Which Current NHL Players Would Make The Hall Of Fame

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At the time of me writing this, Alexander Ovechkin is only 11 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. Whether you want him to break the record or not, it’s inevitably going to happen. I think it’ll be really cool to see an all-time record get broken. With Ovechkin adding to his legacy, it got me thinking about the legacies of other current players. We hear so much talk about players’ defining moments and how winning an award affects their legacy. Being named into the Hall of Fame is the most prestigious honour any player could receive. So it got me thinking,if the star players retired today, who would make the Hall of Fame, who is just on the cusp, who has potential, and who is just in the Hall of Very Good?

100% Hall of Fame Locks

Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Erik Karlsson, Drew Doughty, Steven Stamkos, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Victor Hedman, Anze Kopitar, Sergei Bobrovsky, Evgeni Malkin.

You cannot debate that any of these players shouldn’t get into the Hall of Fame. They all have the accolades, elite primes, and longevity to get in. For players like Crosby, Ovechkin, and Kane, those were no-brainers, they’ve won Cups, MVPs, and scoring titles. You may think it’s a little questionable to call Kucherov or Drew Doughty a lock, but Kucherov has 413 points in only 266 games, and Doughty has won a Norris Trophy, 2 Cups, along with international success.

Just on the Cusp of Getting In

Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl, Connor Hellebuyck, Aleksander Barkov, Roman Josi, Auston Matthews.

All of these players will be Hall of Famers but just need to add a tad more to their resumes to get in, whether that be another major award or a Stanley Cup. Every one of these players is an elite player right now, and by the time they retire, they’ll have the stats to back up their Hall of Fame case.

Have Potential of Getting In

Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, David Pastrnak, Mikko Rantanen, Artemi Panarin, Kirill Kaprizov, Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin, Brayden Point, Mitch Marner.

All of these players are on track to make the Hall of Fame but need at least five more elite seasons. Some of these players already have some hardware, but they need the longevity to add to it. At their current paces, they should find themselves in the Hall of Fame.

Hall of Very Good

Jonathan Quick, Brent Burns, John Tavares, Corey Perry, Claude Giroux, Ryan O’Reilly, Jamie Benn, Ryan Suter, Brad Marchand, Kris Letang.

For these players, I was on the fence about, but I couldn’t justify putting them in. While a lot of them have great cases, they lack major awards or a high peak. For example, John Tavares has been good for a long time, but he only has one 40-goal season and zero 100-point seasons. I was very close to putting Jonathan Quick in, but he didn’t win a Vezina Trophy and fell off a little too much after 2018.

All in all, this was very fun but very difficult to make. What are your thoughts? Who would be a Hall of Famer, and who shouldn’t be?

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