Editor's Note: ESPN analyst Brian Engblom played with Hall of Fame inductee Rod Langway for six seasons in Montreal and Washington, and they won a Stanley Cup together in 1979. The two were part of a six-player trade to Washington on Sept. 9, 1982.

And the others ...

Clark Gillies Gillies was a mountain of a man -- big, physical, talented and scary tough. If you wanted to drop the gloves, you were in for it. I remember him playing with Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy on one of the most prolific line combinations of the late '70s and early '80s. The Trottier-Gillies-Bossy line was overpowering and dominant. Of the three, Gillies supplied most of the physical play. He was a great corner man. His skills enabled him to stay on a top line with Trottier and Bossy; he was able to finish when they set him up. Bernie Federko Federko was a bright, skilled and talented center man who was always extremely difficult to play against as a puck-possession player. He had a quiet demeanor on the ice, but he always hurt you on the scoreboard. As mainly a setup man, he could buy time for talented wingers. He was a great passer who would command attention. When his teammates were open, he was like a surgeon; he made crisp, clean passes and excellent plays. He could also score the big goal when needed. Roger Neilson Neilson is one of the NHL's most beloved coaches by players. He was given the nickname "Captain Video" in the '80s because he was one of the first coaches to use video to a great extent when no one else was. Neilson was on the cutting edge; he would break down power plays and penalty kills -- all the things that are second nature to NHL teams now. He is a wonderful man who commands respect for both his knowledge and his treatment of other people. That's as important as his hockey credentials. -- Brian Engblom

It's nice to see Rod Langway, a player sort of outside the mainstream, get elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his second try.

Langway is in a different class; after Bobby Orr, the focus shifted toward defensemen who could score enough points to get noticed. But scoring wasn't Langway's forte. Although he was capable of scoring more goals and had an incredible shot, Rod realized his main job was to stick to his own end.

To describe Langway as a player, the two best analogies would be Tim Horton from the past and Chris Chelios from the present. Horton, a Hall of Famer and a star for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the '50s and '60s, was known as a big, strong, burly player who had skills and was impossible to get around. Chelios, a future Hall of Famer, has a warrior mentality and a no-fear approach to the game.

Like Horton, Langway's signature was his strength. He was an incredibly strong man and nearly impossible to get around in close quarters. Inside his own blue line, he had a great presence and established it as his territory. No matter how big the player was, Langway would stick one big paw out and pull him back, as if to say, "You're not going anywhere." At the same time, he never feared any situation and played the game as long as he could, like Chelios has.

Langway's strength, his fundamentals and his knowledge of the game made him an outstanding one-on-one player. He had a great vision for the ice. He could see where trouble spots were and had good anticipation of where the play would end up. He would move quickly to put out a fire before it happened. That's what made him so effective defensively.

The trade that sent Rod and me to Washington happened because he approached the Montreal management and requested one to a U.S. team. Although he loved Montreal, as an American citizen, he was paying taxes in two different countries.

He wanted the ability to save some money, so he asked if the Canadiens could help him out -- and they did. I knew he wanted to be dealt, and I also knew Montreal had its eye on Ryan Walter at least a year before the trade was completed. Walter ended up being part of the deal from Washington.

Although he never scored many goals, Langway still got noticed because he had a great flair to his game. The way he skated, the way he moved the puck, the way he finished his checks, the way he blocked shots -- you noticed him on the ice.

In fact, he was noticed enough to win the Norris Trophy twice in Washington and to appear in six straight All-Star Games, which is extremely unusual for a defensemen. And now he is being noticed again -- and rightfully so -- as a Hall of Famer.