Predicting every NHL team’s future Hall of Famers
Boston Bruins – Zdeno Chara
Zdeno Chara will go into the Hall of Fame three years after he retires. He’s indisputably one of the greatest defensemen of the salary cap era. Chara has a Norris Trophy on his resume, even if Mike Green should have won it (sorry, I’m a bitter Capitals fan!). In addition to that Norris, he has five other top-three finishes.
Chara’s been the captain of one of the most storied franchises in NHL history for over a decade. He’s also one heck of an ambassador for hockey and a tough son of a gun. All of this leads to one possible outcome – Chara’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Boston Bruins – Patrice Bergeron
All you have to do to make a HOF case for Patrice Bergeron is look at how many Selke Trophies he has. Four, which is tied for the most of all-time with Bob Gainey. Now, compare the careers of Bergeron and Gainey. Good luck convincing anyone Gainey was a better player.
Also, consider that Bergeron should have probably won more Selkes, as he has been at least a finalist in each of the past eight seasons (most likely nine after this one). Thank goodness the advanced stats era came during his career because otherwise, people might not have realized just how great he is.
Honorable mentions: Oh boy, I can’t wait for the Brad Marchand discussion. He’s an interesting case. Yes, Marchand’s a bit of a jerk, but he’s a late bloomer and he’s showing no signs of slowing down. He has a bit of a way to go to be a Hall of Famer, but I wouldn’t bet against the little ball of hate.
Tuukka Rask is going to have a really strong case too. He’s got most of the franchise records for the Bruins. The lone blemish on his resume is zero Stanley Cups as a starter. I’m willing to ignore the same blemish for Henrik Lundqvist, so it would be unfair for me to say it disqualifies Rask from the Hall of Fame.
David Pastrnak is off to a strong start to his career, but he’s going to have to separate himself from Bergeron and Marchand. Being the third-best forward on your team isn’t a good HOF case, even if the two forwards better than you are Hall of Famers.