Which NHLers could make up Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2027?

Every time we welcome a new set of NHLers into the Hockey Hall of Fame, our minds cast forward to contemplate who might make up the next class.

This weekend, the Hall will welcome four new male players — the maximum for any one year — into its shrine. Per usual, the class is a cross-section in terms of waiting for entrance, with Patrice Bergeron getting tabbed in his first year of eligibility, Carey Price in his second, Pekka Rinne his third and Keith Tkachuk finally getting a nod after 13 years on the ballot. 

So who might be the next NHLers to get the call in 2027?

Let’s peek at some candidates using a few different categories, starting with players up for induction for the first time in 2027.

First-time eligible

Joe Pavelski

Less than a year ago, Joe Pavelski was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. Could the big Hall follow suit?

Pavelski had one of those fantastic careers that lacked a true signature moment and he never won a major trophy. Still, he’s a seventh-round success story who was a leading player on really good teams for a long time and — with his incredible ability to tip pucks — almost seemed to get better with age. His most productive season came in his third-to-last year, when he netted 81 points with the Dallas Stars in 2021-22 at 37 years old. The next season he put up 77. 

Nicklas Backstrom

Alex Ovechkin’s running mate for so long, Backstrom was a top-tier playmaker with a good defensive conscience. In five seasons from 2013-14 through 2017-18, nobody had more assists than Backstrom’s 284. The cerebral Swede won the Cup in 2018, and it certainly helps that his status was raised by being in so many big games alongside the greatest goal-scorer in NHL history.

Johnny Gaudreau

Though a sentimental favourite, “Johnny Hockey” would obviously be a long shot to gain entrance. Still, he was a remarkable NCAA player at Boston College and was one of the few players — along with fellow American Patrick Kane — who hammered home the notion that small players could thrive in the modern NHL post-2005 lockout.

Have your phone close by

Rod Brind’Amour (eligible since 2013)

Will the double-whammy of being a Cup-winning player and now coach be enough to get “Rod the Bod” in the Hall?

He was a two-time Selke winner during his career and recorded nearly 1,200 points. He’s a franchise-defining figure in Carolina and perhaps no bench boss in the league has a higher profile.

Ryan Getzlaf (eligible since 2025)

A career (Mighty) Duck, Getzlaf is a two-time Olympic gold medal winner with Canada and won the Cup with Anaheim in 2007 during his second NHL season.

He has the ninth-best points-per-game mark (0.95) of any player who competed in at least 100 playoff games during this century. It feels like another title late in his career — when the Ducks had some killer squads — would have made this a slam dunk.

Strong case

Henrik Zetterberg (eligible since 2021)

A smothering, two-way forward, Zetterberg is the only skater we’ll touch on today who has a Conn Smythe Trophy on his shelf. The Swede — a seventh-round steal by the Red Wings — was the 2008 playoff MVP on a Red Wings team that featured the triple-headed, European monster of Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidström and Pavel Datsyuk. The latter two are in the Hall; will their former teammate join them?

Zetterberg is a member of the exclusive Triple Gold Club, with a Stanley Cup, World Championship and Olympic gold all to his credit.

Eric Staal (eligible since 2026)

Staal recorded 100 points as an NHL sophomore in 2005-06 and finished fourth in MVP voting that season. His Carolina Hurricanes also won the title that year.

Like Zetterberg, Staal is a member of the Triple Gold Club thanks to his international triumphs with Canada. He settled into being more of a really good — rather than truly elite — player, but his resume is pretty darn solid. 

Patrick Marleau (eligible since 2024)

Nobody showed up for work more than Marleau, the NHL’s all-time games-played leader with 1,779. 

Consistency and longevity are two traits hockey people revere, and Marleau, the second-overall pick in 1997, certainly has those covered off.

Like his game itself, Marleau as a Hall candidate might not pop off the page, but he deserves serious consideration. 

Finally his time?

John LeClair (eligible since 2010)

Keith Tkachuk going in this year is an obvious comparable for LeClair, who — like Tkachuk — was a generation-defining, American power forward in the back half of the 1990s. He starred on the Flyers as part of the “Legion of Doom” line with Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg, and played alongside Tkachuk on Team USA when the country won its first best-on-best tournament at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

In the first chapter of his career, LeClair wrote himself into Montreal Canadiens lore by scoring not one, but two overtime winners in the 1993 Cup Final, helping Montreal topple the Los Angeles Kings.

He scored 50 goals in three straight years with the Flyers, from 1995-96 through 1997-98.

Sergei Gonchar (eligible since 2018)

For a five-season period from 1999-2000 through 2003-04 — the absolute apex of the Dead Puck Era — the only defenceman who put up more points than Gonchar’s 295 is Nick Lidstrom (303).

The Russian had a fantastic two-year playoff run as a veteran with the Penguins, recording 14 points in both the 2008 run to the final and the 2009 spring that saw the Penguins win the Cup and Gonchar get his ring. 

He gets obscured by blueliners who garnered more attention, but is worthy of serious consideration. 

Grab a goalie?

Tim Thomas (eligible since 2017)

Thomas got a late start because he didn’t crack the league as a full-timer until he was 31, but he’s a two-time Vezina winner who won the Conn Smythe Trophy while leading Boston to the 2011 title. 

That feels like a high enough high to get you in.

Curtis Joseph (eligible since 2012)

“CuJo” is eighth all-time with 454 wins. He stole playoff series for multiple teams but never punched through to play in a Stanley Cup Final. He finished inside the top five in Vezina voting on five occasions, but never claimed the award.

Ryan Miller (eligible since 2024)

The 2010 Vezina winner was as consistent as they come. From his rookie season in 2005-06 through 2018-19 — Miller’s age-38 campaign — he posted a fantastic .916 save percentage. Only four goalies can claim a better mark during that long span and each one of them — Pekka Rinne, Henrik Lundqvist, Roberto Luongo and Carey Price — landed just a whisker ahead of Miller at .918.

Luongo and Lundqvist are in the Hall; Price and Rinne will follow them on Monday. 

Could Miller get the call, too?