Datsyuk, Weber headline Hockey Hall of Fame's class of 2024

The Hockey Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday that they will induct Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Roenick, Shea Weber, Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl as players and Colin Campbell and David Poile as builders into their hallowed halls in a ceremony in November.

Datsyuk played 14 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and led them to two Stanley Cups in 2002 and 2008.

The 5-foot-11 forward was drafted 171st overall in 1998 and recorded 314 goals and 918 points in 953 career games. His 918 points rank him seventh all-time in Red Wings history and his 314 goals rank him eighth.

Nicknamed the “Magic Man”, Datsyuk was one of the most skilled players in his generation on both ends of the ice, winning the Selke Trophy three times (2008-10) and the Lady Byng Trophy four times (2006-09).

He was also named to the NHL’s top 100 players in 2017 as part of the league’s centennial season.

Datsyuk played the last five seasons of his hockey career with SKA Saint Petersburg and the Yekaterinburg Automobilist in the KHL and won Gagarin Cup in 2017.

The Sverdlovsk, Russia, native represented his country five times at the Winter Olympic Games, taking home a gold medal in 2018 and a bronze medal in 2022. He also represented Russia seven times at the World Championship, winning a gold medal in 2012 and a bronze medal in 2005.

A native of Boston, the 54-year-old Roenick is the fifth-highest scoring American-born player in NHL history. A nine-time All-Star, Roenick was originally taken with the eighth overall selection of the 1988 NHL Entry Draft out of the QMJHL’s Hull Olympiques. Roenick appeared in 1,363 games over 19 seasons from 1988 to 2009 with the Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.

Twice a 50-goal scorer, Roenick finished his career with 513 goals and 703 assists. Internationally, Roenick represented the United States on a number of occasions, including a silver medal-winning effort at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Weber enters the Hall of Fame with one of the most feared shots in NHL history for a defenceman.

Drafted 49th overall by the Nashville Predators in 2003, Weber has 224 goals and 589 points in 1,038 career games split between the Predators and the Montreal Canadiens.

Weber is third all-time in games played (763) in Predators’ franchise history, fourth in goals (166), fifth in assists (277), and fifth in points (443).

The 6-foot-4 right-shot defenceman is a three-time Norris Trophy finalist (2011, 2012, 2014) and is a two-time first-team all-star in 2011 and 2012. He also won the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2016.

Weber also helped lead the Montreal Canadiens to their first Stanley Cup appearance in 28 years during the 2020-21 shortened season.

The Sicamous, B.C., native represented Canada twice at the Winter Olympic Games in 2010 and 2014, taking home a gold medal both times. He also represented his country twice at the World Championship, winning gold in 2007 and silver in 2009.

Weber was also a member of Canada’s World Cup of Hockey squad that won gold in 2016.

Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl join Cammi Granato (2010) and Angela Ruggiero (2014) as American-born women to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

This is the first time two women have been inducted in the same year since Granato and Angela James were inducted together in 2010.

Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl teamed up in college at the University of Minnesota, helping the program win back-to-back NCAA national championships in 2004 and 2005.

A 40-year-old native of St. Paul, MN, Darwitz made her United States national debut in 1998 and played until 2010. The Minnesota product won three IIHF World Championships and medalled three times at Olympic Games.

For her career, Darwitz had 43 goals and 40 assists in 55 games at Olympics and worlds. Most recently, Darwitz served as general manager of PWHL Minnesota, the winners of the inaugural Walter Cup.

Wendell-Pohl, 42, won the 2005 Patty Kazmaier Award as the top female player in women’s Division I college hockey.

With the United States, she earned Olympic silver (2002) and bronze (2006) and skated in six women’s world championships, winning gold in 2005 where she led the tournament in scoring with nine points to earn MVP honours.

Since 2021, the Brooklyn Park, Minn. native has worked as an amateur scout for the Pittsburgh In the builder category, Campbell and Poile enter the Hall of Fame.

A 71-year-old native of Tillsonburg, Ont., Campbell appeared in 636 games as a player over an 11-year career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Rockies, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks and Red Wings, scoring 25 goals and adding 103 assists.

After his retirement in 1985, he joined the Red Wings as an assistant under Jacques Demers before joining the New York Rangers in 1991 as an associate coach. He would win a Stanley Cup with the team in 1994. Upon Mike Keenan’s resignation, Campbell was promoted to head coach. In four-plus seasons as the bench boss of the Blueshirts, Campbell posted a record of 118-108-43, reaching the playoffs on three occasions.

Following his dismissal from the Rangers in 1998, Campbell joined the league head office and still serves as the NHL’s director of hockey operations to this day.

Poile, 74, got his start in the NHL in 1972 with the Atlanta Flames. By 1977, the Toronto native was an assistant GM. He left the Flames to become general manager and vice-president of the Washington Capitals where he would spend 15 seasons before leaving for the expansion Nashville Predators.

In 2018, Poile became the winningest general manager in league history. Retiring after the 2023 season, Poile’s teams won a record 1,533 games. Poile was named NHL General Manager of the Year in 2017, the same year that the Preds reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history. Poile will now join his father, former Flyers and Canucks GM Bud Poile, in the Hall of Fame with the elder Poile inducted in 1990.