The Hockey Hall of Fame announced its 2024 inductees on Tuesday, including former New York Rangers coach and 1994 Stanley Cup winner Colin Campbell.
Campbell was selected in the Builder category for his work at the executive level in the NHL league office, where he currently serves as the NHL's Executive Vice President and General Manager of Hockey Operations.
The former NHL defenseman served as an assistant coach with the Rangers under head coach Roger Neilson for two seasons from 1991-1992, before serving in the same position under head coach Mike Keenan from 1993-1994, when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup.
After Keenan left the Rangers, Campbell replaced him as coach for three-plus seasons before joining the league's front offices.
Campbell is the 65th person with Rangers ties to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He is the latest Blueshirt inductee, joining Henrik Lundqvist, who will be inducted in 2023, and Kevin Lowe, who will be inducted in 2020.
In total, 55 players and 10 builders with ties to the Rangers are named to the HHOF.
Unless there's a change of mind regarding Mike Richter or John Vanbiesbrouck, it may be a while before another Blueshirt makes it into the Hall of Fame.
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Rangers next in line for Hockey Hall of Fame induction
With the current roster, it's too early to consider Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox or Artemi Panarin future Hall of Famers guaranteed. Shesterkin's 2022 Vezina Trophy, Fox's Norris Trophy the season before that and Panarin's continued regular-season success at the very least raises hopes that each player will one day reach the sport's greatest heights. Of course, winning a few more titles, including a Stanley Cup (cough, cough), would round out each player's resume.
So, let’s exclude those three for now and look at some options for who the next Rangers-related person to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame will be.
Jonathan Quick
Jonathan Quick is a three-time Stanley Cup champion and the winningest U.S.-born goaltender in NHL history (393 wins). He has the second-most wins among active goaltenders (Sergei Bobrovsky, 396 wins) and only 14 goaltenders have surpassed him on the NHL's all-time wins list.
That means he'll be in the Hall of Fame one day.
For now, though, the 38-year-old Quick is the Rangers' No. 2 goaltender behind Shesterkin and is coming off a bounce-back season in 2023-24, so there's no talk of retirement just yet. But when he does retire, Quick will be immortalized in Toronto.
Patrick Kane
Patrick Kane played in just 26 games (19 regular season, seven playoff games) after being acquired by the Rangers before the 2023 trade deadline. Playing through a hip injury that required major surgery after that season, Kane totaled 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) with the Blueshirts before signing with the Detroit Red Wings last season.
But like Quick, Kane is a surefire Hall of Famer. He's also won three Stanley Cups and the Hart Trophy, Calder Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy and Art Ross Trophy. With 1,284 career points, Kane is the NHL's second-leading scorer among U.S.-born skaters, behind Mike Modano.
There are also rumors that Kane, who will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, could be reunited with Rangers next season.
Doug Waite
One of the most memorable American-born players in NHL history is Doug Weight. Though not as dynamic as Kane, Weight scored 1,033 points in 1,238 games, the eighth-most by a U.S.-born skater in NHL history and five more points than former Rangers teammate Brian Leetch. The Rangers selected Weight in the second round of the 1990 NHL Draft, and he played two seasons in New York before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Esa Tikkanen, who helped the Blueshirts win a Stanley Cup in 1994.
Weight helped the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup in 2006 and won the King Clancy Trophy in 2011. Some consider him a statistical culmination, as he only had one 100-point season and topped 80 points three times, but he's a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and is unlikely to head to Toronto.
Peter Laviolette
Peter Laviolette has led the Rangers to the most wins (55) and points (114) in franchise history. Not a bad start to his tenure on Broadway, but he's been all about winning throughout his career. Laviolette is the winningest U.S.-born coach in NHL history and is seventh all-time with 807 wins. He needs 43 more wins to pass Ken Hitchcock for sixth all-time.
Laviolette led the Hurricanes to their only Stanley Cup victory in 2006.
John Tortorella
If we're going to include Laviolette, we have to include John Tortorella on this list as well. The former Rangers coach and current Philadelphia Flyers manager is the second-winningest U.S.-born coach in NHL history and the ninth-winningest with 742 career wins. He's 41 wins away from passing Al Arbour for eighth place.
Tortorella led the Tampa Bay Lightning to their first Stanley Cup victory in 2004.
Mike Keenan
Mike Keenan is one of the more controversial and debated candidates for the Hall of Fame. He led the Rangers to a Stanley Cup victory in 1994 and has won 672 games with eight teams as a manager, good for 15th in league history. He is the only NHL manager to lead three different teams to the Stanley Cup Finals, but only with New York.
On the international stage, Keenan led Canada to a Canada Cup victory in 1987 and a Gagarin Cup victory with Metallurg of the KHL in 2014. He is the only coach to have won championships in both the NHL and the KHL.
