2025 HHOF predictions

[Yozhik v tumane]

Chara was literally a bust until later few years in Senators.

3rd round picks playing 22+ minutes a night from age 22 literally aren’t busts.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I'm legitimately surprised you're confused by this.

It's not confusion, I can assure you...

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

3rd round picks playing 22+ minutes a night from age 22 literally aren’t busts.

Also a defenseman taking until 24 to put it together is not unusual

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Do you really think Alfredsson being the face of a Canadian franchise(even if it's the smallest or 2nd smallest) didn't give him an advantage with getting into the HHOF so easily?

He didn’t get in that easily, he had to wait five years I think.

I agree Zetterberg was the better player between the two.

 

[Hockeyholic]

There's no justification for Marleau getting in over Chara.

But with the committee, you never know.

 

[GMR]

Zetterberg was better than Alfredsson, the Sedins and Sundin. In my opinion among Swedish forwards. Sadly for him he didn't play for a Canadian market. I'm not saying those 4 guys don't deserve to be in, but if they're in I don't see how Zetterberg can be left out.

At his peak, I would also take Zetterberg over any of those players. Also a superior two-way player than those players.

 

[MadArcand]

Marleau on the pre Thornton Sharks is Shane Doan on the Yotes. A nice player who is just good enough to pull a mediocre roster to the playoffs but not someone who was ever playing at a HOF level. The more I think about it the more I'm liking Doan as a career comp for Marleau

This was the case for literally one season, 2003-04. Before that, he was being dragged around by Damphousse/Nolan/Friesen.

 

[Giotrapani91]

I think it’ll be Thornton, & Keith first ballot, marleau & tkachuk. Roenick just got in so you gotta induct Keith tkachuk at some point, on the female side I have Cassie Campbell pascall & Meghan Duggan making it, if Duggan is eligible if not than I have Jen Botterill. Builder Wise I have Rick comley or Jack Parker going in.

This was the case for literally one season, 2003-04. Before that, he was being dragged around by Damphousse/Nolan/Friesen.

He played more with Nolan & Vinny damphousse, who damphousse I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing inducted down the road. 1205 points that’s a great career.

 

[Ivo]

Thornton, Keith, Chara, Price. Pretty clear choice and the strongest first ballot eligibles in a long time.

 

[Giotrapani91]

Thornton, Keith, Chara, Price. Pretty clear choice and the strongest first ballot eligibles in a long time.

I Have to agree to disagree price & Chara will make it just not this class Chara will go in the 2026 class cuz his buddy bergy will be going in first ballot, this next year I have Jumbo Joe, Duncan Keith, Patrick Marleau & either Keith Tkachuk or Rod brindamour

 

[MadLuke]

They could put again a goaltender (cujo ?), Zetterberg, Bondra, Brind'Amour, Elias could come take a spot of a Marleau-Getzalf.

They did not go for Zetterberg-Datsyuk at the same time when it would have been really easy (they can put 4 player if they want and Roenick-Weber could have waited), so I am not sure how strong they want to go with duo, if it is not Sedins level or Kariya-Selanne.

 

[Crosby2010]

Thornton, Price, Chara, Keith. Wow, what a class. Yeah that's pretty epic. I think you can envision all 4 of these guys in there. The HHOF does some strange things though. Hawerchuk was left out in 2000. Took them a year extra to put him in for whatever unreal reason. Hawerchuk fits right in with that list of inductees, so I am just saying that sometimes great names get left off the first chance they get. Getzlaf as someone said is also eligible. Hard to say for sure that he should unseat any of them, but he definitely deserves to get in there. Getzlaf's regular seasons are okay, as are his career numbers, but they aren't the bread and butter that will get him in. It will be his playoff resume and Team Canada accomplishments.

 

[Ivo]

I Have to agree to disagree price & Chara will make it just not this class Chara will go in the 2026 class cuz his buddy bergy will be going in first ballot, this next year I have Jumbo Joe, Duncan Keith, Patrick Marleau & either Keith Tkachuk or Rod brindamour

Is that your wish or do you actually expect that to happen? Tkachuk and Brindamour have been waiting for many years, why would the commitee make a no-brainer like Chara wait a year to put one of them in? And Marleau is not even a HoF calibre player, his only real argument is the games played record, which Chara is a holder of for Dmen on top of a stellar career.

Chara:
Stanley Cup as a captain of an original 6 team
Norris trophy
3x first team all star
4x second team all star

Marleau:
-

 

[The Panther]

Marleau would be the worst player in a long time to get in.

Zetterberg was better than Alfredsson, the Sedins and Sundin. In my opinion among Swedish forwards. Sadly for him he didn't play for a Canadian market. I'm not saying those 4 guys don't deserve to be in, but if they're in I don't see how Zetterberg can be left out.

I think Zetterbeg and Alfredsson are very close. They each had about the same number of elite / near-elite seasons. Both led the playoffs in scoring, both made teammates better. My take would probably be that Zetterberg, as his best, was slightly better than Alfredsson, but that Alfredsson carried a bit more weight, for longer, as the best guy on his team. I'd call it a tie.

Hm, the Sedins. I mean, I don't really like the Sedins, but each of them won either the Hart trophy or the Pearson, something Zetterberg never came remotely close to doing. It's a bit like another thread where someone was arguing for Dave Taylor over Markus Naslund, with my point being that Naslund was considered the best player in the NHL by his peers one season, while Taylor was never top 10. Zetterberg's advantage over each Sedin is in the playoffs, but does that overcome a Hart and a Pearson? Anyway, again I'd probably call this one about even, but I have a feeling I'm flattering Zetterberg a bit.

As to Sundin, I'd take him over Zetterberg. You're getting way more near-elite and consistent seasons from Sundin, and being the top-dog for Toronto for that long is incredibly hard. Sundin had literally twice as many point-per-game-ish seasons in the NHL than Zetterberg, and his international hockey resume is superb.

Your "sadly he didn't play for a Canadian market" comment is pretty silly. In hockey terms, Detroit basically is Canada. Half the fans are Canadians, the city is on the Canadian border, and the franchise has a long history of Canadian players going back 100 years. The power-strucutre of Canadian hockey -- i.e., SW-Ontario -- has far more exposure to the Red Wings than it does to Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, or Vancouver.

Do you really think Alfredsson being the face of a Canadian franchise(even if it's the smallest or 2nd smallest) didn't give him an advantage with getting into the HHOF so easily?

No. If anything, his playing for Ottawa made it harder for him to get in than it should have. Alfredsson is viewed as an enemy by "Leafs' Nation".

...I am just saying that sometimes great names get left off the first chance they get. Getzlaf as someone said is also eligible. Hard to say for sure that he should unseat any of them, but he definitely deserves to get in there. Getzlaf's regular seasons are okay, as are his career numbers, but they aren't the bread and butter that will get him in. It will be his playoff resume and Team Canada accomplishments.

I think Getzlaf actually might have been better than Zetterberg, and his playoffs were excellent. If Zetterberg gets in, Getzlaff needs to get in, too. I'd be fine it both had to wait until 2026, if maybe that class is a little less competitive than this year's.

 

[Crosby2010]

I think Getzlaf actually might have been better than Zetterberg, and his playoffs were excellent. If Zetterberg gets in, Getzlaff needs to get in, too. I'd be fine it both had to wait until 2026, if maybe that class is a little less competitive than this year's.

Zetterberg does have those postseason runs that Datsyuk doesn't quite have. But I think it is easy to see that the better player overall and better career went to Datsyuk. I see that on these boards and I think the HHOF committee will rightly see that. Is Zetterberg good enough - in their eyes - to get in? I think he is a guy that might get lost in the shuffle if he doesn't get inducted soon. He might get Rick Middletoned. He will be a lower case HHOFer, right near the bottom, but I'm okay with him in there. Outplayed Crosby in the 2008 finals and still did well in the 2009 finals. Two excellent back to back runs. Deserving of the Smythe in 2008 and it is a severely underrated playoff run in my opinion. Just textbook hockey. Heck, he even had a fight in 2009 vs. Malkin. With all that being said, he is a guy where those back to back playoff runs are the thing that propels him in there I think. He really relies on those a lot.

Getzlaf that isn't the case. Getzlaf was consistently an elite player for longer. Doesn't have Zetterberg's 2008 or 2009 playoff runs, but he has a better body of work in the playoffs overall. Getzlaf is a guy like Zetterberg where you can say ho-hum about his regular seasons but his bread and butter is the postseason. He'll wait after 2025 I think. I honestly can't see him overtaking any of those guys who are eligible in 2025.

 

[Neutrinos]

Price's career year in '15 (66 games) in which he lead the league in the following goalie stats...
78 GA%, 36.7 GSAA, 16.2 GPS

Joseph's career year in '93 (68) in which he lead the league in the following goalie stats...
77 GA%, 57.4 GSAA, 16.2 GPS

Price was voted a 1st Team All-Star, won the Hart, Pearson, and the Vezina

Joseph was a 4th Team All-Star, received 0 votes for the Hart, and finished a distant 3rd in Vezina voting


Peak + Prime + Playoffs = Joseph has a noticeably stronger case for induction than Price

 

[centipede2233]

I don’t think price should get in, but the media hyped him as the best goalie in the world for a long time when he really wasn’t. I think the hype train will take him into the hall, even though I’d disagree with the induction

 

[Michael Farkas]

Beyond the generally unfortunate media...the players, management, scouts, goalie coaches throughout the league past and present, etc. all think he's one of the best.

At what point do folks that don't know goaltending trade in "hype" and other guesswork for...anything else...?

 

[carjackmalone]

Theo Fluery should be co inducted with Price as a testament of players who achieved greatness despite obstacles put in their path

 

[iamjs]

I'm tired to explain it. Because I have a big arguement back then. Marleau was big in international tournament and all you guys said are "Canada are stacked" bs and thinks Sharks only compete when Thornton came (when you guys forgot that they were in WCF in 02 and 04 where Marleau is apart of core guys).

Whilst Chara was literally a bust until later few years in Senators. He is HOF but waiting one year is no biggie for him (same as Marleau).

There is not a single scenario that I can think of where Marleau should get in.

Going off of his stats, this is what I'm seeing:
Top 10 finishes in goals: 2x (2009, 4th; 2010, 6th).
Top 10 finishes in assists: zero
Top 10 finishes in points: zero

First or second team All-Star: zero. If you really want to reach, I'll even try to add on the three times that he was voted to the All-Star Game (which honestly doesn't mean much when doing HHOF voting.)

Career points: 53rd, right in line with Bernie Nicholls, Vinnie Damphousse, Rod Brind'amour. Everybody above Nicholls (50th all-time) is in the HHOF or is ineligible due to being an active player. Now of those players, look at the points per game:
Nicholls: 1.07 ppg over 1127 GP
Damphousse: .87 ppg over 1378 GP
Marleau: .67 ppg over 1779 GP
Brind'amour: .8 ppg over 1484 GP

Awards: Lady Byng finalist 2x (2005-06, 3rd; 2013-14, 3rd). That's it. That's the list.

Games played? 1779. Congrats on being durable. Him and Phil Kessel can stand outside of the hall, discussing their games played records and being chosen to the ASG three times. Actually I'd put Phil in over Marleau, but that's for another thread. That's not saying I think Kessel should be in the Hall. It's more of "if you had to put one of these players in, which one would it be and why?"

But what about being 25th all-time in goals? You're going to climb up the all-time charts when you play almost 1800 games. Out of all of the members of the 500 Goal Club, Marleau has the lowest goals per game at .32 gpg. The literal definition of compiler.

If the HHOF decides they want to expand and want to do a HOVG down the hall from the Hall, then I would absolutely induct Marleau. He was a very good player for a long time. But otherwise, he's on the outside looking in. Being in the goal scoring top 10 twice, having no awards, and being a Byng finalist just isn't enough.

 

[wetcoast]

Zetterberg is a tough one going by the bullet points. On the face he's a 2 way Smythe winner who had less than 400 goals and 1000 points.

He's going to struggle with the committee because I'm guessing they view him as very good all around but never great or among the best at anything.

Maybe this but my first thought was that one thing here isn't like the others.

Joe Thornton
Carey Price
Duncan Keith
Zdeno Chara

Then my second thought was maybe Getzlaf and or Zetterberg were more worthy of HHOF than Price but I think Price goes in first his story or narrative just seems more HHOF for 2025 even if the guys making the selections are somewhat relics of a past time for the most part.

Then I looked up the members of the selection committee and I think Price is getting in but I still wonder if the other 2 guys have a better case?

HHOF | Selection Committee

Featuring the by-laws and complete list of current and former members of the Selection Committee.

www.hhof.com

 

[wetcoast]

Beyond the generally unfortunate media...the players, management, scouts, goalie coaches throughout the league past and present, etc. all think he's one of the best.

At what point do folks that don't know goaltending trade in "hype" and other guesswork for...anything else...?

True enough but the same thing kind of applies to Scott Niedermeyer in a slightly different way and the consensus around here is vastly different with scott.

I think Price gets in but looking at his body of work, it doesn't really scream HHOFer does it?

I say this as one who admittedly doesn't know enough about goalies and even if I did it would be harder to separate individual greatness in a goalie compared to say a forward or even a Dman.

I also don't think that the experts mentioned above are that much better at it as seen by how goalies are valued in the entry draft.

There seems to be a lot of narrative after everything is done to promote goalies IMO except for the truly exceptional and rare ones.

 

[GMR]

Zetterberg does have those postseason runs that Datsyuk doesn't quite have. But I think it is easy to see that the better player overall and better career went to Datsyuk. I see that on these boards and I think the HHOF committee will rightly see that. Is Zetterberg good enough - in their eyes - to get in? I think he is a guy that might get lost in the shuffle if he doesn't get inducted soon. He might get Rick Middletoned. He will be a lower case HHOFer, right near the bottom, but I'm okay with him in there. Outplayed Crosby in the 2008 finals and still did well in the 2009 finals. Two excellent back to back runs. Deserving of the Smythe in 2008 and it is a severely underrated playoff run in my opinion. Just textbook hockey. Heck, he even had a fight in 2009 vs. Malkin. With all that being said, he is a guy where those back to back playoff runs are the thing that propels him in there I think. He really relies on those a lot.

Getzlaf that isn't the case. Getzlaf was consistently an elite player for longer. Doesn't have Zetterberg's 2008 or 2009 playoff runs, but he has a better body of work in the playoffs overall. Getzlaf is a guy like Zetterberg where you can say ho-hum about his regular seasons but his bread and butter is the postseason. He'll wait after 2025 I think. I honestly can't see him overtaking any of those guys who are eligible in 2025.

Getzlaf didn’t have Zetterberg’s defensive game. Not saying he was bad defensively (he was good actually) but not on the same level. He was a better playmaker and a more physical presence though. Zetterberg was a better goal scorer and two-way player.

 

[GMR]

I think Zetterbeg and Alfredsson are very close. They each had about the same number of elite / near-elite seasons. Both led the playoffs in scoring, both made teammates better. My take would probably be that Zetterberg, as his best, was slightly better than Alfredsson, but that Alfredsson carried a bit more weight, for longer, as the best guy on his team. I'd call it a tie.

Hm, the Sedins. I mean, I don't really like the Sedins, but each of them won either the Hart trophy or the Pearson, something Zetterberg never came remotely close to doing. It's a bit like another thread where someone was arguing for Dave Taylor over Markus Naslund, with my point being that Naslund was considered the best player in the NHL by his peers one season, while Taylor was never top 10. Zetterberg's advantage over each Sedin is in the playoffs, but does that overcome a Hart and a Pearson? Anyway, again I'd probably call this one about even, but I have a feeling I'm flattering Zetterberg a bit.

As to Sundin, I'd take him over Zetterberg. You're getting way more near-elite and consistent seasons from Sundin, and being the top-dog for Toronto for that long is incredibly hard. Sundin had literally twice as many point-per-game-ish seasons in the NHL than Zetterberg, and his international hockey resume is superb.

Your "sadly he didn't play for a Canadian market" comment is pretty silly. In hockey terms, Detroit basically is Canada. Half the fans are Canadians, the city is on the Canadian border, and the franchise has a long history of Canadian players going back 100 years. The power-strucutre of Canadian hockey -- i.e., SW-Ontario -- has far more exposure to the Red Wings than it does to Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, or Vancouver.

No. If anything, his playing for Ottawa made it harder for him to get in than it should have. Alfredsson is viewed as an enemy by "Leafs' Nation".

I think Getzlaf actually might have been better than Zetterberg, and his playoffs were excellent. If Zetterberg gets in, Getzlaff needs to get in, too. I'd be fine it both had to wait until 2026, if maybe that class is a little less competitive than this year's.

Zetterberg was a better player than either Sedin. They had some regular season hardware but disappointed in the playoffs when counted on. Also, is their career PPG that great if you’re putting them ahead of Zetterberg based on regular season?

Ask yourself this question. If either Henrik or Daniel didn’t have a twin, and otherwise put up the exact same resume, does either player get inducted before Zetterberg? I say clearly no. They were inducted before Zetterberg because it made for a good story and TV induction show.

 

[carjackmalone]

Most of the HHOF talk is for forwards but here’s my list of Goslies who IMHO might be Hall Worthy

Andy Moog
Pete Peeters
Bill Ranford
Cujo
Ryan Miller
Kipper
Nabokov
Khabibulin
R.Crozier


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