Denis Savard has a novel suggestion to improve the quality of play in the NHL. While some critics insist ice surfaces should be larger, Savard says reverting to smaller playing areas would promote an explosion of offence. Shooters would be on goaltenders more quickly and generate more scoring chances.

I think it would help, I really do, Savard said Monday after donning his Hockey Hall of Fame blazer and slipping on the coveted hall ring.

The addition of Savard and Joe Mullen, two of the best little offensive sparkplugs to grace the NHL in the last 20 years, brought to 220 the number of players enshrined.

Walter Bush Jr., an executive force behind the development of the sport in the United States, became the 88th builder admitted.

Jim Matheson, the Edmonton Journal writer who has chronicled the exploits of the Oilers since their founding, and Bob Miller, the voice of the Los Angeles Kings, swelled the list of media honourees to 66.

Savard, 39, who learned to play hockey in a rink in Verdun, Que., scored 473 goals and assisted on 865 in a 17-year NHL career that included 10 years of stardom in Chicago and a career-capping championship season in Montreal in 1993. He retired in 1997 and currently is an assistant coach with the Blackhawks.

The nifty centre excelled at manoeuvring in close quarters. His favourite rinks were in Chicago, Boston and Buffalo, where there was less ice than in most arenas and where the boards and glass were designed to give with body contact. He cringes at the thought of players being bounced off the stiff boards and seamless glass used in most facilities today.

It's like hitting a cement wall when you get hit, he said during a pre-induction news conference. Our game is a physical game and, when you know you're going to get pushed into a brick wall, it's pretty tough to go in there.

By adding boards and glass with a little more give it would help the game because guys would be more brave and there would be a lot more battles going on in the corners.

Mullen, 43, grew up in a New York slum and was 10 before he played his first game of ice hockey. Yet, he's made it into the hall. Mullen scored 502 goals and assisted on 561, and his 1,063 points are the most ever amassed by a U.S.-born player. His 16-year NHL career was highlighted by a championship in Calgary in 1989 and two more in Pittsburgh in 1991 and 1992.

He also retired in 1997, and as was Savard was chosen for the hall after the minimum three-year wait.

I don't think I feel that way, Mullen replied when asked if he views his career as a trailblazing effort on behalf of all Americans. I always felt I was just happy to be in the league.

I didn't go out thinking I was paving the way for other Americans. But if anybody wants to say that, that's okay with me because it's an honour to be considered in that way.

Savard described Mullen as a player with a lot of heart who always played hard.

He was a great all-around player, said Savard.

Mullen often was frustrated in attempting to check Savard.

You didn't stop Denis, said Mullen. You just hoped you could contain him.

You knew something was going to happen when Denis had the puck.

Bush, 71, was instrumental in getting an NHL franchise in Minnesota in 1966. He's been president of USA Hockey, the national governing body of the sport, since 1986, and he's been a vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1994.

Bush cited the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's gold-medal effort, and NHL expansion in the United States as the two pivotal reasons for the explosion of interest in the sport there. He lauded the league for returning to Minnesota this season.

I think they'll be there for a long time this time, he said.

All were humble in their acceptance of the honour, especially Bush. His wife was diagnosed a year ago with terminal lung cancer but her condition has improved.

This is a great day for our family, said Bush, whose USA Hockey organization is based in Colorado Springs, Colo.

When Savard was a boy, his parents operated a convenience store. He used to fill a laundry basket with soft drinks and chocolate bars and sell them to children at a school across the street. He often thanks his father, Arthur Savard, who died near the end of Denis' first season with the Blackhawks, for the success he has enjoyed.

Mullen survived the gang wars of Hell's Kitchen, and he took up hockey because his father worked in the ice crew at the old Madison Square Garden. His three brothers also played hockey.

Among those becoming eligible next year for election by the 18-member selection committee headed by league executive Jim Gregory are Jari Kurri, Mike Gartner, Viacheslav Fetisov, Pat LaFontaine and Rod Langway.