The Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF) has named former Maple Leaf Phil Housley to the class of 2015. Joining Housley in the Hall this year are Angela Ruggerio, Bill Hay, Peter Karmanos, Niklas Lidstrom, and Chris Pronger.

The American-born defenseman, and scoring phenom has one of the best pedigrees out of all American defenseman. He began in Buffalo, when he earned 66 points in 76 games, a fantastic representation of his whole career. Throughout his storied career within the NHL, he set a number of records, including the fourth all-time defensemen goals with 338; and points with 1232.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congrats to <a href="https://twitter.com/philhousley6">@philhousley6</a> for getting into the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HHOF?src=hash">#HHOF</a>! Nice reaction! Nice work! <a href="https://twitter.com/PredsNHL">@PredsNHL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NHL">@NHL</a> <a href="http://t.co/9vK4OHd16x">pic.twitter.com/9vK4OHd16x</a></p>&mdash; Karin Housley (@KarinHousley) <a href="https://twitter.com/KarinHousley/status/615613443161219072">June 29, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He retired with the Buds after playing in Toronto for one season, capping off a storied and impressive career. He retired with the most points and games played in NHL history. He also is the second-leading scorer amongst American-born players, despite playing defence.

1495 games later, Housley decided to hang-up the jersey. Even after putting up fantastic numbers, he never won the Norris Trophy, or Stanley Cup.

He was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.

After his playing days, Housley focused his attention to coaching. His first taste of success behind the bench, came when he won gold with the 2013 US Junior Team. He then joined the Nashville Predators as an assistant coach that same year.

Phil Housley has left a huge mark on the NHL, and game in general. He is well regarded as a strong offensively-contributing defenseman, and a team player. Prior to retiring as a Maple Leaf, he spent his career playing in Buffalo, New Jersey, Washington, Chicago, Calgary, Winnipeg, and St.Louis.

He told TSN: “There was always doubt,” Housley said. “It was a little bit of a long period to wait … but I guess the wait was well worth it. I can forget about all those years in the past. The past can stay where it is.”