Turgeon excelled far beyond statistics on way to Hall of Fame, Ferraro says

Pierre Turgeon will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. In a special testimonial for NHL.com, his former teammate and now broadcaster, Ray Ferraro, talks about what made the center such a unique player and person, and why the 19-year veteran is deserving of the honor.

Imagine looking at the ice surface inside an NHL arena -- any arena, for that matter -- and seeing it as a chessboard.

Pierre Turgeon did exactly that.

It’s one of the reasons that made him a special player. And it’s one that makes him a worthy inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Yes, the numbers are there. In his career he had 515 goals and 812 assists for 1,327 points, certainly statistical credentials that are comparable to many of the game’s elite.

But there were far more layers to his game than what you saw on a stat sheet.

Take the chessboard reference. By that, I mean that he saw the ice in a way very few others did.

He could anticipate plays before they happened. And he would always be able to find a little space on the ice or a little place where he could make his next play from.

Not only that, he was one of the best passers I’ve ever seen, whether it be during my own 18-year NHL career or in my post-playing career as a broadcaster.

When the puck came from Pierre’s stick to yours, it was flat. It was soft. His passes were easy for you to accept.

I’m not sure everyone understands that or can have a mental picture of that but here’s the reality. Some pucks hit your stick like a grenade, like a rock. His never did. He made it easy for you.

Look, I think Ron Francis is underrated even though he's in the Hall. He’s the NHL’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,798 points (549 goals, 1,249 assists). I’m not going to say Pierre’s career was at that level. What I will say, however, is that Pierre had a lot of similarities with Ron.

I was fortunate enough to play with both during my career, and Ron passed the puck the same way. Neither of them were going to win any foot races. But they both, in my opinion, were able to see the rink, like I mentioned earlier, like a chess board.

In Pierre’s case, why is he maybe not talked about in the mainstream like some other Hall of Famers? In that regard, he kind of reminds me of Dave Andreychuk. Anyone really know how many goals Dave scored? (He had 640, 15th in NHL history.) I mean, he was an accumulator. When you play a long time like they did, well, people talk like that like it’s a negative. But the reason that you get to play for a long time is that you can accumulate. You can still produce offense. Maybe not at your peak, but you can still do it.

Here’s another thing about Pierre: You couldn’t find a nicer teammate or nicer person. That’s a genuine fact. Ask 100 NHLers who played with him and you’ll get the same answer. He was never really grumpy which, of course, contrasted with my personality back then.

So why was his nickname ‘Sneaky Pete' when it didn’t really jibe with his personality?

Simple.

On the ice, in our four seasons as teammates with the New York Islanders from 1991-1995, we called him that because he was sneaky out there. Tricky. I just loved that part of his game. He was always fishing around for an edge somewhere. In the game. In the face-off circle. How he positioned himself behind the net. Always.

He did all that with one of the worst sticks ever. Nobody else could play with that thing because his blade was almost dead straight. There was a little wedge to it but it was a terrible stick. If someone broke their stick and he held his over the boards, his would have been the last one they grabbed. We would always ask: “What do you do with this thing?”

That was Pierre. He was a simple guy. The knob on his stick was tiny. The tape job on his stick was simple. Like I said, his blade was pretty much straight. In the end, he’s going to the Hall because he was a phenomenal athlete who had a vision to the game that made him a standout.

It hasn’t been easy for him or his family. Back in 2010, his 18-year-old daughter Elizabeth died in a vehicular accident. I don’t know how you ever get over that. And yet, all these years later, he’s one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet.

When I heard he was going into the Hall, I texted him right away. I was so happy for him. In my books, he’s an all-star on and off the ice.

And a deserving inductee in the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023.