Big Phil
Registered User
- Nov 2, 2003
- 31,703
- 4,148
I am going to do a list so far from what we have so far. The more recent years are going to have some projections as well since not everyone's career is done but as it stands right now the team with the most HHOFers is the 1976 Canada Cup team (no surprise) with 18. It may surprise others that Team NHL in the 1979 Challenge Cup has 20 HHOFers although they did have a slightly bigger roster than an average team. Here are the best numbers, the ones I left out from certain years mean there wasn't any chance of them competing. I added the Swedish team in 2006 which might end up with more than you think.
1976 Canadian team - 18 (best chance would be P. Mahovlich or Rick Martin getting in)
1981 Canadian team - 12 (several HHOFers cut, the only members of the team who could add to this would be Middleton or Liut)
1984 Canadian team - 12 (Middleton and Tonelli with the only shots)
1987 Canadian team - 12 (Claude Lemieux has the best chance)
1991 Canadian team - 11 (Fleury, Larmer and Desjardins with the best shot
1996 Canadian team - 11 (Fleury, Joseph, BrindAmour, C. Lemieux could add to it)
1996 U.S. team - 6 (Surprisingly low for the champs, Richter, Leclair, Tkachuk could add to it)
2002 Canadian team - 14 (Fleury, Joseph are the only possibilities)
2006 Swedish team - 4 (H. Sedin, D. Sedin, Zetterberg and Alfredsson all have good shots)
2010 Canadian team - 12 Brodeur, Crosby, Thornton, Doughty, Weber, Toews, Iginla, Pronger, Niedermayer, Getzlaf, Keith, Bergeron (M-A Fleury, Luongo, Perry, Marleau have anywhere from a decent to a longshot to add to it)
2014 Canadian team - 10 Crosby, Toews, Bergeron, Getzlaf, Doughty, Weber, Keith, Price, Tavares, St. Louis (Luongo, Subban, Marleau, Benn, Perry, Pietrangelo)
2016 Canadian team - 12 Crosby Toews, Bergeron, Stamkos, Tavares, Thornton, Getzlaf, Doughty, Weber, Burns, Price, Holtby (Giroux, Marchand, Perry, Pietrangelo)
I don't know if I see it. The best possible on any team that I can see is 16 at best. This is just assuming that Ryan O'Reilly or Matt Duchene don't have HHOF careers either, which isn't happening. Corey Crawford either. So I think if there was any team that had a good shot it was this one. What a team it was in 2016, too bad the NHL made the tournament a mockery that year. I don't know if anyone can eclipse that great 1976 team. Too many star players with most of them right in the middle of their careers. 2002 won't have any more than 16. Ryan Smyth isn't getting inducted or even Adam Foote for that matter. But that is the best I can see from any team. Maybe Canada in 2018 would have had a good selection or if they ever manage to figure out a way for a World Cup in 2020 or the Olympics in 2022 but that is way too hard to tell. Basically you are talking about a future team that has to have all but 5 guys not be future HHOFers. This is very hard to do as there will always be those role-type players to fill in that won't have HHOF careers.
Keep in mind, there is still a nice collection of stars on the 1976 team who aren't in. Here are the names. Chico Resch, Pete Mahovlich, Danny Gare, Rick Martin, Reggie Leach and Jimmy Watson. The first 5 were all playing like HHOFers at the time. Scary.
So can a team surpass this?
1976 Canadian team - 18 (best chance would be P. Mahovlich or Rick Martin getting in)
1981 Canadian team - 12 (several HHOFers cut, the only members of the team who could add to this would be Middleton or Liut)
1984 Canadian team - 12 (Middleton and Tonelli with the only shots)
1987 Canadian team - 12 (Claude Lemieux has the best chance)
1991 Canadian team - 11 (Fleury, Larmer and Desjardins with the best shot
1996 Canadian team - 11 (Fleury, Joseph, BrindAmour, C. Lemieux could add to it)
1996 U.S. team - 6 (Surprisingly low for the champs, Richter, Leclair, Tkachuk could add to it)
2002 Canadian team - 14 (Fleury, Joseph are the only possibilities)
2006 Swedish team - 4 (H. Sedin, D. Sedin, Zetterberg and Alfredsson all have good shots)
2010 Canadian team - 12 Brodeur, Crosby, Thornton, Doughty, Weber, Toews, Iginla, Pronger, Niedermayer, Getzlaf, Keith, Bergeron (M-A Fleury, Luongo, Perry, Marleau have anywhere from a decent to a longshot to add to it)
2014 Canadian team - 10 Crosby, Toews, Bergeron, Getzlaf, Doughty, Weber, Keith, Price, Tavares, St. Louis (Luongo, Subban, Marleau, Benn, Perry, Pietrangelo)
2016 Canadian team - 12 Crosby Toews, Bergeron, Stamkos, Tavares, Thornton, Getzlaf, Doughty, Weber, Burns, Price, Holtby (Giroux, Marchand, Perry, Pietrangelo)
I don't know if I see it. The best possible on any team that I can see is 16 at best. This is just assuming that Ryan O'Reilly or Matt Duchene don't have HHOF careers either, which isn't happening. Corey Crawford either. So I think if there was any team that had a good shot it was this one. What a team it was in 2016, too bad the NHL made the tournament a mockery that year. I don't know if anyone can eclipse that great 1976 team. Too many star players with most of them right in the middle of their careers. 2002 won't have any more than 16. Ryan Smyth isn't getting inducted or even Adam Foote for that matter. But that is the best I can see from any team. Maybe Canada in 2018 would have had a good selection or if they ever manage to figure out a way for a World Cup in 2020 or the Olympics in 2022 but that is way too hard to tell. Basically you are talking about a future team that has to have all but 5 guys not be future HHOFers. This is very hard to do as there will always be those role-type players to fill in that won't have HHOF careers.
Keep in mind, there is still a nice collection of stars on the 1976 team who aren't in. Here are the names. Chico Resch, Pete Mahovlich, Danny Gare, Rick Martin, Reggie Leach and Jimmy Watson. The first 5 were all playing like HHOFers at the time. Scary.
So can a team surpass this?