Greg Wyshynski
The Hockey Hall of Fame announced its eight-member Class of 2025, which includes first-year eligible players Zdeno Chara, Joe Thornton, Duncan Keith, and the end of a lengthy wait for former NHL star Alexander Mogilny.
The Hall of Fame announced that those four will be joined by gold medal-winning women’s players Jennifer Botterill of Canada and Brianna Decker of the U.S. The Hall will induct two Builders as well in former Boston University coach Jack Parker and Daniele Sauvageau, currently the general manager for the Montreal Victoire of the Professional Women’s Hockey League. She’s the first woman ever to be inducted by the Hockey Hall of Fame as a Builder.
The 18-member Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee is comprised of former men’s and women’s players, team executives and selected long-time journalists. They selected the maximum number of entrants among men (4), women (2) and builders (2). Players must be inactive for three full seasons.
Chara was one of the most unique defensemen in hockey history. He was listed at 6-foot-9, reaching 7-feet tall on skates, and was the tallest player in NHL history. He played for the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins and briefly with the Washington Capitals during his 24-year NHL career. Chara is the all-time leader in games played by a defenseman with 1,680, scoring 680 points during that span.
Chara captained the Bruins from 2006-20, leading them to the Stanley Cup championship in 2011 and two additional appearances in the Final in 2013 and 2019. He was a force in his own zone, with a considerable wingspan and physicality. Chara won the Norris Trophy with Boston as the NHL’s best defenseman in 2008-09 and was a six-time finalist for the award.
He was famous for having one of the most powerful slap shots in NHL history, winning the Hardest Shot competition at the All-Star Game in five straight seasons — including an NHL record 108.8 mph in 2012.
Internationally, the Slovakian defenseman won silver twice at the IIHF world championships (2000 and 2012) and also won silver with Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
“Across his exceptional 24-year career, Zdeno put forth an unparalleled combination of size, strength, and ability each time he took the ice. He kept opponents on notice with his commanding physicality and set the tone for his teammates with a stout defensive acumen, all while having the power at any given time to unleash one of the hardest shots ever recorded,” said Boston Bruins president Cam Neely, himself a Hall of Famer.
“His legendary leadership qualities were also continually on display, particularly when it came to his renowned off-ice conditioning which set a standard for all our players to follow,” Neely said. “To put it simply, Zdeno’s skill set stands among the most unique in the century-plus history of the National Hockey League, making him enormously worthy of enshrinement into the Hockey Hall of Fame where he will be remembered forever as one of the very best to play our sport.”
Thornton was a dominant offensive player during his 24-year NHL career. He’s 14th all-time in points (1,539), one of 16 NHL players to cross the 1,500-point mark. The man they called “Jumbo” was one of the best passers in NHL history with 1,109 assists, seventh all-time and fifth among forwards. His 1,714 regular-season games played are sixth all-time. Thornton won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s scoring leader in 2005-06, the same season he won the Hart Trophy for league MVP.
Thornton spent 15 seasons with the San Jose Sharks, with whom he made his only appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in 2016. He spent his first eight seasons with the Boston Bruins, who drafted him first overall in 1997. Thornton spent his last two seasons playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers. Thornton won Olympic gold in 2010 for Canada and win World Cup of Hockey gold in 2004 and 2016. He also won a gold medal for Canada at the 1997 world junior championships.
Keith was a foundational player for the Chicago Blackhawks’ dynastic era, in which they won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Keith had 91 points in 151 playoff games — the second-most points of any defenseman in the postseason during his 17-season carer — averaging 27:07 in ice time. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2015.
Keith won the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in 2010 and 2014. He had 646 points in 1,256 regular-season games, the fourth-most points and second-most games played among defensemen during his career. He won Olympic gold twice for Canada in 2010 and 2014.
While that trio got the call in their first year of eligibility, Mogilny will finally be inducted after 17 years of waiting. His absence from the Hall, despite his place in hockey history, was a point of outrage for many fans and media over the last several years.
He’s a Triple Gold Club member, having won the Stanley Cup in 2000 with the New Jersey Devils, 1988 Olympic gold and the 1989 IIHF World Championship with the Soviet Union. It was after those world championships in Sweden that Mogilny became the first Soviet player to defect to North America in 1989, making him one of the most important names in the history of hockey.
Mogilny is 35th among inactive NHL players in points-per-game average (1.042), and nearly everyone ahead of him on that list is in the Hall of Fame. He’s 59th all-time in goals scored (473) and 58th in adjusted goals (480), which ties him with Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur. He’s 38th all-time in goals-per-game average (0.478). All of that was achieved while he played the majority of his games in the defensive trap era, where he still managed to thrive as an offensive superstar.
Botterill was in her 11th year of eligibility. The forward helped Team Canada win Olympic gold in 2002, 2006 and 2010 and five IIHF World Championships, capturing MVP in that tournament twice. But it was her dominance in the NCAA that sets her apart. Playing with Harvard, she amassed 319 points in 113 games, scoring at least a point in all but one of her college games. She was the first player to win the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award twice. Botterill also had 155 points in 78 Canadian Women’s Hockey League games.
Decker, a forward, was a member of six gold-medal winning teams at the IIHF world championships for the U.S. She won Olympic gold in 2018 for Team USA. Decker won the 2012 Patty Kazmaier Award while playing for the University of Wisconsin. She also played in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and the National Women’s Hockey League, winning league MVP and Isobel Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player in 2016 with Boston.
Parker coached the Terriers for 40 seasons, winning three national championships, six Hockey East tournaments and three coach of the year awards. He holds the record for most NCAA hockey wins at one school (897) and most Frozen Four appearances (13), among others.
Sauvageau was a standard-bearer for women’s coaches in Canada. She led the Canadian women to their first Olympic gold in 2002. In 1999-2000, she became an assistant coach for the Montreal Rocket of the QMJHL, the first woman to coach in that Canadian junior league.
Among the players still waiting for their Hall of Fame call are first-time eligible NHL stars like goaltender Carey Price and center Ryan Getzlaf, as well as holdovers like current Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour, former Detroit Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg, former San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau, New Jersey Devils wingers Patrik Elias and Ilya Kovalchuk, and Team USA legends Julie Chu and Meghan Duggan.
First-year eligible players in 2026 include former Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron, considered the best defensive center in NHL history, and Phil Kessel, a three-time Stanley Cup champion with Pittsburgh and Vegas.
