Winners and Snubs From The 2026 Hockey Hall of Fame Announcement
Just when it looked like hockey was done for the summer, it's not.
Trades, signings and coaching changes have kept the NHL-facing world busy since the Carolina Hurricanes closed out their Stanley Cup season eight days ago, and the Hockey Hall of Fame kept the chatter going with its 2026 induction class.
Making the cut this year were players Patrice Bergeron, Cindy Curley, Carey Price, Pekka Rinne, and Keith Tkachuk, and executive Brian Burke as a builder. Each appeared on at least 14 of the 18 ballots (75 percent) to gain entry.
Induction ceremonies are set for November 9 in Toronto.
Of course, for every celebration there's a snub. And we're here for them, too.
B/R's hockey team got together to discuss the inductees and those who weren't called, and compiled a list of winners and losers from announcement day.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments.
Winners: The Tkachuk Family
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It's only Monday, and it's already been a pretty good week at Chez Tkachuk.
The ink is barely dry on a deal that sent little brother Brady from Ottawa to metro Miami to play with big brother Matthew and the two-time Cup champion Panthers.
And now, Dad is a Hall of Famer.
Keith Tkachuk played 18 seasons and became one of the league's prototype power forwards while eclipsing 500 goals and suiting up for five All-Star Games.
He doesn't have the Cup rings or the Olympic gold that his boys have amassed, but winning the race to the Great Hall in Toronto is worth at least some chest-thumping at family gatherings, right?
Winner: Goalies
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Protectors of the blue paint, unite.
Precisely two-fifths of the induction class of players were goaltenders, with ex-MVP Carey Price and former Vezina winner Pekka Rinne getting the call to Toronto.
Both Price and Rinne played their entire NHL careers while calling a single city home—with Price making 700 starts for the Montreal Canadiens and Rinne suiting up for parts of 15 seasons with the Nashville Predators.
The 2014-15 was Price's magnum opus, with the then-27-year-old posting a 1.96 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage across 66 starts while racking up the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goalie and the Hart as its MVP.
Rinne was the league's best three seasons later, going 42-13-4 with a 2.31 goals-against average, .927 save percentage, and career-best eight shutouts.
Stay patient, Curtis Joseph and Chris Osgood fans. There's still hope.
Snubbed: Rod Brind'Amour
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OK, "Rod the Bod" probably won't cry too much.
After all, the veteran of 1,484 NHL games as a player just reached his high watermark as a coach, leading the Hurricanes to the franchise's first Cup raise since 2006—when he'd captained Carolina to a title in his 16th playing year.
But the 452 goals and 1,184 points he produced on the ice weren't enough to be included, though the point total surpasses more than 30 currently enshrined forwards and is fourth-most among players not yet invited to Toronto.
He's rapidly climbing the regard ladder among coaches, though, having finished first in his division four times and made the playoffs eight times in eight seasons, with at least one series win in seven of those eight.
At this rate, he might, in fact, get in as a coach first.
.png?w=256 "Winners and Losers Brady Tkachuk Trade to Panthers")
Snubbed: Patrik Eliáš
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Ask a New Jersey Devils fan about Patrik Eliáš.
He wasn't a routine 50-goal man or 100-point scorer, but he's earned their hearts over 20 seasons of stellar, albeit less celebrated, work.
The Czech-born winger was respected and productive and wound up as the franchise's leader in goals (408), assists (617), and points (1,025).
And while he didn't put up video-game numbers, he did surpass 30 goals three times and peaked at 40, played in four All-Star Games and hoisted the Cup twice.
In fact, the postseason became something of a wheelhouse for him, providing a high-profile stage on which he established career leads for the Devils in playoff goals, assists, and points, alongside most points in a single playoff season, most game-winning goals, and both most overtime goals and assists.
You say "money player," we say Eliáš.
Snubbed: Patrick Marleau
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Remember that thing about big numbers and no Hall call?
No one's got any more reason to beef about it than Patrick Marleau.
The second overall pick in the 1997 draft arrived as a rookie that fall and stayed for better than two decades, ultimately touching parts of 23 seasons with the San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Was he ever the league's best player? No. And those deriding his candidacy will no doubt mention that he never won an individual award or lifted a Cup.
But what he did do was provide consistency, reaching a total of 566 goals, which is the highest in league history for players not enshrined, not to mention a point total of 1,197, which is better than Tkachuk's with the same number of title wins. And he played more games (1,779) than anyone, too.
Go figure.
Snubbed: Bernie Nicholls
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What's the first thing you remember about Bernie Nicholls?
It's OK, you're forgiven if it's that he scored 70 goals playing alongside Wayne Gretzky in the "Great One's" first season in Los Angeles, or that he was the send-back from the New York Rangers to Edmonton when they acquired Mark Messier.
But it turns out that he was a pretty fair player in his own right, too.
In fact, the 1,209 points Nicholls compiled from his rookie season with the Kings in 1981-82 through his swan song in San Jose in 1998-99 were the most ever produced by a player not in the Hall of Fame.
Throw in his three All-Star Game appearances and near point-per-game production in the playoffs—114 points in 118 games—and he's a hard one to ignore.
Snubbed: Theo Fleury
7 of 9It's in the Hall of Fame of goal celebrations.
When Calgary's Theo Fleury picked off a Mark Messier pass and swooped in to score an overtime winner on Edmonton's Grant Fuhr in Game 6 of the Smythe Division semifinals, his adrenaline became iconic.
He skated back toward center ice, dove onto the surface, and skidded into the Flames' zone while rolling and pumping his fists the whole time.
But it hasn't been enough for the real Hall.
Though he averaged better than a point per game across 15 seasons, lifted a Cup and secured an Olympic gold, he's been left outside by a combination of factors, including a surplus of stars in his era, an absence of major individual awards, and some high-profile personal controversies in his post-playing career.
Snubbed: Ryan Getzlaf
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It's two up, two down for Ryan Getzlaf.
The veteran of 1,157 NHL games, all with Anaheim, was not among the four male players included in the Hall's class of 2025 or the five who made it this year.
But he's certainly worthy as it relates to the Ducks, for whom he played 17 seasons after he was plucked 19th overall by the franchise in 2003.
After all, he debuted in the NHL in 2005, reached 20 goals five times and peaked at 31 in 2013-14, and posted 17 points and three game-winning goals along inductees Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selänne in the team's run to a Stanley Cup in 2007.
Olympic golds with Team Canada in 2010 and 2014 don't hurt his candidacy either, and the smart money suggests the NHL franchise's all-time points leader (1,019) will eventually make the grade based on merit.
Snubbed: Eric Staal
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It's been a great week for Carolina Hurricanes players.
But not the ones who used to play in Raleigh.
Eric Staal was a member of the franchise's Cup-winning team in 2006 and played parts of 12 seasons in the jersey—succeeding the also-snubbed Brind'Amour as captain, in fact—before a deadline trade to the New York Rangers in 2016.
He continues to lead the Hartford/Carolina franchise in hat tricks (13) and shots (3,033) and ended his 18-season NHL career with 455 goals and 1,063 points.
For the time being, though, he'll have to take a back seat to little brother Jordan, who earned the Conn Smythe Trophy in the Hurricanes' 2026 title run.
.png?w=480 "Winners and Losers Brady Tkachuk Trade to Panthers")
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