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Seeking Writers For Pro Hockey Rumors

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As Pro Hockey Rumors celebrates its four-year anniversary, we’re looking to add to the writing staff!  In particular, we’re seeking someone with strong daytime availability Monday through Friday.  The position pays hourly.  The criteria:

  • Exceptional knowledge of all 31 NHL teams, no discernible bias.
  • Knowledge of the salary cap, CBA and transaction-related concepts.
  • At least some college education.
  • Extensive writing experience, with professional experience and a background in journalism both strongly preferred.
  • Keen understanding of journalistic principles, ethics and procedures. Completion of basic college-level journalism classes is strongly preferred.
  • Attention to detail — absolutely no spelling errors, especially for player and journalist names.
  • Ability to follow the site’s style and tone.
  • Ability to analyze articles and craft intelligent, well-written posts summing up the news in a few paragraphs. We need someone who can balance creating quick copy with thoughtful analysis. You must be able to add value to breaking news with your own insight, numbers or links to other relevant articles.
  • Ability to use Twitter and Tweetdeck.
  • Multi-tasking is crucial.
  • If you’re interested, email prohockeyrumorshelp@gmail.com and explain how you stand out and qualify in a couple of short paragraphs.  Please attach your resume to the email.  Unfortunately we may not be able to reply to every applicant.

Snapshots: Vancouver, Michigan, CBA

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As hinted at by reports earlier today, Vancouver is officially out as a potential hub city for the NHL postseason. Once considered a favorite along side Las Vegas, the British Columbia metropolis nevertheless ended up as an underwhelming option in the eyes of the league. The club released a statement thanking those whose efforts went into Vancouver’s hub city campaign but acknowledging that they are out of the running. This result is believed to have stemmed from the Vancouver group’s inability to have a plan in place for responding to a positive COVID-19 test that would not lead to a stoppage in play. In Vancouver’s stead, Edmonton and Toronto are expected to receive more attention while Los Angeles and Chicago still remain in the running. By all accounts, Las Vegas has already secured its spot and just one city is left to be determined.

  • The University of Michigan has announced their 2020-21 recruiting class and, while all of these names have previously been revealed over the past few years, the talent involved warrants a reminder. The Wolverines are bringing in an elite group to Ann Arbor next season, headlined by a pair of potential 2020 first-round picks. Neither Thomas Bordeleau nor Brendan Brisson are guaranteed to be selected on Day One, the American forwards stand a good chance of earning a late-round selection. Fellow forward Philippe Lapointe, son of long-time NHLer Martin Lapointe, is also expected to be drafted at some point this year. Goaltender Erik Portillo has already gone through the draft process and landed at No. 67 to the Buffalo Sabres last year. The Swedish prospect may sit for a year, but will certainly start for Michigan at some point soon. Yet, what might be more exciting for Wolverine fans are not the past or present draft products, but the future. Hulking two-way defenseman Owen Power and super skilled center Kent Johnson round out the recruiting class as two of the top prospects available in the 2021 Draft. Michigan will groom them for a season before one or both very likely get the chance to bolt for the NHL in 2021-22.
  • Comments made by New York Rangers superstar Artemi Panarin have brought the escrow issue back to the forefront of NHL labor relations as the league and players’ association continue to work toward a CBA extension. Panarin went so far as to say that players should not report to Phase 3 training camps without a new deal in place that corrects the current escrow crisis. The two side are indeed making progress in CBA talks and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that escrow terms may even be close to complete. Friedman notes relays that a plan is in place that would cap escrow at 20% for the 2020-21 season, but would include a one-season-only 10 per cent salary deferral, protecting owners in the short term while returning money to the players down the road. As part of the agreement though, the salary cap could remain stagnant at the current $81.5MM upper limit for the next three seasons with the potential for it to potentially go up in 2022-23.
  • The New York Post’s Larry Brooks reports that these CBA terms could be packaged with the Return to Play Plan in a vote facing every member of the NHLPA. While recent player movement, especially out of Europe, and participation in voluntary activities would indicate that the players are on board with the proposed Return to Play plan, there is no indication of their feeling on the current escrow and salary cap issues and how that might impact the ability for both key policies to receive a majority vote.

West Notes: Vancouver, Pietrangelo, Krebs

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Yesterday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in an appearance on Sportsnet 590 (audio link) that there was a snag in Vancouver’s hub city bid with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre clarifying that it pertains to contingency plans around a potential positive test.  It appears that the NHL’s concern is rather significant as Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic notes (Twitter link) that the league has shifted towards more detailed conversations with Edmonton and Toronto regarding their bids.  It’s not necessarily the final nail in the coffin for Vancouver but right now, the odds of them being a host city seem lower than they were earlier this week.  Vegas is believed to be the other presumptive frontrunner.

Elsewhere out West:

  • While the salary cap not increasing like originally anticipated would seem like a problem for the Blues when it comes to re-signing defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch posited in a recent chat that it could actually work to their advantage. A lower Upper Limit means there will be fewer teams with significant cap space that could put together a top dollar offer to try to lure him away.  If that causes the offers to come in lower than anticipated, the captain re-signing with St. Louis becomes more of a possibility.  Nevertheless, the 30-year-old is in line for a notable jump on his current $6.5MM AAV.
  • Although he’d be unlikely to play for them, Peyton Krebs should on the Golden Knights’ expanded postseason roster, argues Ken Boehlke of SinBin.vegas. Injuries limited the 17th pick last June to just 38 WHL games this season (where he had 60 points) so some extra practice time with the big club would certainly help his development.  Krebs is already signed so he would be eligible to be on their roster and unless he got into ten postseason games, his contract for this would still slide.

Metropolitan Storylines: New York Rangers

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While the stretch run is officially over with the NHL’s declaration that the play-in games won’t be part of the regular season, we still have one division left to get to in our Stretch Run Storylines series.  Our focus has been shifted to the Metropolitan Division with an eye on things to watch for in the postseason.  Next up is a look at the New York Rangers.

This season, the Rangers were expected to take a step towards moving out of their rebuild, especially after they added winger Artemi Panarin via the richest AAV handed to a winger in league history and picked up blueliner Jacob Trouba from Winnipeg in a trade.  However, they were struggling through the first half of the season before a midseason recall helped change their fortunes.  Whether or not that recall gets a chance to play in their play-in series against Carolina is among the things to watch for from New York when play resumes.

Zibanejad’s Momentum

Over the final six weeks of the season, who was the top scorer in the NHL?  It wasn’t Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl who was on a tear of his own and may be the Hart Trophy winner.  It wasn’t Panarin who had a career year and finished tied for third in the league in scoring.  Instead, it was his linemate in center Mika Zibanejad.  Over his last 21 games from February 1st to the suspension of the schedule, he had 22 goals and 11 assists.  Yes, better than a goal per game pace.  (He also led in points per game if you want to look at the stat that way to balance out the differences in games played.)

Zibanejad and Panarin were dominant for large parts of what amounted to the stretch run.  While Panarin played at that level for basically most of the year, Zibanejad’s top gear was something that he hadn’t shown with any sort of regularity in the past.  While the Rangers are a deep enough team offensively to withstand Zibanejad reverting closer to his normal form (which is still a strong two-way pivot), they’re much more dangerous with that duo lighting it up.  In a short series as the play-in round is, that could make or break New York’s fortunes.

Who Starts?

For the first half of the season, New York’s goaltending tandem was Henrik Lundqvist and Alexandar Georgiev.  On paper, it wasn’t a bad duo – a proven veteran and a young goalie that has shown flashes of upside in his early career.  That didn’t translate to much in the way of success, however, which necessitated the recall of Igor Shesterkin from AHL Hartford.  He made an immediate impact and ran with the number one job until the pandemic hit three months ago.

Now, David Quinn has a decision to make on who to start against Carolina.  On the surface, Shesterkin would make sense as he had the hot hand before but more than three months have passed since then and it’ll be another month before games resume.  He’s still relatively untested in North America with only a dozen NHL games under his belt so putting him into a must-win series does carry some risk.

On the other hand, the other options carry some risk as well.  Lundqvist came into this season having posted the worst numbers of his career in 2018-19.  His numbers were slightly worse this year and he wound up as the third-string option frequently once Shesterkin was recalled.  The rest may help the 38-year-old in terms of being rested and ready to play though and he has a very strong track record of success in the postseason.  There are also questions about whether there’s a spot for him next season with the two younger goalies likely to be around so giving Lundqvist the first shot would be a nice nod to a well-respected franchise mainstay.  But is there room for sentimentality in a short series?

As for Georgiev, he was consistently inconsistent while posting a dip in his save percentage from last season.  Having said that, he stole some games for the Rangers and if he’s on, he could be the difference in this series.  On the flip side, the risk factor of playing Georgiev is high since if he’s not at the top of his game, he struggles.

There is no simple answer here as all have arguments for and against playing them.  As a result, Quinn will certainly be keeping a close tab on his three netminders during training camp.  With a limited exhibition schedule, how each performs in practice may very well play a role in determining who starts against the Hurricanes.

RFA Watch

Salary cap space was an issue for the Rangers heading into the year as they more or less forced winger Brendan Lemieux and defenseman Anthony DeAngelo into taking cheap one-year deals.  That has worked out quite well for DeAngelo who had a career year offensively with 15 goals and 38 assists in 68 games.  A strong showing in the postseason will only his bolster his arbitration case which he is now eligible for.

Then there’s Ryan Strome.  The center also had a career season with 18 goals and 41 helpers in 70 contests and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility.  He went into the season viewed as a possible non-tender candidate because of his required $3.2MM qualifying offer.  He has outperformed that rate but his future with the team still feels a little bit tenuous but a good performance here could help solidify his fate in New York.

For perspective, the Rangers have more than $67MM committed to 15 players for next season with DeAngelo, Strome, Georgiev and Lemieux all in need of new contracts.  With the expectation that next year’s Upper Limit will be at or around the current $81.5MM mark, it will be a tight squeeze to keep all of them, fill out the rest of the roster, and remain under that threshold.  That means there may a bit more at stake for those players in this postseason.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: Reinhart, Komarov, Myers, Barkov

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One of the big items on new Sabres GM Kevyn Adams’ list this offseason will be Sam Reinhart’s case.  The pending restricted free agent has wrapped up his bridge contract and in doing so, he showed that his 50-point campaign in 2017-18 was no fluke.  Now just two years away from UFA eligibility, a long-term contract is going to be what both sides are likely looking for.

With that in mind, NHL.com’s Dan Rosen took a stab at trying to figure out what a good comparable would be.  He suggested Blues winger Jaden Schwartz, whose cap percentage at the time the deal was signed would translate to a roughly $6MM price tag today and next season with the Upper Limit expected to remain around the $81.5MM mark.  Buffalo has a plethora of players to sign still for next year but as a fixture in their top six, the Sabres shouldn’t have many qualms about signing Reinhart to a contract around that price tag.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • A large group of Finnish players will be heading back to their respective club teams later this week. Heikki Miettinen of Helsingen Sanomat in Finland notes that Islanders winger Leo Komarov has leased a private plane to fly several of his NHL compatriots from Helsinki to New York in advance of training camps opening up next month.  The hope is that by doing a private flight, they will be able to avoid self-quarantining guidelines although that is not set in stone.
  • Flyers defenseman Philippe Myers has fully recovered from his fractured kneecap in March, reports Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer. Prior to the injury, he was starting to carve out a bit of a bigger workload, averaging more than 18 minutes a night before going down.  Still just 23, this will be his first taste of the postseason and it will be interesting to see if head coach Alain Vigneault deploys him in a similar manner once it gets underway or if he’ll defer more to his veterans.
  • Panthers center Aleksander Barkov has purchased a stake in Tappara’s hockey program, notes George Richards of Panthers Pressbox. The 24-year-old is from Tampere and played in Tappara’s system from 2009 through 2013 before making the jump to the NHL.

Capitals Sign Hunter Shepard To An AHL Deal

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Goaltender Hunter Shepard was one of the top remaining undrafted college free agents on the market but he wasn’t able to land an entry-level contract.  Instead, his now-former college team, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, announced that the Capitals have inked the netminder to an AHL contract.

The 24-year-old wrapped up a stellar career with the Bulldogs this season, posting a 2.18 GAA and a .918 SV% in 34 games.  Those numbers were pretty strong in their own right but they actually represented a step back from the previous two years.  Those performances helped earn Shepard NCHC Goalie of the Year and first all-star team honors in each of the last two seasons while he won the NCAA title in 2018 and 2019.  He also showed that he was durable as he made 115 consecutive starts for Minnesota-Duluth spanning from October 2017 to this past March which is an NCAA record.

Playing time may be hard to come by for Shepard as their current AHL tandem of Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek are both signed through 2021-22.  However, if Braden Holtby moves on, one of those two could presumably move up to the NHL level as Ilya Samsonov’s backup which would give Shepard a chance at earning the backup role with AHL Hershey.

Latest On Eligibility For Current Year Contracts To Be Signed

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We’re now less than a week away from the renegotiated July 1st deadline regarding whether or not players can still sign entry-level contracts for this season, making them eligible to play in the play-in round and postseason.  Normally, this isn’t an issue as most recently evidenced by Cale Makar signing his entry-level deal with the Avalanche last April.  It was well past the trade deadline but it was still a valid contract.

However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the league announced that no more contracts for the current year could be signed.  A few teams decided to get creative and indicated that players had agreed to terms on two separate entry-level pacts, one that started next season but another that came into effect this season.  Neither of them was filed with the league in the hopes that the NHL would reverse its position.

In an email to Arthur Staple of The Athletic (subscription required), Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly indicated that while a final decision hasn’t been made, “we continue to support a prohibition on Clubs and Players being able to enter into contracts beginning with the 2019/20 season”.  Meanwhile, the NHLPA declined to comment but clearly, they’re of the mindset that those contracts should be allowed.

There are several players whose availability for the play-in round and playoffs are in question as a result – Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin, Canadiens defenseman Alexander Romanov, Blues blueliner Scott Perunovich, Panthers winger Grigori Denisenko, Golden Knights winger Jack Dugan, and most notably, Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov.  A handful of undrafted college players signed similar contracts as well but aren’t eligible to play now although a ruling in their favor could still allow them to burn the first year of their deals right away.

While we still don’t have a resolution on this, July 1st is now less than a week away so there should be an announcement on this matter before too much longer.

2000 Expansion Draft Retrospective: How Columbus And Minnesota Fared (Poorly) Versus Vegas

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Twenty years ago yesterday, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild were taking their first official steps as NHL teams, engaging in the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft. Yet the additions of the 29th and 30th NHL teams goes down as an utterly forgettable event in the annals of NHL history, given just how poor the results were. Fast-forward 17 years and the NHL finally adds team No. 31, the Vegas Golden Knights. Recency bias aside, the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft and especially the season that followed will have a firm foothold on their place in league history. The vast differences between these two drafts, both in format and outside factors, help to explain why the infant Golden Knights already seem to be more established in year three than the Blue Jackets and Wild, facing down their twentieth seasons in 2020-21.

Entry Fee

Columbus and Minnesota: $80,000,000
Vegas: $500,000,000

Like most things in pro sports, this story starts with money. The Blue Jackets and Wild paid just $80MM in 2000 to enter the NHL, not exactly a premium price even 20 years ago. As a result, their introduction to the league was never intended to be smooth. The odds were stacked against them in their inaugural seasons and beyond as they had to fight hard for their place in the league. The Knights on the other hand paid over six times that amount and the 2021 Seattle expansion team is set to pay even more, a record $650MM. With that comes more cushy conditions upon entry, allowing for immediate success to be more realistic.

Recent Expansion

Columbus and Minnesota: Nashville Predators (1998), Atlanta Thrashers (1999)
Vegas: None

The Blue Jackets and Wild also entered the league during a frenzy of expansion. The NHL added nine teams between 1990 and 2000 and Columbus and Minnesota were the unfortunate pair to bring up the rear. Talent was spread thinner than it ever had been before and Nashville and Atlanta, added in the previous two years, were completely exempt from the Expansion Draft. The expansion team thus drafted 26-man rosters. In contrast, when Vegas entered the league the NHL had not seen expansion in the better part of two decades. No one was exempt and talent had been replenished across the league, with Vegan able to pick from each of the 30 teams. Talent level continues to not be a concern approaching the 2021 Expansion Draft, in which Seattle will also have 30 teams to choose from other than Vegas, who also won’t receive a share of their entry fee.

Protection Schemes

Columbus and Minnesota: Nine forwards, five defensemen, and one goalie or seven forwards, three defensemen, and two goalies
Vegas: Seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie or eight skaters and a goalie

Nine forwards, five defenseman, and a goalie?! It’s no wonder that most people can’t remember the players selected by the Wild or Blue Jackets. They were either fourth-liners, bottom-pair defensemen, or minor leaguers. On top of that, the team were also competing with one another for these scraps. The secondary option in 2000 became the primary option for Vegas in 2017 minus a second goalie. This guaranteed that nearly every team would expose a top-nine forward, a top-four defenseman, and an experienced goalie.

Results

Columbus: G – Frederic Chabot, Dwayne Roloson, Rick Tabaracci; D – Radim Bicanek, Jonas Junkka, Lyle Odelein, Jamie Pushor, Tommi Rajamaki, Bert Robertsson, Mathieu Schneider, Mattias Timander; F – Kevyn Adams, Kevin Dineen, Dallas Drake, Ted Drury, Bruce Gardiner, Steve Heinze, Robert Kron, Sergei Luchinkin, Barrie Moore, Geoff Sanderson, Turner Stevenson, Martin Streit, Dmitri Subbotin, Jeff Williams, Tyler Wright

Minnesota: G – Zac Bierk, Jamie McLennan, Chris Terreri, Mike Vernon; D – Artem Anisimov, Chris Armstrong, Ladislav Benysek, Ian Herbers, Filip Kuba, Curtis Leschyshyn, Sean O’Donnell, Oleg Orekhovsky; F – Michal Bros, Jeff Daw, Jim Dowd, Darby Hendrickson, Joe Juneau, Sergei Krivokrasov, Darryl Laplante, Steve McKenna, Jeff Nielsen, Stefan Nilsson, Jeff Odgers, Scott Pellerin, Stacy Roest, Cam Stewart

Vegas: G – Jean-Francois Berube, Marc-Andre Fleury, Calvin Pickard; D – Alexei Emelin, Deryk Engelland, Jason Garrison, Brayden McNabb, Jon Merrill, Marc Methot, Colin Miller, Griffin Reinhart, Luca Sbisa, David Schlemko, Nate Schmidt, Clayton Stoner, Trevor van Riemsdyk; F – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Connor Brickley, William Carrier, Cody Eakin, Erik Haula, William Karlsson, Brendan Leipsic, Oscar Lindberg, Jonathan Marchessault, James Neal, Tomas Nosek, David Perron, Teemu Pulkkinen, Chris Thorburn

Kinda one-sided isn’t it? Sean O’Donnell, Filip Kuba, and Darby Hendrickson were some of the best players available to Columbus and Minnesota, while the vast majority of Vegas’ roster was at the very least as accomplished as that trio when they were selected. No one taken in the 2000 Draft can even be remotely compared to established players in their prime like Neal, Perron, and Fleury, young scoring forwards like Marchessault and Karlsson, or up-and-coming defensemen like Schmidt and Miller. The Knights’ entire draft roster also had NHL experience or earned it in their first two seasons, while a number of Blue Jacket and Wild picks never even saw the light of day.or

Draftees To Play With Team

Columbus and Minnesota: 11 apiece
Vegas: 19

To make matters worse, some of the most well-known players selected by the Blue Jackets and Wild – Mathieu Schneider, Mike Vernon, Dallas Drake – never played a game for the franchise. This was by design, as the teams opted to take the select players specifically to allow them to walk as free agents and recoup the compensatory picks, but it sill added to the overwhelming lack of player value selected in 2000. In 2017, the Golden Knights managed to retain more than half of a 30-man roster that was far too large to ever retain completely. In fact, the only player who did not join Vegas in their inaugural season or was not traded away was goalie JF Berube.

First Playoff Appearance

Columbus: 2009
Minnesota: 2003
Vegas: 2018

So how did these drastically uneven expansion results play out? The Wild made their first playoff appearance in their third season with some holdovers from the draft and even made it to the Western Conference Final. However, they finished last in the Northwest Division in the two seasons prior and subsequent to this underdog run. The Blue Jackets did not make the playoffs for the first time until 2009, nearly a decade into their existence. By then, there was no trace of their bleak expansion draft roster. The franchise has just six playoff series appearances in their history, with their first win coming just last season. Vegas on the other hand turned the expansion trope on its head with an incredible run in 2018, fueled almost entirely by draft selections. The team then qualified for the playoffs again last season and are a top-four seed in the West in the upcoming expanded postseason.

First Stanley Cup Final Appearance

Columbus and Minnesota: None
Vegas: 2018

The Golden Knights made it as far as any team can go without winning the Stanley Cup in their very first season. It was unheard of success for an expansion team in any sport and the structure and surrounding of the 2017 Expansion Draft played a major role. The Blue Jackets and Wild, limited for years by their own expansion restrictions, have never made the Stanley Cup Final and entering their twentieth season in 2020-21 don’t look particularly likely to do so next year either. These is a very strong likelihood that Vegas returns to the Final and possibly wins a Stanley Cup before Columbus or Minnesota and Seattle may very well share those same odds.

Twenty years later, the Blue Jackets and Wild are still struggling to establish themselves as top teams in the NHL and their struggles can be traced all the way back to the 2000 Expansion Draft. So while the anniversary can be celebrated for the formal additions of the franchises to the NHL – bringing pro hockey back to Minnesota and spreading the game to a market that has wholly embraced it in Columbus – it should also be remembered as the poorly-constructed entry device that limited these teams from the get go. The 2000 Expansion Draft will never be remembered for any individual players that were selected, but instead the complete lack of impact players selected and the factors that contributed to that result.

Pacific Notes: Coyotes, Lagesson, Flames Arena

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The Coyotes have been looking for some stability for a new arena for years now and while they’ve seemingly come close to finding a long-term solution, nothing has materialized and they are now playing out of a year-to-year lease in Glendale.  Recently-hired team president Xavier Gutierrez told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan that this is his top issue after team owner Alex Meruelo called it “priority one through 10”.  Arizona has already agreed to play out of Glendale for next season but Gutierrez indicated that they are evaluating whether or not that’s the best approach or if a mid-term agreement would be more beneficial while they pursue a more feasible arena location.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • Oilers defenseman William Lagesson is expected to be part of their expanded postseason roster, notes Postmedia’s Derek van Diest. The 24-year-old made his NHL debut this season, getting into eight games with Edmonton over five separate stints with the team.  However, he only got into 25 games at the minor league level with AHL Bakersfield where he picked up 10 points.  With a fully-healthy back end to start, it’s unlikely that he’ll be part of their top six against Chicago but injuries strike, he can hold down a limited role on the third pairing after averaging nearly 12 minutes a game in his NHL action this season.
  • The Flames announced details about the construction of their new facility. We’re still more than a year away from construction getting underway and a target completion date has been set for May 2024.  HOK, a global design firm, is among the groups that will be assisting in the process and they have recent NHL arena construction experience after being involved in the new arenas for Detroit and Edmonton.

Hockey Hall Of Fame Announces 2020 Class

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The Hockey Hall of Fame announced its 2020 class on Thursday.  Getting enshrined in the six-person class are Marian Hossa, Jarome Iginla, Kevin Lowe, Kim St-Pierre, and Doug Wilson in the player category as well as Ken Holland in the builder category.

Iginla’s admission in his first year of eligibility should come as no surprise.  He was a premier power forward for the majority of his 20-year NHL career.  He was a two-time winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy for scoring the most goals in a single season while he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s points leader in 2001-02 and the Pearson Award for MVP as voted by the players that same season.  Iginla sits 14th all-time in regular season games played with 1,554 while sitting 16th in goals (625), 64th in assists (675), and 34th in points (1,300).  He’s also one of only 34 players in league history with at least 1,000 points and 1,000 penalty minutes.

Hossa is another player who was elected in his first year of eligibility.  While technically he’s still an active player (he’s on Arizona’s books through 2020-21), his playing career ended back in 2017 due to a skin disorder and he has since missed the minimum three years to become eligible for induction.  He didn’t have the individual accolades that some others in this class had but he won a total of three Stanley Cups with Chicago (2010, 2013, and 2015) while reaching the Final in 2008 (Pittsburgh) and 2009 (Detroit) which made him the first player in NHL history to reach the Final in three straight years with three straight teams.  During the span of his 17-year career, only three players had more points than Hossa – Joe Thornton, Jaromir Jagr, and Iginla.  Hossa sits 57th all-time in points with 1,134 in 1,309 games.

While Iginla and Hossa got in on their first opportunity, this was Lowe’s 20th year of eligibility.  He was an impact defenseman for the Oilers during their pinnacle in the 1980s, winning five Stanley Cups with them as well as one with the Rangers in 1994.  He was never the most prolific offensively – his career high in points in a single season was 46 – but he was a very important defensive defender over his 1,254 games spanning 19 years.  He is tied for sixth all-time for playoff games by a defenseman as well with 214.

Wilson had an even longer wait than Lowe as he has been eligible for induction since 1996.  He was more of an offensive-minded blueliner throughout his 16-year NHL career and at the time of his retirement, he sat eighth overall in all-time points by a defenseman with 827.  He has since slipped to 15th overall with all but one of those now in the Hall of Fame.  Wilson won the Norris Trophy for the NHL’s top blueliner in 1982 and is Chicago’s franchise leader in goals, assists, and points by a defenseman.

St-Pierre becomes the first female goaltender to make it to the Hall.  She was a fixture for Canada on the international front, leading the way for them in international appearances by a goaltender with 89 and wins with 64.  She won nine medals at the World Championships (five gold, four silver) while taking home the best goalie award twice in those events.  She also has a trio of Olympic gold medals and one top goalie award in that tournament.  St-Pierre was also the first female player to win a regular season game in the men’s division of college hockey (CIS) while also winning two Clarkson Cups.

Holland has been involved in an NHL front office role since 1985 when he retired as a player in Detroit’s organization to join them as a scout.  He was promoted to the GM role in 1997 and the team took off.  They made the playoffs in each season under his watch through 2016 which extended their franchise record streak to 25 years.  During that time, the Red Wings were the winningest team in the league during the regular season and won four Stanley Cups.  Holland stepped down from Detroit in 2019 to become GM in Edmonton.  On the international front, he was part of the management team for two Olympics, two World Championships, and one World Cup.

Each year, the Hall of Fame is allowed elect up to a maximum of four male players, two female players and two builders (or one builder and one referee/linesman) so it was nearly a full class of inductees this time around.  A decision will be made by August with regards to the actual induction ceremony which typically takes place each November.

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