I'll have a go at it.
Retired.
- Mackinnon, Rantanen, Makar: They retired Bourque's number after one season and winning the cup, enough said.
- Kucherov, Vasilevsky: one is the best player in franchise history, and the other was considered the best goalie for half a decade.
- Marc Edouard Vlasic: had to think about this one, but what changed my mind is, did anyone think Marleau was more valuable than MEV during San Jose's Prime? I don't think so. He holds franchise records (presumably most of them) for the defenseman position and is 3rd in GP in team history.
- Leon Draisaitl: one of the best players in the league, wouldn't be too much younger than when Messier and Kurri left the team.
-Aleksander Barkov: holds the most important franchise records, one of the best two way forwards in the league, arguably best player in their cup run
- Brad Marchand: despite the storied history, I think he's done and stayed long enough. Elite player for a couple seasons, and most infamous player of his era certainly helps.
-John Carlson: best defense in franchise history, also the longest tenured one, holds a bunch of positional records
- Connor Helleybuyck: Best player in franchise history, and also considered one of the best goalies of his era
- Auston Matthews.
He already has more hardware than most Maple leafs players despite a pretty short career. Doug Gilmour has a shorter career as a lead and he's in.
-Roman Josi: 2nd most games played, top 3 player in team history.
Maybe?
-Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn: Normally I would say yes, but Dallas is surprisingly stingy and it took ages for Lethinen and Zubov to get in despite being elite players and a huge part of those cup runs. Seguin and Benn fell off early as elite players and more importantly, haven't won anything.
- David Pastrnak:
Neely's induction makes me think he could also get in. They are a similar caliber of player and Pastrnak has more games. But I dunno, I feel like Neely was more loved by the Bruins than Pastrnak is now (not that pasta isn't ofc, but I get the impression it was another level with Neely back then) Bruins fans feel free to correct me.