Possible candidates for the 2023 HHOF class

For the first time in a long time, the Hockey Hall of Fame welcomed a class of new inductees on Monday.

After COVID-19 delayed the enshrinement of the 2020 class until last November, the Hall’s selection committee did not name a set of 2021 inductions. This year, there are six getting the call.

Just as they stuck together their whole career, Vancouver Canucks legends Daniel and Henrik Sedin are getting the nod as a pair, joining goaltender Roberto Luongo, Daniel Alfredsson, Riikka Sallinen and Herb Carnegie as members of the 2022 class.

Now, we look ahead to next year’s crop, featuring holdovers from this year and fist-time eligible players. Just like this year’s group, there are plenty of deserving candidates.

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First-year eligible

 

Henrik Lundqvist

There were 21 goaltenders selected before the New York Rangers took Henrik Lundqvist 205th overall in the 2000 NHL Draft. Not one of them went on to have the kind of success the King did.

Lundqvist spent his entire 15-year playing career on Broadway, finishing with a record of 459-310-96, a save percentage of .918 and a goals-against average of 2.43. He was as consistent as they came from the start.

He made his debut as a 23-year-old and immediately took over as New York’s No. 1 goaltender, winning 30 games and earning the nod for the NHL’s All-Rookie Team. The Swede never let his guard down, tallying an 11-season run that saw him post a 2.28 GAA and a save percentage of .921 while playing in five All-Star games. In addition to being sixth on the NHL’s all-time goaltender wins list (459), he owns the Ranger record for wins, playoff wins (61), shutouts (64) and games played (887). 

Lundqvist’s performance sharply declined during the 2018-19 and after another tough season the following year, he had his contract bought out by the Rangers and signed with the Washington Capitals on a one-year deal in 2020.

However, after signing, Lundqvist announced he would miss the season and required surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat. Less than nine months after having the procedure, he announced his retirement in August of last year.

The Rangers honoured King Henrik in a January ceremony where he became the 11th member of the Rangers to have his jersey ascend to the rafters at Madison Square Garden.

 

Corey Crawford

Corey Crawford may not have as decorated a career as Lundqvist, but he also spent more than a decade in the crease for one team as one of the NHL’s elite goaltenders. That isn’t easy to do.

While Crawford did not play during the Chicago Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup run of 2010, he backstopped them to a pair of Cup victories in 2013 and 2015, winning the William M. Jennings Trophy in each of those two campaigns. 

For a franchise that has employed some elite goaltending over the years, Crawford ranks near the top in nearly every statistical category for netminders. He’s third in games played (488) behind Tony Esposito and Glenn Hall, second in wins (260), third in total saves (12,778), second in save percentage (.918) and third in goals-against average (2.45).

Like Lundqvist, Crawford eventually departed the team that drafted him in the fall of 2020, signing a two-year, $7.8 million deal with the New Jersey Devils. But before he appeared in a game, Crawford announced he was taking an indefinite leave from the team for personal reasons and eventually made his retirement official in January of 2021. 

 

Justin Williams

The career statistics might not scream Hall of Fame, but few players of the modern era align more with winning than Justin Williams.

Nicknamed “Mr. Game 7” for his tendency to show up when it mattered most, Williams played 19 seasons in the NHL with four different teams and had playoff success at pretty much every stop.

The Coburg, Ont., native won three Stanley Cups – one with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and two with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014 – and played in nine Game 7s throughout his playoff career, winning eight of them.

He was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner for scoring nine goals and adding 16 assists in 26 games during L.A.’s 2014 Cup run and reached the postseason in 12 of his 19 seasons.

Williams also stayed effective late into his NHL career, reaching the 50-point plateau in 2017-18 and 2018-19. At the time of his last appearance the following season, Williams had eight goals through 20 games.

For his career, the winger amassed 320 goals and 477 assists in 1,264 NHL games.

Other notable names: Jimmy Howard, Ben Bishop, Dustin Byfuglien

 

Returning candidates

 

Alexander Mogilny

Only six players have scored more than 75 goals in a season, and five of them are in the Hall of Fame.

And after Monday’s announcement, Alexander Mogilny is still waiting.

While he may not have been able to fully replicate his iconic 76-goal 1992-93 season with the Buffalo Sabres, Mogilny still reached the 30-goal mark seven times during his 16-year NHL stay. He was also a north of a point-per-game player for much of his career, retiring in 2006 with 473 goals and 559 assists in 990 career regular-season games.

He also has 86 points in 124 playoff games, winning the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2000 after arriving in a trade from the Vancouver Canucks.

 

Henrik Zetterberg

Selected in the seventh round of the 1999 NHL Draft, nobody was more synonymous with the later years of the Detroit Red Wings' dominance than Henrik Zetterberg.

While he missed out on gaining entry to the 2022 class announced Monday in his first year of eligibility, the winger's case will merit consideration each year he remains on the ballot.

Zetterberg is fifth in Red Wings history in goals (337), assists (623) and total points (960). He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2008 when he tallied 13 goals and 14 assists in 27 games as the Red Wings captured their fourth Stanley Cup in 11 years. He also starred the following postseason with 11 goals and 13 assists in 24 games as Detroit fell just short of repeating as champs.

Internationally, Zetterberg won gold with Sweden in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.

 

Caroline Ouellette

A mainstay on Canada's national women's team for years, Ouellette is one of three players to win at least four Olympic golds in women's hockey, joining Hall of Famers Hayley Wickenheiser (five) and Jayna Hefford (four). 

She won gold at the 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 Games, tallying 26 points in 20 Olympic contests. 

A native of Montreal, Ouellette has also helped Canada to six IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship titles ans six second-place titles from 1999 to 2015. She trails Wickenheiser and Hefford in all-time national team scoring with 87 goals and 242 points.

Ouellette also won the Clarkson Cup playing for the Canadiennes de Montreal in the Canadian Women's Hockey League four times and is the third all-time leading scorer in the history of the NCAA's University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs with 229 points in 97 games.

 

Meghan Duggan

Meghan Duggan spent more than 10 years as a dynamic forward for the United States women’s national team, captaining the group to a gold medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

She also served as captain for American teams that won the Olympic silver medal in 2010 and 2014 while helping lead the U.S. to seven first-place finishes at the IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship. All in all, she played 144 games with the women’s national team, recording 43 goals and 35 assists for 78 points.

In college, Duggan starred at the University of Wisconsin, winning three national championships (2007, 2009, 2011) and tallying 238 points in 159 games for the Badgers. In 2011, she was named the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner as the top player in NCAA Division I women’s hockey.

 

Curtis Joseph

Curtis Joseph has been on the Hall of Fame ballot for 10 years now, but the fact remains that he is seventh in goaltender wins all-time with 454. That’s more than HOFers Terry Sawchuk (445), Jacques Plante (437), Tony Esposito (423), Glenn Hall (407), Grant Fuhr (403) and Dominik Hasek (389). However, all those players all won at least one Stanley Cup, which Joseph never did.

Over a 19-year career spent primarily with the St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers, the Keswick, Ont., native owns a GAA of 2.79 and a save percentage of .906.

 

Patrik Elias

Rarely does anyone make it to 20 years in the NHL – let alone with one team. Patrik Elias is one of those rare cases, playing 20 seasons all for the New Jersey Devils.

Elias only posted more than 81 points in a campaign once – tallying 96 in 2000-01 with 40 goals and 56 assists – but his consistency over two decades in the league is tough to ignore.

So is his impact on the Devils. He is the franchise’s leader in goals (408), assists (617), points (1,025) and game-winning goals (80). His 1,240 games played for the team rank third in franchise history behind Ken Daneyko (1,283) and Martin Brodeur (1,259).

He also led the Devils to two Stanley Cups, one in 2000 and the other in 2003 alongside Hall of Famers Scott Stevens and Martin Brodeur.

Other notable names: Karyn Bye-Dietz, Jennifer Botterill, Rick Nash, Pierre Turgeon, Rod Brind’Amour, Sergei Gonchar