This week is always a weird time on the NHL calendar. The Stanley Cup Final has just ended, and everyone is trying to catch their breath before the offseason truly gets going. The draft, trade rumors and UFA boards are all happening against the backdrop of Cup parties and parades.<\/p>\n
But we\u2019re also just days away from the announcement of this year\u2019s Hockey Hall of Fame class, which comes Monday. That timing always struck me as a bit odd, since what should be a huge announcement ends up being overshadowed by everything else happening. If you\u2019re a history nerd like me, the HHOF is catnip \u2014 perfect for debates and speculation and analysis. But most years, that\u2019s a hard pivot to make after the final has just ended.<\/p>\n
But maybe not this year, because the Venn diagram between \u201cjust crowned the new champions\u201d and \u201cHall of Fame debates\u201d produces an interesting sliver of overlap, in the form of a question: Did the Carolina Hurricanes just win the Stanley Cup without a single future Hall of Famer on the roster?<\/p>\n
I think they might have. And if so, that\u2019s an incredibly rare feat. In fact, it\u2019s so rare that it leads to a bigger question: Among teams without any future HHOFers, could the Hurricanes be the best team ever?<\/p>\n
These Canes were built different<\/p>\n
Shayna Goldman and Max Bultman<\/p>\n
Who holds the current crown for best team without a HHOF player?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s surprisingly difficult to find a truly great team without any Hall of Famers. I tried a few years ago, and the list of candidates was slim<\/a>. Remember, we\u2019re not saying the team has to be built around HHOFers, or even that they have to play key roles. We just want at least one on the roster. Plenty of teams have had just one, often a veteran near the end of their career playing a leadership role. But none? That\u2019s rare.<\/p>\n When I dove in a few years ago, two teams emerged as my best candidates: the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues and the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres. The Blues, of course, won the Stanley Cup that year after sitting dead last in the league in January and finishing with 99 points. The Sabres were a 113-point powerhouse that won the Presidents\u2019 Trophy before falling in the conference final.<\/p>\n Both solid options, and both without a single Hall of Famer \u2026 yet.<\/p>\n That Sabres team had Ryan Miller in goal, and while he\u2019s been eligible for a few years without getting the call, he has a strong case. It wouldn\u2019t be a shock to see him there someday, maybe as early as Monday. And if that happens, the Sabres are out. As for the Blues, while there\u2019s still time for someone such as Robert Thomas or even Jordan Binnington to make a push, it seems like the main spoiler candidate is Alex Pietrangelo. He\u2019s a three-time second-team All-Star and a two-time Cup winner facing an uncertain future. Has he done enough to earn consideration? Probably, but that may not be enough to get him over the finish line.<\/p>\n That\u2019s really the whole list as far as truly elite teams. The 2023 Golden Knights are the only other Cup winner without a player who\u2019s either already in the Hall or a slam dunk, according to HHOF maven Paul Pidutti of Adjusted Hockey<\/a>. If Pietrangelo gets in, he\u2019ll take both the Blues and Knights off the list. Jack Eichel is probably on pace to get there, too, and the Knights also had Jonathan Quick as their backup.<\/p>\n Add it all up, and the Hurricanes might have this wrapped up. With all due respect to the Blues and Sabres, this year\u2019s Hurricanes were better than both. They tied the Sabres with 113 points, but they actually won the Cup. And they did it in dominant fashion, going 16-3 over one of the best postseason runs of all time. I\u2019m sure there are some fans in Buffalo or St. Louis who might want to nitpick at Carolina\u2019s credentials, but it\u2019s a tough case to make after what we just watched.<\/p>\n So sure, I think the Hurricanes are the easy winner here. But that\u2019s if and only if they actually don\u2019t have any Hall of Famers.<\/p>\n Do they? The short answer, of course, is that we don\u2019t know yet. But HHOF season is the time for speculation, debate, and projection. So let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n The case for a Hurricane in the Hall of Fame<\/p>\n Like pretty much every other successful team, the Hurricanes are mostly made up of good players who won\u2019t come close to the Hall of Fame. That\u2019s fine \u2014 the Hall is meant for the best of the best, and unless you\u2019re the 2002 Red Wings or late-\u201970s Habs, the vast majority of your roster isn\u2019t in that conversation. The Hurricanes are no exception.<\/p>\n But they do have a handful of candidates, and they fall into three categories.<\/p>\n The old guys<\/p>\n For our purposes, this is the most interesting group because their Hall of Fame cases are mostly finished products. We don\u2019t need to do a ton of speculation here; we just have to look at the resumes and see if any of them are Hall-worthy.<\/p>\n Three names stand out here.<\/p>\n Frederik Andersen: Great guy. Great story. Not a Hall of Famer. If he\u2019d stayed hot (and healthy) through the final and won the Conn Smythe, maybe that at least cracks the door open. But after he had to yield the net to Brandon Bussi, it\u2019s not happening unless he goes full Jacques Plante well into his 40s.<\/p>\n Jordan Staal: The Conn Smythe at least makes it interesting. The compelling narrative is certainly there \u2014 the second overall pick who wins an early Cup as a kid in Pittsburgh, then waits 17 long years to get another, this time as the grizzled captain. He has a ton of Selke votes to point to. But that\u2019s about it as far as the honors go, and he\u2019s 20 years into his career without hitting the 800-point mark. The weird Guy Carbonneau induction means pretty much every defensive center can make a Hall case, but Staal\u2019s isn\u2019t a strong one.<\/p>\n Taylor Hall: This might be the most interesting name on the list. Hall has a Hart Trophy, and the list of players to win that and not make the Hall is extremely short. But so far, that was the only year among his 16 seasons that he so much as got an MVP vote, and he\u2019s been well into the veteran journeyman stage of his career for a while now. It was extremely cool to see him emerge as a crucial piece for this year\u2019s Hurricanes run, and if he\u2019d won the Conn Smythe, it would have made the debate at least mildly spicy. As it stands, though, he looks like an offensive player who won\u2019t come close to cracking 1,000 points. I don\u2019t see him getting in.<\/p>\n OK, so the veterans don\u2019t offer a ton of HHOF hope. What about the younger stars?<\/p>\n The guys in their prime<\/p>\n These are the players who are already well-established NHL stars, but still have enough runway that their careers could go in a variety of directions.<\/p>\n Judging the Hall chances of a player in their late 20s can be tricky; it\u2019s not rare for a star at this age to look like a slam dunk, then turn out not to be<\/a>. That said, I\u2019m not sure any of Carolina\u2019s top names even fall into that category. Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n