Hockey Hall of Fame 2023 class: Henrik Lundqvist as headliner
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is expected to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, part of the class of 2023 to be announced Wednesday afternoon.
Lundqvist helped Sweden to an Olympic gold medal in 2006 and led the New York Rangers to the playoffs in 11 of 12 years. That included a trip to the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals and two Eastern Conference Finals.
A seventh-round pick in the 2020 draft, Lundqvist ranks fifth on the NHL’s win list with 459. He won 61 more in the playoffs before retiring his hockey career in 2020 due to a heart condition.
Compatriot Henrik Zetterberg, Canadian women’s hockey stars Jennifer Botterill and Caroline Ouellette and longtime executive David Poile are among the other top candidates being considered by the board chaired by Hall of Famer Mike Gartner, who was inducted in 2001.
The long wait could also be over for point-a-game Russian winger Alexander Mogilny and goalkeeper Curtis Joseph, who has won just five fewer games than Lundqvist. Moginly, who won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2000 and Olympic gold with the Soviet Union in 1988, has been eligible since 2009 and Joseph since 2012.
If Lundqvist and Zetterberg go in together, it will be a second consecutive Hall celebration around Sweden. Twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin and former Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson were inducted last year.
The ceremony is in Toronto on November 13.
