It’s that time of year again, The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto is celebrating this year’s class of inductees. The newest honored members are Colin Campbell (Builder), David Poile (Builder), Natalie Darwitz (Women’s hockey player), Krissy Wendell-Pohl (Women’s hockey player), Pavel Datsyuk (Player), Jeremy Roenick (Player) and Shea Weber (Player). 

This year’s seven-person class is one shy of the maximum limit of inductees, which is no small feat considering how difficult it is to gain induction into the hallowed hall. But regardless of class size, this is an occasion to celebrate. We’re just going to do so a little differently. Instead of rehashing what made these seven individuals so special and instead of wondering which retired players might gain entrance next, we’re going to take out our crystal ball and try to predict which active players with less than 10 years of service time will one day go into The Hall. And just so we don’t break any Hall of Fame rules, we will limit our hypothetical future class to just the four male players category. 

To reiterate, in order for a player to be eligible for our little exercise the player must currently be active in The NHL and have less than 10 years of service time. To remove any gray areas, if the 2024-25 season is the player’s tenth year, then he will not be considered for our predictions. 

Now on to the fun.

First up, Cale Makar. Colorado’s dynamo defenseman is just 26-years-old and yet he’s already playing in his sixth full NHL season. During that short timespan, Makar has already set himself up for future Hall of Fame induction. 

Let’s go through the checklist. He’s a one-time Stanley Cup champ. During that 2021-22 Cup run, he also took home Conn Smythe honors as playoff MVP. Makar won the Calder Trophy in 2019-20 as The League’s Rookie of The Year. Plus, he won the Norris Trophy as The League’s best defenseman in 2021-22. 

Through his first 330 career games, he has 360 points and according to Hockey Reference’s Similarity Scores, he compares most favorably with players such as Denis Potvin, Eddie Shore, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey and Brad Park. Do you know what those players all have in common? They’re all in The Hall of Fame. And as long as Makar stays healthy, he’s likely to join them once his career ends. 

Next up is probably the most obvious selection we can make given the parameters we must abide by. And that player is Auston Matthews. 

In Matthews’ first nine seasons, he has proven himself to be the preeminent goal scorer of his generation. Three times he’s led The League in goals. He has one Hart Trophy to his name and also won The Calder Trophy as a rookie in 2016-17.

Sure, Matthews hasn’t won a Cup yet and he hasn’t even gotten close, but that’s not going to get in his way of eventually going into The Hall of Fame. Twice he’s scored over 60 goals in a season, which puts him in rare territory. Not even Alex Ovechkin, who is rapidly closing in on Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record, has managed to score 60-plus goals in a season twice. (Ovechkin only did it once). 

And speaking of Ovechkin, Matthews’ goalscoring rates compare very well with The Great Eight’s. If the Toronto superstar can stay healthy he might one day find himself chasing down Ovechkin’s career goal mark. 

Save some space for a Matthews’ plaque in The Hall, he’ll be going in sometime around 2040. 

Our third selection is not as much of a lock, but we’re fairly confident he’ll get into The Hall one day, even if it’s not on the first ballot. And that is Adam Fox. 

Much like Cale Makar, Fox is one of the elite offensive defensemen of this current era. Fox won the Norris Trophy in 2020-21 and has finished in the Top-5 of voting for the award each year since. The Jericho, New York, native is consistently one of the top point-scoring defensemen year-in-and-year-out and is plenty good in his own zone as well. 

Fox doesn’t yet have a Cup to his name, but he has been close on a couple of occasions and looks to be firmly in the hunt again this year. And just like Makar, Hockey Reference’s Similarity Scores compares him favorably with Potvin, Shore, Bourque and Coffey. 

If he wins another Norris or two in the coming years he’ll write his ticket into The Hall.

Lastly, our fourth and final selection is an outside-the-box one in Kyle Connor. Winnipeg’s Silent Assassin is one of the most consistent and underrated goalscorers of the last eight years. The 27-year-old averages 38 goals per year for his career and as of the writing of this column, has 252 career goals. That’s in 546 games. He is on pace to finish his career with about 500 goals. 

IF he gets to 500 career goals, Connor should get into The Hall; probably not on the first try, but eventually. There are currently 48 players in the history of The NHL who have scored 500 or more goals. Of those 48, 39 are already in The Hall. Of the nine who are not yet in The Hall, five of them are guaranteed to go in once their careers end. Those names are Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Jaromir Jagr and Evgeni Malkin. Peter Bondra, Pat Verbeek, Keith Tkachuk and Patrick Marleau are the only ones not in The Hall and Marleau may very well still get there.

So, by that logic, Kyle Connor should get in if he gets to 500 goals and if he stays on his current goal-scoring pace, he should indeed get to that plateau. 

Okay, those are our four selections: Cale Makar, Auston Matthews, Adam Fox and Kyle Connor. Sounds like a very intriguing Hall of Fame class. What are your thoughts? And Happy Hall of Fame Induction Weekend!