The Hockey Hall of Fame will welcome an impressive class of players in 2025: Zdeno Chara, Joe Thornton and Duncan Keith, all first-ballot choices; Alexander Mogilny, ending a prolonged wait; and women’s hockey stars in Jennifer Botterill of Canada and Brianna Decker of the United States.

Who will join them in the Class of 2026?

Here’s a look at the most likely men’s and women’s players to next get the call for the Hall, ranked in order of their likelihood for enshrinement. We’ll begin with the former NHL players eligible for the first time next season:

MEN’S CANDIDATES

An extremely easy call for the selection committee. Bergeron won the Selke Trophy as best defensive forward six times, an NHL record. The center was a finalist for the award in 12 consecutive seasons, the longest streak for any player being nominated for an NHL award in league history.

He was a dominant defensive force whether measured by traditional stats or analytics during his 19-year career with the Boston Bruins but was anything but a one-dimensional star. Bergeron had 1,040 points in 1,294 games, including 427 goals. That’s the third-most points for any Bruins player.

From a team perspective, he won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011 and was a primary reason they made to back to the Final in 2013 — a series against Chicago in which Bergeron played through a punctured lung, separated shoulder, a broken rib and a broken nose — and in 2019. He’s a member of the Triple Gold Club: winning Olympic gold in 2010 and 2014 and world championship gold in 2004. He also won world junior gold in 2005 and the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, all with Canada.

2. Carey Price, goalie (second year)

Price follows in the legacy of great Montreal Canadiens goaltenders such as Hall of Famers Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy.

He played all 15 seasons with the Habs from 2007 to 2022 and is the franchise’s all-time leader in wins (361) in 712 games. He helped Montreal to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final during the NHL’s COVID-impacted season. Price had one masterpiece season in 2014-15, becoming only the seventh player in NHL history to win the Vezina Trophy as top goaltender and the Hart Trophy as MVP in the same season.

Price won Olympic gold in 2014, backstopping Canada in Sochi. He also won gold at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the 2007 world junior championships.

His candidacy is intriguing, because it signifies the collision between two competing Hockey Hall of Fame forces: the Hall’s traditional hesitancy to induct goaltenders and its over-indexing on Team Canada heroes. Although we should note they’ve put six goalies in the Hall since 2018, so maybe that first trend is changing.

Come on, admit it: You thought there was a chance that Marleau could join Thornton in the same class when Jumbo’s name was announced. The Hall of Fame is cheeky like that.

But unlike his longtime teammate, Marleau’s induction is anything but guaranteed. It comes back to a central question: Does breaking the NHL record for career games played make him a hockey legend or just an accomplished compiler of stats?

Marleau finished his career with 1,779 career games played, breaking Gordie Howe’s record of 1,767. He’s 25th in NHL history with 566 goals and 53rd in career points with 1,197. He cracked 30 goals seven times and had a career peak of 44 goals in 2009-10. He won Olympic gold in Vancouver and Sochi, IIHF World Championship gold in 2003 and the World Cup in 2004, all with Canada. But Marleau was a finalist for only one NHL award: the Lady Byng, for gentlemanly play, once. And he never won a Stanley Cup.

If he is a “compiler,” he’ll be far from the first one inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. His stats are strong and his longevity is probably too impressive to keep him out — keep in mind there are plenty of ex-players on that committee.

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Now that Mogilny is in, the next great offensive player that fans and media rally around might be Tkachuk.

He amassed 538 goals and 1,065 points in 1,201 games over his 18-season career whose prime was spent in the dead puck era. He led the league in goals only once (1996-97) but was otherwise a model of consistency. He’s 35th all time in goals. Every player ahead of him who is Hall of Fame-eligible is enshrined.

He won World Cup gold in 1996 and Olympic silver in 2002 but never the Stanley Cup. He never got a sniff of an NHL award, although 89 playoff games in an 18-year career spent in Winnipeg, Phoenix, St. Louis and Atlanta isn’t exactly the stuff of postseason hardware.

It’s a solid but unspectacular career, but those numbers are hard to ignore. Ask around, and you can sense there’s momentum building for him. It probably doesn’t hurt that he has found new life as the father of Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, which has afforded him camera time during playoff games, ice time during Stanley Cup celebrations and airtime on reality television series.

5. Ryan Getzlaf, center (second year)

The big center spent 17 years with the Anaheim Ducks, leading them to a Stanley Cup in 2007. He’s their all-time leader in regular-season games played (1,157), assists (737) and points (1,019), and holds the same marks in the playoffs for Anaheim.

During the span of his career, he was fifth among centers in points. Three of guys he’s ranked behind — Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Anze Kopitar — are all likely to be Hall of Famers. The fourth, Thornton, was just announced as one. Overall, he had the seventh-most points of any player in that span.

Getzlaf won Olympic gold in 2010 and 2014, World Cup of Hockey gold in 2016 and gold at world juniors in 2005. He finished second for the Hart to Crosby in 2013, but that was the extent of the awards love. But given how he dominated his era, Getzlaf should be in line for a higher accolade.

When Pavel Datsyuk made the Hall in 2024, attention turned to his Detroit Red Wings teammate Zetterberg. But Datsyuk is one of the reasons Zetterberg might not make the Hall, as he vacuumed up Selke trophies that might have otherwise gone to his teammate during Zetterberg’s prime.

Zetterberg finished his career with 960 points in 1,082 games, including 337 goals. His greatest individual accomplishment was winning the Conn Smythe in the Red Wings’ 2008 Stanley Cup win. That ring earned him Triple Gold Club status, going with championships in the 2006 Olympics and the 2006 IIHF World Championship with Sweden. He had 120 points in 137 playoff games, including 27 in 22 games when he won the Conn Smythe.

He’s one of the most respected players of the past 20 years and a legend in both Detroit and Sweden. It’s not a clear-cut case, but he does have a case.

7. Patrik Elias, center/left wing (seventh year)

Elias has been the hipster pick for the Hall of Fame ever since previous hipster pick Sergei Zubov made the Hall in 2019.

His numbers are stellar, holding the New Jersey Devils records goals (408), assists (617) and points (1,025) in both the regular season (1,240 games) and the playoffs (162 games). He won the Cup twice with the Devils in 2000 and 2003, and was in the Stanley Cup Final two other seasons. He was a rookie of the year finalist in 1998. Internationally, he helped the Czechs to Olympic bronze in 2006 and bronze twice at IIHF worlds.

The argument from Elias backers is that this exceptionally skilled player put up impressive offensive stats in a defensive era for a defensive team. Paul Pidutti of Adjusted Hockey, which Pidutti founded to analyze NHL players’ Hall of Fame potential, computes that Elias would have 119 more points if he played in a “neutral era.” Elias has some vocal supporters. Will the Hall listen?

8. Sergei Gonchar, defenseman (eighth year)

Gonchar is 19th in career points among defensemen, with 811 in 1,301 NHL games. Everyone who is Hall of Fame-eligible ahead of him — save for Gary Suter — is in the Hall. That includes Nicklas Lidstrom, with whom Gonchar has the misfortune of sharing an era.

The Detroit Red Wings Hall of Famer — considered one of the best defensemen in hockey history — is the only blueliner who amassed more goals (236) and points (985) than Gonchar (220 goals, 811 points) from 1994-95 to 2014-15, which was the span of the Russian defenseman’s career. He did some real offensive damage during the dead puck era.

Lidstrom won the Norris Trophy seven times. Gonchar finished in the top five for the award four times, which is more than Hall of Famer Zubov, for comparison’s sake. Gonchar won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009. He won Olympic silver in Nagano, bronze in Salt Lake City and world championship silver in 2010.

The Carolina Hurricanes coach’s candidacy has been fascinating to watch over the years. Brind’Amour had 1,184 points in 1,484 games, including 452 goals. But his Hall of Fame case is built on his reputation as a defensive center. It’s a role in which he excelled with the Hurricanes during their run to the Stanley Cup in 2006, which is also the first year of his back-to-back Selke Trophy wins.

But Pidutti, for one, has believed his reputation was overstated.

“I think Brind’Amour has been a bit retroactively lionized because he’s the coolest guy in the room and an awesome coach,” Pidutti told ESPN in 2023. “He was never really a top Selke candidate. And then he’s pushing 40 and he was just this incredibly interesting, intense warrior. He wins those two Selkes. … I don’t want to say out of the blue, but if you look at the voting history, they kind of were. I think everyone remembers him being the best defensive forward in the league, and really wasn’t the case during his entire career.”

Still, there’s a lot of support for “Rod The Bod” to make the Hall.

There’s a “peak years” argument that could be made for two goalies of the same era.

From 2008-09 to 2011-12, Miller was third in wins (182) and fourth in save percentage (.919) while playing for a Sabres team that was 21st in points percentage (.520). The apex of his career was 2009-10, when he won the Vezina Trophy, finished fourth for the Hart Trophy and became a superstar while backstopping Team USA to Olympic silver in Vancouver, losing gold in overtime to Sidney Crosby and the Canadians.

But if we’re talking all-time heat checks, that Thomas from 2007 to 2012 for the Boston Bruins: 151-78-31 in 270 games with a .926 save percentage, 2.28 goals-against average and 27 shutouts. He won the Vezina Trophy twice and the Conn Smythe in 2011, leading the Bruins to the Stanley Cup with a .940 save percentage, a 1.98 goals-against average and four shutouts. He played only nine NHL seasons, debuting at 28 years old. His journeyman status before NHL stardom is part of his legend, but he probably doesn’t have the longevity for the Hall.

There are other goalies such as Curtis Joseph, Chris Osgood, Tuukka Rask and Pekka Rinne that offer interesting cases. But these two are the most fascinating ones.

The field

Among the other players waiting for their Hall of Fame moment are first-year eligible Eric Staal and Phil Kessel, to prolific scorers with Stanley Cup wins; Jason Spezza, in his second year of eligibility; older offensive stars Peter Bondra, Vincent Damphousse, Theo Fleury, Steve Larmer, John LeClair, Rick Nash, Bernie Nicholls and Pat Verbeek; and defensemen Gary Suter and P.K. Subban.

WOMEN’S CANDIDATES

1. Meghan Duggan, forward (seventh year)

Duggan won seven IIHF World Championship gold medals and captained the U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team to gold in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She won the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Award as the top women’s player in the NCAA while playing for Wisconsin. Duggan was the first American men’s or women’s player to win seven consecutive world championship gold medals. Off the ice, she played in integral role in the national team’s fight with USA Hockey over inequitable support and conditions in comparison to the men’s team. She’s currently director of player development for the New Jersey Devils.

The Class of 2025’s Brianna Decker was a worthy Hall of Famer, but it was a little surprising she was in before Duggan.

2. Shannon Szabados, goalie (seventh year)

Former Team Canada goalie Kim St-Pierre was the first women’s goaltender inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022. Szabados has the case to be the next.

She won Olympic gold twice, pitching a shutout in 2010 and winning in overtime in 2014 for Canada against the United States. When Canada won silver in 2018, she was selected the tournament’s top goaltender.

Szabados was also a trailblazer: In 2014, she signed to a professional contract with the Columbus Cottonmouths of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) to finish out the 2013-14 season, becoming the first woman to compete in the regular season in that minor league. She ended up playing four seasons in the SPHL.

3. Julie Chu, forward (seventh year)

One of the pioneers in American women’s hockey, Chu won silver three times and bronze once in the Olympics, and captured gold five times in the IIHF world championships. She was the top NCAA scorer of all time during her time at Harvard, and won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2007.

Chu also played professionally in the CWHL, winning playoff MVP while helping Minnesota to the Clarkson Cup in 2010. She’s an iconic American player who captured 23 medals during her storied international career.

4. Meghan Agosta, forward (fifth year)

Overshadowed by other Team Canada legends such as Hayley Wickenheiser and Marie Philip-Poulin, Agosta was a crucial part of the national team that won Olympic gold in 2006, 2010 and 2014, and then silver in 2018.

At the time of her official retirement in 2024, Agosta ranked sixth all time in goals (85) and points (176) and seventh in assists (91) in 178 career games while playing for Team Canada.

5. Florence Schelling, goalie (fifth year)

The selection committee has heavily skewed toward Canadians and Americans among women’s players. If they wanted some international flavor, look no further than Schelling, a goaltending star for Switzerland.

She had stellar international numbers, backstopping the Swiss to bronze in Sochi, earning MVP honors for the tournament. She was also dominant during four seasons at Northeastern.

Final prediction for the Class of 2026

For the men, it’s Bergeron, Price and Getzlaf, the second time in three seasons they only take three inductees; for the women, we’ll say Duggan and Szabados to make it three straight seasons of multiple women’s players getting into the Hall.