The Hockey Hall of Fame is buzzing with excitement as we look at the potential future inductees from the current NHL players. With so many worthy candidates, the Hall will have no shortage of choices for its annual class. Let’s take a casual and informal look at the tiered ranking of active NHL players based on their current Hall of Fame cases.
Starting with the two players who have defined hockey this century, we have Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. If the practice of waiving the waiting period for exceptional players was still in effect, these two would be on the ‘best of the best’ tier. Crosby’s leadership and Ovechkin’s goal-scoring prowess have made them the most important players in the NHL since Wayne Gretzky. Their rivalry has fueled interest in the league and defined the sport for over 15 years.
Moving on to the immortal locks, we have players like Marc-Andre Fleury, Victor Hedman, Erik Karlsson, Anze Kopitar, Evgeni Malkin, Brad Marchand, Connor McDavid, Patrick Kane, and Steven Stamkos. These players have achieved greatness and are considered to be among the greatest in the NHL.
In the ‘on the way’ category, we have rising stars like Sergei Bobrovsky, Cale Makar, Leon Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, David Pastrnak, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. These players are making their mark and are on their way to potential Hall of Fame careers.
The Team Canada darlings, including Drew Doughty, Corey Perry, Alex Pietrangelo, Carey Price, Eric Staal, and John Tavares, have not only had tremendous NHL careers but have also contributed significantly to the success of the Canadian men’s national team.
The veteran maybes, such as Nicklas Backstrom, Brent Burns, Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux, Roman Josi, Kris Letang, Phil Kessel, Ryan O’Reilly, Artemi Panarin, Joe Pavelski, and Ryan Suter, have had solid careers and are still in the conversation for Hall of Fame induction.
In the prime-time maybes, we have young talents like Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov, Adam Fox, Jack Eichel, Kirill Kaprizov, Mitchell Marner, Elias Pettersson, Brayden Point, Mikko Rantanen, Mark Scheifele, Tage Thompson, and Matthew Tkachuk. These players are under 30 and have the potential to build strong Hall of Fame cases.
Finally, the under-24 tier includes promising young players like Connor Bedard, Rasmus Dahlin, Miro Heiskanen, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Jason Robertson, Tim Stutzle, and Brady Tkachuk. These players represent the future of the NHL and have the potential to achieve Hall of Fame-worthy careers.
The future looks bright for the NHL, with a new generation of players poised to make their mark on the Hockey Hall of Fame.