The Hockey Hall of Fame's 2023 class is scheduled to be unveiled on Wednesday. Carol Schram examines first-time eligibles and recurring candidates on the men's and women's sides.
It's that time again.
Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET, the 2023 induction class of the Hockey Hall of Fame will be unveiled live on TSN and NHL Network.
Currently, the list of honored members sits at 294 players, 113 builders and 16 referees or linesmen.
The 18-member selection committee, appointed by the Hall's board of governors, has been chaired by 2001 inductee Mike Gartner since 2022. It's comprised of hockey luminaries from on the ice, in the executive suite and in the media, with representation from across the hockey world.
The committee conducts its work under a cone of absolute secrecy. All we know is that nominees are presented, and a candidate requires 75-percent support (14 Yes votes) in order to be accepted into the elite group.
Each year, the committee can induct a maximum of four male players, two female players and two builders, or one builder and one official. And as the womens' presence reminds us: this is not the NHL Hall of Fame. International experience matters.
First-Time Eligible Players
The most exciting names are the players who are eligible for selection for the first time — three years out from the end of their playing days, except in the rarest of cases.
In 2023, that group is headlined by Henrik Lundqvist — the longtime star stopper for the New York Rangers and an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist for Team Sweden.
Lundqvist fell short of winning a Stanley Cup, foiled by the Los Angeles Kings in 2014. But he was a five-time Vezina Trophy finalist and took home the trophy in 2012 when he posted a 1.97 goals-against average and .930 save percentage in 62 games.
'Hank' was a workhorse. He appeared in more than 60 games nine times in his 15-year NHL career and hit the 70-game mark four times.
He's also the only goaltender to hit double-digit shutouts twice since 2006. He led the NHL with 10 goose eggs in the 2007-08 season and 11 in 2010-11.
Of course, Lundqvist's easy-going perfection off the ice also enhances his candidacy. His elite fashion sense, smooth electric guitar stylings and, now, his natural affinity as a broadcast analyst are all adding to his legendary status.
Lundqvist would bring elite star power to the Hall of Fame's annual induction weekend, set for Nov. 10 to 12 in Toronto, and the ceremony inside the Great Hall on Nov. 13.
Looking at the Hall of Fame's not-complete list of other first-time eligible male players, Justin Williams also has a strong case for immediate induction.
He never scored more than 76 points in a season, he only broke the 30-goal threshold twice, and he never played for Team Canada at the Olympics.
But Williams amassed 1,264 regular-season NHL games played, won gold twice at the World Championship and, of course, earned the nickname 'Mr. Game 7' for his clutch performances in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He had 102 points in 162 post-season games and won championships with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and with the Kings in 2012 and in 2014, when he was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner.
Is This the Year?
Alexander Mogilny's ongoing absence from the walls of the Hall remains baffling.
His story is historically significant, as he was the first player ever to defect from the Soviet Union right after his country won gold at the 1989 World Championship. He went on to become the first Russian to be named to an NHL all-star team in 1992 and the first to be named an NHL team captain with the Buffalo Sabres in 1993-94.
Mogilny had also won gold with the Soviets as a 19-year-old at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Upon his arrival in the NHL, he needed a little time to get his bearings before exploding for 76 goals and 127 points in the 1992-93 season. He went on to score 55 goals and 107 points in his first season with the Vancouver Canucks in 1995-96, and he joined the Triple Gold Club as a trade-deadline add for the New Jersey Devils with a win in the 2000 Stanley Cup playoffs.
And while players' candidacies are supposed to be based on what they accomplished on the ice, two other potential candidates are getting some shine in the rumor mill right now because of present-day situations.
As a contemporary of Mogilny's, Keith Tkachuk was a fearsome competitor himself — a quintessential power forward who beat out Teemu Selanne and Mario Lemieux to lead the NHL with 52 goals in the 1996-97 season. That was his second straight 50-goal campaign on the way to 1,065 points and 2,219 penalty minutes over an 18-year career.
He didn't win a Stanley Cup and never placed better than 10th in Hart Trophy voting. But Tkachuk's legacy is now gaining attention as his sons Matthew and Brady leave their own impressive imprints on the NHL.
Then there's Rod Brind'Amour, the Cup-winning captain of the 2006 Hurricanes and a two-time Selke Trophy winner. Brind'Amour's 1,184 points in 1,484 regular-season games compare very favorably against 2019 inductee Guy Carbonneau's 663 points in 1,318 games, although Carbonneau claimed three Stanley Cups and three Selke Trophies.
It's true that Carbonneau's selection is considered a bit of an outlier compared to other Hall inductees, but Brind'Amour's playing career continues to be front of mind as he remains with the Hurricanes and has molded the group he is coaching very much to his own image.
The Women's Side
For the last five induction classes, the committee has elected one female player. We're now up to nine honorees since Cammi Granato and Angela James became the first female members of the Hall back in 2010.
There are two spots available every year. Will we see them both get used this year?
Jennifer Botterill hung up her skates more than a decade ago but still hasn't gotten the nod: a four-time Olympian with three gold medals to go along with eight World Championship medals, including five golds. She also earned the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top player in women's NCAA hockey during her time at Harvard.
In recent years, Botterill has continued to raise the visibility of women in hockey as a broadcaster, now a regular panelist on Hockey Night in Canada and also appearing on NHL on TNT.
Caroline Ouellette is a Botterill contemporary with even more hardware from her time with Team Canada — four Olympic golds and six from the World Championship, to go along with six silvers. She's currently plying her trade on the coaching side at both Concordia University and as an assistant with Canada's women's national team.
And one year after identical twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin were inducted together on the men's side, the Lamoureux twins from Team USA are now Hall of Fame-eligible for the first time.
Regarding on-ice contributions, Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson are 10-time medalists across the Olympics and World Championship, including a gold-medal win at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
One more name to consider on the women's side: after making Riikka Sallinen the first female player from Europe to be inducted in 2022, would the selection committee consider adding legendary Swiss goaltender Florence Schelling?
With a career that spanned four Olympics and 11 World Championships, Schelling helped elevate her Swiss team every time she hit the ice. Her peak years came about a decade ago, with a bronze medal at the 2012 World Championship and then another bronze in Sochi at the 2014 Olympics, where she was named tournament MVP over all the more-heralded Canadian and American players.
Schelling turned to coaching after her playing days were over and even spent one season as GM of SC Bern in the well-regarded Swiss men's league.