Gabriel Gutzwiler: Possible Hall of Famer

[Gwdjohnson 40]

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With the remarkable performances of the Minnesota Storm this season, many players have stood out in their remarkable group of players. No player has stood out more this season than Swiss winger Gabriel Gutzwiler, who in his second season in the VHLM has been incredibly impressive, and although it is early to tell, he could make a very strong case for the VHL Hall of Fame with how his career trajectory has gone.

 

Swiss Players in the Hall of Fame

 

I figured it would be interesting to look at prior Swiss players that made the Hall of Fame, since it is a rather obscure nationality in hockey. I could potentially be wrong, but I could count six players from Switzerland that made it into the Hall of Fame. Here they are:

 

(S1) Matthew Pogge - G (Inducted in S5)

Career Statistics

Regular Season: 276GP / 181-65-23 / 2.48GAA / .908SV% / 17SO
Playoffs: 32GP / 17-13-2 / 2.76GAA / .909SV% / 2SO

 

Pogge, the first player inducted into the HOF, is one of two goalies part of the Swiss inductees. He was fantastic in his short career, posting an astounding win record.

 

(S1) Scott Boulet - LW (Inducted in S7)

Career Statistics

Regular Season: 432 GP / 349G / 388A / 737P / +401 / 1329PIM / 772H / 3059S / 174SB / 55GWG

Playoffs: 50GP / 29G / 39A / 68P / +10 / 147PIM / 117H / 347S / 30SB / 6GWG

 

The first Swiss skater inducted into the Hall of Fame, Boulet had an incredible scoring pace, scoring 1.7 points per game over the course of his career playing for Calgary.

 

(S5) Branden Snelheid - RW (Inducted in S19)

Career Statistics (Incomplete)

432 GP / 300-361-661 / +293 / 199 PIM / 75 PPG

 

Snelheid, a two-time champion, was another winger inducted, played only 6 seasons, just like Boulet, but was likewise a major impact player deservedly enshrined in league history.

 

(S11) Leander Kaelin - RW (Inducted in S23)

Career Statistics

Regular Season: 427GP / 249G / 304A / 553P / +89 / 627PIM / 1215H / 2605SH / 37GWG

Playoffs: 29GP / 11G / 19A / 30P / +4 / 70PIM / 89H / 146SH / 2GWG

 

Kaelin made his name for being very offensively gifted while also mixing in a bruiser mentality to his elite game, laying out over 1000 hits in his relatively short career.

 

(S13) Alexander Sauve - D (Inducted in S34)

Career Statistics

Regular Season: 506GP / 190G / 417A / 607P / +124 / 886PIM / 1080H / 991SB / 1952SH / 31GWG

Playoffs: 47GP / 11G / 32A / 43P / -2 / 95PIM / 98H / 119SB / 136SH / 2GWG

 

Sauve was brilliant as an offensive defenceman, and at first glance his offensive numbers make it hard to tell that he even was a defenceman. His trophy cabinet has 13 pieces of silverware.

 

(S45) Sandro Clegane - G (Inducted in S54)

Career Statistics
Regular Season:447GP | 279W - 137L - 31OTL | 0.923 SV% | 2.04 GAA | 74 SO

Playoffs:68GP | 34W - 26L - 8OTL | 0.928 SV% | 2.33 GAA | 7 SO

 

The final of the Swiss group, Clegane put up incredible numbers as the second Swiss goalie inducted into the hall. He has 3 awards for top goaltender, a Continental Cup, and even an MVP award to his name.

 

Back to Gabriel Gutzwiler

Obviously these players don't have VHLM stats associated to them, so its hard to weigh up the start of Gutzwiler's career with his fellow countrymen, but with how his career has started folks back in Switzerland will certainly be starting to think that he, along with his likewise impressive brother Leon, could be the next big thing to hit the ice out of their nation. Gabriel Gutzwiler has an incredible 57 goals and 125 points in 67 games this season, making him likely to top 130 points. This follows a fantastic rookie season that he had with Halifax, too, where despite coming into a middle of the pack team all the way from across the ocean, he managed to top point-per-game by getting 73 points in 72 games. With first-place Minnesota looking like an odds-on cup favourite at the moment, adding a trophy to his repertoire would definitely strengthen Gabriel's HOF case. It has also been rumored that despite his remarkable season with Minnesota, New York are likely to keep Gabriel and his brother down another season with the Storm, giving him even further chance to establish a juniors legacy before seeing if he can carve out a career to put himself amongst the greats in the VHL.

 

It is obviously too early to say, and time will only tell if Gabriel Gutzwiler has the talent to join the likes of Pogge, Boulet, Snelheid, Kaelin, Sauve and Clegane to become the seventh Swiss player to be recognized amongst the greats of history, but you could definitely say as far as his juniors career has gone, its so far so good.

 

@DaftRaincloud

 

(760 words, just under 650 if you remove the copy pasted stats for the Hall of Fame players)