The Hockey Hall of Fame is set to announce its 2024 membership on Tuesday, meaning it's that time again for the annual call to induct Sergei Gonchar.
It's about time. No, it's already time. The Hockey Hall of Fame needs to induct Sergei Gonchar quickly https://t.co/X4gCDRCD9g
— Pensburgh (@Pensburgh) June 19, 2023
I could repeat it all, but for the sake of brevity I will stop here: Gonchar enjoyed a long career and finished 18th on the all-time scoring list among NHL defencemen, despite spending the majority of his career in the dead-puck era.
It's a crowded field to consider — Pavel Datsyuk, Shea Weber, Patrick Marleau, Pekka Rinne, Ilya Kovalchuk and Ryan Miller are all eligible for the first time and all receive some consideration — and Gonchar would join Alexander Mogilny, Rod Brind'Amour and Henrik Zetterberg as possible holdovers.
HHOF rankings are notoriously difficult to predict in advance, and no one knows if this, his seventh year of eligibility, is the time for Gonchar to take his place. If not, the wait could be even longer, as defenders Zdeno Chara and Duncan Keith will become Hall of Fame eligible in 2025 and could be inducted before Gonchar.
With Tom Barrasso now inducted, Marleau joins Gonchar as a current player with Penguins ties on the list of Hall of Fame candidates. What a strange time. Marleau was drafted by the Penguins ahead of the 2020 playoffs, but played eight games before the COVID pandemic shut down the league. Even when he was in Pittsburgh, we wrote he was likely to return to San Jose as a free agent, and after four unmemorable games in the bubble, that's exactly what happened.
Marleau broke Gordie Howe's career games played record, one of the proudest records in hockey, but he ranks just 52nd in career points, leaving the question of whether his durability and long-standing excellence are enough to earn him a Hall of Fame induction.
