goals in one game in Olympic history.

He was also the tournament's third-highest point scorer, despite not picking up a single assist during the six games (9-0-9). 

The silver metal in 1998 is remains Russia's top performance at the tournament since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It has since won a bronze metal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. 

4. 1992 Calder Trophy

Pavel Bure started his career strong, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy in the 1991/92 season. 

Bure was not the league's top scoring rookie, but his 22 goals in the final 23 games of the season was worth recognition. 

He finished the season with 34 goals and 60 points in 65 games with the Vancouver Canucks. 

Winning the Calder Trophy doesn't necessarily mean a successful career is to come in the NHL (see Scott Gomez, Andrew Raycroft and Steve Mason).

Of course, that was not the case with Bure, as he only improved from there. 

3. 1994 Game-7 Double-Overtime Series Winner

Pavel Bure's career is riddled with highlight reel goals. There may have been a few nicer than this one, but none more timely. 

In the opening round of the 1994 playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks found themselves in double overtime of a game seven against the Calgary Flames.

Canucks' defender Jeff Brown sprung Bure on the breakaway, who deked around Flames' goaltender Mike Vernon. 

The goal won the series for the Canucks, clearing the path for an incredible playoff run which saw them fall one game short of a Stanley Cup, losing 3-2 to the New York Rangers in game-seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. 

Bure finished the playoff run with 31 point, second to Brian Leetch of the Rangers. 

2. Back to Back 60 Goal Seasons

Last year, Steven Stamkos led the NHL with 60 goals. He and Alex Ovechkin are the only two players to have achieved that number since 1996. 

It's hard to imagine that Pavel Bure did this in two consecutive seasons in just his second and third season in the NHL. 

Including the 22 goals in 23 games to cap off his rookie season, that equals 142 goals in 182 games.

If he had kept that frequency up throughout his career, Bure would be the all time leader in goals per game with .780.

I guess he'll have to settle for fifth. 

1. Back to Back Richard Trophies

Pavel Bure was awarded the Richard Trophy in consecutive seasons in 2000 and 2001 with the Florida Panthers. 

Although he didn't reached the coveted 60-goal mark in either season, his 58 and 59 goals were the best in the league. 

The only player to have won the trophy back to back since was Alex Ovechkin in 2008 and 2009.