NLL Insider

This week’s fan poll proved a few things.

One, a couple dudes from Victoria and Ashton have way, way, way too much time on their hands. And two, Jim Veltman looks like an overwhelming favorite for entrance into the Hall of Fame in 2009.

After you scrape-away all the “extra” votes from the readers that really need to find a hobby, the former Rock captain and current team assistant coach got by far the most love.

The buzz is he’s also the guy the league is hearing about the most in their plea to the fans for who they’d like to see inducted this winter too.

Also up there was Scoop’s teammate from the 2003 season in Toronto, Kevin Finneran. The five time Champion’s Cup winner and at least for now, still reigning Iron Man of the league, could definitely be standing beside Veltman when the league honours their all-time best next year.

And just on the outside looking in seem to be Ted Dowling and Pat Coyle, who got a good amount of votes from fans this week too.

Dowling’s skills and scoring touch over the years are undeniable, but will the fact that he never stayed in a city for more than two straight seasons during a pretty lengthy 14 year pro career hurt him when trying define his legacy in the NLL? His 597 career regular season points are about 30 more than Finneran’s final totals, while his 655 looseballs and 303 career penalty minutes read as if they came from one of the league’s great power forwards. Does Dowling deserve HOF mention?

And Coyle, who has as many fans as haters, is a former defender of the year, multiple Cup winner and is considered one of the hardest, and sometimes dirtiest, hitters in league history. Some we spoke to feel that Coyle mighta lost his HOF ticket long ago when he struck a ref and received a “temporary” lifetime ban from the league much earlier in his career. Does one of the league’s most high profile pure defenders with a checkered on-court past deserve entry into the hall beside the likes of Veltman and Finneran?

Anyways, although some of the old school Wings got a bit of love in the poll, it really brokedown as Veltman being a big favorite, Finneran being a pretty possible maybe, and Dowling and Coyle being outside shooters this year.

If a ballot got passed over to you, which of these four would you vote in? Just Veltman? All of them? Let us know.

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