Another year has come and gone, and we have ourselves six new individuals who will be officially inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this November!

This is an obvious one. It’s no surprise that Marty gets inducted on his first year eligible to be voted into the Hall of Fame. Brodeur has won three Stanley Cups, four Vezina trophies, and five Jennings trophies. The guy leads the NHL in all-time wins with 691 AND he did great work in that Enterprise commercial. What’s not to love about the guy?

O’Ree is best known for breaking the NHL’s colour barrier in 1958. His first game was with the Boston Bruins, and went on to play 45 games in the NHL. Fun fact about Willie O’Ree, he is apparently 95% blind according to his Wikipedia page. He managed to keep it a secret from the NHL so that he could continue playing hockey. I’m actually really amazed and impressed with this, if it’s true.

Yakushev never played a game in the NHL. But he was an all-star in Russia. He led the Russian team to a loss against Canada in the 1972 Summit Series, and won two Olympic gold medals for his country in 1972 and 1976. He later went on to coach the national team as well.

St. Louis is also in his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame. Marty excelled as one of the smallest players in the league during his time, and proved all the doubters wrong throughout his career. He’s the Lightning’s all-time leader in assists (588), points (953), and power-play points (300). He finished his career with 1033 points in 1134 regular season games, and has won a Stanley Cup and Olympic gold medal.

Hefford was a powerhouse when it came to women’s Olympic hockey. She tallied four gold medals for team Canada, and one silver. Jayna played most of her professional career with the Brampton Thunder in the NWHL. She won five scoring titles and five goal-scoring titles during her time in the league.

Gary’s taken a lot of criticism today online for his recent induction announcement. I mean yes, it’s fun to hate him and all, but you can’t really ignore all that he’s done for the league. Since becoming commissioner in 1993, Gary’s expanded the league from 24 teams to 31, and has significantly increased yearly revenue.

Congratulations to all the inductees this year. It’s a big accomplishment and it’s always exciting to watch a new group join the Hall of Fame every year.