On the day that the New York Rangers played the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto, their former captain, Mark Messier, was in another section of the city being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

When hockey fans think of the player known as "Moose," they think of his demeanor on the ice and the way he played the game. They also tend to think of his former team, the Edmonton Oilers.

Messier was a big part of those great Oilers teams that won five Stanley Cups. But, in 1991, that all changed when he traded to the New York Rangers.

Messier became a part of the New York sports scene and even brought an apartment in the city, not far from Madison Square Garden. To Ranger fans, he will always be known as one of the "Big Three," along with Brian Leetch and Mike Richter, who gave the Rangers their first Stanley Cup in 54 years.

Hockey fans in the New York-New Jersey area remember his bold prediction in game six of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the New Jersey Devils in which he "guaranteed" a Ranger victory. Only a player with such confidence, not to mention, five Stanley Cup rings already to his name, could make such a bold statement.

He was later traded to the Vancouver Canucks, who, ironically, were the team that lost the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals to the Rangers.

However, even with all of his accomplishments, Messier will always be known to Ranger fans as "The Messiah" who brought an end to all those infamous "1940" chants heard around every opposing team arena.

Messier wishes to continue his hockey career, possibly as a General Manager, and no doubt, some hockey team could use his knowledge, not to mention, passion for the only thing he's ever known -- playing hockey.

For all that he has given to the sport, it's only right that Mark Messier joins the 2007 class of the Hockey Hall of Fame.