Six more names will be enshrined in Toronto this fall as the Hockey Hall of Fame officially unveiled its Class of 2026 on Monday.
Elected on his first ballot, Patrice Bergeron joins Carey Price, Pekka Rinne, Keith Tkachuk and Cindy Curley as players, with Brian Burke elected as a Builder.
Bergeron, 40, spent the entirety of his 20-year NHL career with the Boston Bruins, retiring after the 2023 season. A native of L’Ancienne-Lorette, Que., Bergeron is widely considered to be one of the finest defensive forwards of all-time, winning the Selke Trophy on a record six occasions. A Stanley Cup winner in 2011, Bergeron was also a dynamic playoff performer, recording 128 points in 170 postseason contests. He finished his career with 417 goals and 613 assists in 1,297 games.
Internationally, Bergeron won virtually everything possible while representing Canada. Twice an Olympic gold medalist (at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014), Bergeron also claimed gold at a World Hockey Championship (2004), a World Junior Hockey Championship (2005), where he was the tournament’s most valuable player, the 2012 Spengler Cup and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
A fierce Atlantic Division rival of Bergeron’s, Price gets his call to the Hall in his second year of eligibility. The 38-year-old native of Anahim Lake, B.C., is the Montreal Canadiens’ all-time wins leader among goaltenders with 361 over a 15-year career (2007 to 2022), all spent with the Habs.
Price appeared in 712 games, registering 49 shutouts, a goals-against average of 2.51 and a .917 save percentage. In 2015, Price became just the fifth goalie to win the Vezina Trophy and the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player to his team in the same season.
Price represented Canada on a number of occasions, including backstopping the team to gold medals at the 2007 World Juniors, Sochi 2014 and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Fellow goaltender Pekka Rinne becomes just the fourth Finn and first goalie to be elected to the HHOF. The Kempele native spent all of his 15 seasons in the NHL with the Nashville Predators from 2006 to 2021. The 2018 Vezina winner, Rinne ended his career with 369 wins, a .917 SV% and 2.76 GAA. His 369 wins are tied for 22nd-most all-time with Hall of Famer Tom Barrasso.
Internationally, Rinne answered the call for Finland on numerous occasions, suiting up at four IIHF worlds, winning a silver medal in 2014, and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Monday’s call is one Tkachuk, perhaps, had given up on ever coming, now in his 14th year of eligibility. A native of the Boston area, Tkachuk played in 1,201 games across 18 seasons with the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blues and Atlanta Thrashers. A five-time All-Star, Tkachuk notched 538 goals and 527 assists. Only Brett Hull (741) and Mike Modano (561), both Hall of Famers, have more goals than Tkachuk among American players.
Inducted into the USA Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012, Tkachuk represented the United States multiple times, including at the three Winter Olympics (1998, 2002 and 2006). He won a gold medal with the U.S. at the inaugural World Cup of Hockey in 1996.
Also from the Boston area, the 62-year-old Curley was a member of the inaugural United States IIHF Women’s World Championship team in 1990 in Ottawa. At that first championship, Curley would record 11 goals and 12 assists in five games, still a tournament record.
A product of Providence College, where her 225 points are third-most in program history, Curley would go on to represent the United States on two more occasions at the worlds, winning silver medals at all three of her trips to the tournament. Curley was inducted into the USA Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.
One of hockey’s most colourful characters, the 70-year-old Burke first joined the NHL’s front-office ranks in 1987 with the Vancouver Canucks following a pro career that didn’t see the Providence, RI native reach the NHL.
Burke became general manager of the Hartford Whalers in 1992 but stepped down after one season to join the league’s front office. He would return to management in 1998 as GM of the Canucks, a role he would also go on to hold with the Anaheim Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs. Burke was the architect of the Ducks’ Stanley Cup-winning team in 2007. He would later go to hold front-office jobs with the Calgary Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Burke is currently the executive director of the Professional Women’s Hockey League Players Association.
The 2026 Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony is set for Nov. 9.
