The Hockey Hall of Fame has officially announced its 2025 class in a series of X posts. The former NHL players headlining the class in their first year of eligibility are Zdeno Chára, Duncan Keith, and Joe Thornton, while Alexander Mogilny has finally been inducted after a decades-long wait.
The full class of new Hall of Famers, including women’s players and builders, is as follows:
Chára: A seven-time All-Star who captained the Bruins to the Stanley Cup in 2011, the 6’9″ defenseman was also a six-time Norris Trophy finalist and won the award in 2009. Known more for his two-way prowess than his pure offense or shutdown ability, he was a top-four threat well into his 40s and sits seventh on the all-time leaderboard with 1,680 regular-season appearances, passing Chris Chelios for most among defensemen in his final season with the Islanders three years ago. He’s already in the IIHF Hall of Fame and helped his native Slovakia to silver medals at the 2000 and 2012 World Championships. (X link)
Keith: Like Chára, Keith was one of the most dominating two-way defenders of the salary cap era. While he doesn’t have the career length or end-to-end consistency Chára boasted, Keith’s peaks were higher, particularly offensively, and he was the Blackhawks’ undisputed top defender on their Stanley Cup wins in 2010, 2013, and 2015. He played 17 NHL seasons, the first 16 of which came in a Chicago uniform. He averaged over 23 minutes per game in all of those seasons and was a two-time Norris finalist, winning it on both occasions in 2010 and 2014. He fell short of breaking Doug Wilson’s record for all-time points by a Blackhawks defender but ranks second with 625 in 1,192 games. It’s worth noting his 421 even-strength points are more than Wilson’s 408, though. (X link)
Thornton: One of the best playmakers of all time, he’s the only men’s player in the class to not win a Cup and is arguably the best player of all time with that dubious distinction. It won’t stop him from being a first-ballot Hall of Famer, though. The four-time All-Star led the league in assists for three straight seasons coming out of the 2004-05 lockout and won the league scoring title in 2005-06, recording 96 assists in 125 points in a season that involved one of the most consequential trades in league history, sending Thornton from Boston to San Jose. Thornton remained with the Sharks in 2020 before ending his career on a pair of one-year deals with the Maple Leafs and Panthers. He ranks sixth in league history with 1,714 games played, seventh in assists (1,190), and 14th in points (1,539). Thornton’s 96 assists were the most in a single season in the salary cap era until Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid each hit the century mark in 2023-24. (X link)
Mogilny: Mogilny, one of the game’s true trailblazers, finally gets the call to the Hall in his 17th year of eligibility. The boxcar case was always pretty strong: a two-time All-Star, a Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2001, and 1,032 career points in only 990 games cemented him as one of the top scorers of the 1990s and early 2000s. Yet, Mogilny’s off-ice impact led to the most puzzlement about his frequent omission from the HHOF classes. He was the first player to defect from the Soviet Union and join the NHL successfully, joining the Sabres as a 20-year-old for the 1989-90 season. Aside from the NHL-run 1996 World Cup of Hockey, he never represented Russia internationally after doing so. Nonetheless, he won Olympic and World Championship gold medals as a teenager and is thus one of seven Russian members of the Triple Gold Club. He now serves as the president of Amur Khabarovsk of the Kontinental Hockey League. (X link)
Jennifer Botterill: One of the most decorated Canadian women’s players of all time, Botterill retired in 2011 before professional women’s hockey truly took off. Nonetheless, she won five World Championship gold medals (1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007) and was a two-time MVP at the tournament. She also helped Canada to Olympic gold in 2002, 2006, and 2010, posting a 4-11–15 scoring line in 21 games there. She also recorded 340 points in just 113 games during her four-year NCAA career at Harvard. (X link)
Brianna Decker: Decker, 34, is one of the few women’s players to get in on her first year of eligibility. She retired in 2022 after representing the United States at the Olympics for the third time, winning gold there back in 2018. She also won six World Championships (2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019) and won an Isobel Cup championship with the Boston Pride of the National Women’s Hockey League in 2016. She scored 60 points in 33 NWHL games over two seasons and also added 58 points in 35 games in the CWHL. (X link)
Jack Parker: Already in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder, the 80-year-old Parker now gets the call to the Hall 12 years after his retirement. He’s one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history, serving as Boston University’s head coach from 1973-74 all the way until his retirement – a 40-year run. He was a seven-time Hockey East champion with the Terriers and won NCAA Coach of the Year honors in 1975, 1978, and 2009. (X link)
Danièle Sauvageau: Sauvageau makes history as the first woman to be inducted into the HHOF as a builder. She was also the first woman to coach in the QMJHL when she was named an assistant with the Montreal Rocket for the 1999-00 season. She currently serves as the GM of the PWHL’s Montreal Victoire and coached Canada to a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. (X link)
Image courtesy of Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports.
All 4 are well deserving. Congrats boys!
All 6 are well deserving. Congrats!
Pikachu counted at least 12 inductees.
When the post first came out it only mentioned the top 4.
Fair enough. Congrats to all 6!
Solid class. Good to see Mogilny finally get in.
Love the Mogilny respect, but come on it should be Price man.
Don’t disagree on Price but I think it’s better to get the old guy (and very deserving) in and then we can get Carey after. Obviously nice to be first ballot but I don’t think there’s any doubt he’ll be in quite soon.
There are already players in the HOF who are far less deserving (Pierre Turgeon, for one) than Mogilny so I won’t lose sleep over it, but…not a HOF player.
Amazing peak season. Great story, if you want to put him in for the hockey history of his defection, etc. whatever, but…not a HOF player. Mostly listless after his BUF days.
Shea Weber over Mogilny but Mogilny over Price. It makes no sense. Mogilny was so big for the Russia aspect of hockey that he should be in. Turgeon shouldn’t. How Lorne Chabot, possible top 20 goalie all time is not in is also insane to me.
Yeah, Chabot’s been a glaring omission since the HHOF was *founded*.
Why do you not consider Pierre Turgeon and Alexander Mogilny to not be HOF players? Is it based on data or personal opinion? The HOF is a hockey museum – putting hockey players in it seems to be the idea.
Because I actually watch hockey, Dog.
Try it sometime and you could (possibly) have your own opinion on hockey instead of just commenting on the fact that others have opinions.
Unless, of course, your real sport is meaningless pedantry and being the sports comment section equivalent of an illiterate pretending to read.
Okay, then please explain why you don’t believe that Pierre Turgeon and Alexander Mogilny belong the HHOF. Is it based on data or personal opinion? A serious question. Thank you.
Aside from compiling a bunch of points back when points were cheap, what’s the argument for Turgeon? Never won anything. Was never the best or second or third or fourth or even tenth best at his position. One dimensional player. Gutless.
Mogilny is much closer. But aside from his BUF years, he was never an impact player or even a top line player. Aside from some special cases due to depth and role (Malkin, P. Kane, Fedorov, Forsberg, etc.) second line (3rd line in NJ for his lone Cup) players don’t belong in the HOF.
Great player, great career. Not HOF great, though.
Hah, I wrote another article for that magazine called the “REAL Best of Hockey” — stripping all the “Hall of Very Good” guys out by naming the best of each decade: six forwards, four defensemen, two goalies. I added another dozen “tweeners” to cover the guys who were HHOF caliber but straddled decades (the Andy Bathgates and Borje Salmings).
The list totaled 132 as of 2000. If I carried it forward, it’d stand at 156 now. While the number includes international and women players, the Hall will have as of this fall 305 members.
Okay, thanks for the response. So it is your opinion, not driven by any data since there are no statistical levels required for enshrinement. From the HHOF site, the player attributes that are to be considered are: Playing ability, sense of fair play, character and contributions to his or her team or teams and to the game of hockey in general. Based on this, both Turgeon and Mogilny seem to qualify. The HHOF Statement of Purpose also gives reasons that both players seem to be a fit in the hockey museum. Nowhere does it state that a player must be second, third, fourth, or even tenth best at his position. Also doesn’t state that second line players don’t qualify. I understand your opinion on why these guys don’t qualify but the opinion goes against the reasons that the HHOF gives on why players are enshrined.
Your response is basically “they are HOF players because they are in the HOF.”
K.
Not going to try to explain the concept of Appeal to Authority but just in case you Google it, the approval of 35K a year sportswriters or basement bloggers or even former players who didn’t actually watch games doesn’t make it gospel.
There’s a reason these players didn’t get in until enough voters who hadn’t seen them play got votes.
And your reasons for not wanting them in the Hall are simply emotional based opinions. One dimensional? Gutless? You can’t quantify that stuff. It is only your opinion. Never an impact player? Never a top line player? Mogilny never made an impact or played on a top line? Guessing that those are false. You could have answered my original question by admitting that your reasons for not believing these guys should be in the Hall are based on emotion and not on any data. It is only a hockey museum. Hockey players get put in this museum. Maybe don’t take it so seriously.
It’s clear you don’t even listen to your own pablum, so you obviously don’t see what a bizarre circular jerk it is…
“So it is your opinion, not driven by any data since there are no statistical levels required for enshrinement.”
You keep asking for data but then admit that said data is irrelevant “since there are no statistical levels required for enshrinement.”
You then dismiss any argument not based on this irrelevant data as “emotion”.
So, one of three things is occurring…
A) You are a very boring, pedantic troll.
B) You are so scared to have an opinion you cannot comprehend those who do.
C) You’re so autistic that everything must be literal and you need a detailed roadmap to get from A to B and can’t wrap your head around anything less.
Character is one of the dirtiest, And overrated players I have ever seen. He’s a Neanderthal.
IGN.
About time on Mogilny. A worthy class all around.
(smiles warmly) Back in 1999, I wrote an article for a hockey magazine predicting which then-active players would be in the Hall of Fame of 2020. While I nailed almost all of the “aging” and “prime” groups, obviously the “young” group was a crapshoot. Thornton I predicted, Chara of course I wouldn’t have. The book hasn’t been closed on those players active then — Jagr, obviously — but it’s good to see two of the last genuinely worthy of the bunch in.
I don’t follow HHOF too closely but uh… Is Kariya in there? I went on a recent kick of 90s hockey highlights, and WOW was that guy ever fun to watch. Pavel Bure, too.
I’d ask about Hasek, but I’m pretty confident he’s there.
all three of those guys are in the HHoF
Bure is one of the ten best players I’ve ever seen. Easily.
I hope Botterill will take a leap right off the hockey panel on Rogers sportsnet.
Sauvageau…Really?!? SMH
Brindamour was robbed again. He has almost 200 more point than Mogiilny. He has 2 Selke trophies, scored 1184 points, didn’t just win a cup but captained a team to the cup win, and an all star appearance. His arrival in Raleigh turned the Hurricanes fortunes around until he retired.
Another year, same crap.
All deserved . Finally the anti Moligny group not large enough to keep him out . Please Carey Price was not snubbed. Only four spots four more deserving choices. He will get in. Tkachuk is now best player not hall of fame. Still trying to understand Turgeon over Tkaczuk.
Keith’s on-ice career certainly is HHOF worthy; but his peripheral role in the Kyle Beach assault – where he (& others) failed to show integrity & concern for a teammate – is why I feel he should not gotten a quick ride.
Man, I like Duncan Keoth but if he’s a Hall of Famer then so is Mark Howe. It astounds me that Howe isn’t in the HOF.
He is in the HOF
Keith a first ballot heck no. Mogilny should have been in long ago.