Blackhawks launch Hall of Fame as part of centennial celebration
CHICAGO — Fans have been pleading with the Chicago Blackhawks for years to find a way to honor former players who didn't reach jersey-retirement level.
If the Blackhawks aren't going to raise Steve Larmer's No. 28 jersey to the rafters, the thinking goes, he at least deserves some recognition from the organization.
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Now the Blackhawks have a way to do that. As part of the first unveiling of plans for their centennial year, the team announced on Thursday that it is creating a Blackhawks Hall of Fame.
'The concept of a Hall of Fame has been in the works for a long time. If we're going to do it, let's do it right. Let's be thoughtful. Let's think of the criteria. Let's think about how we do this, where it lives, how it comes to life, like all the details that go into it,' Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz said. 'So when we launch it, we're not going to launch it half-assed. It's going to be something really well presented, a real honor and something that can be sustainable kind of in perpetuity as a way to honor our history and our past.'
The Blackhawks Hall of Fame, which will have a physical exhibition space as part of Fifth Third Arena's expansion, will include the nine players whose jerseys have already been retired and will add two new players every year. One player will be elected from the modern era, which includes players who completed their Blackhawks careers in the 2000-01 season or later, and one will be selected from 1999-2000 or earlier (dubbed the 'heritage era'). Players have to be retired from the NHL for at least three years to be eligible. The Blackhawks may also induct one 'builder,' such as a broadcaster or coach, through a selection committee each year.
The Blackhawks Hall of Fame selections will be determined by vote. Fans, Blackhawks alumni and select media members will vote for one player from each of the two eras from a list of candidates, which will be determined by a selection committee. The three voting groups' results will be equally weighed to determine the final selections. Fan voting begins Thursday and runs through mid-July.
The first modern-era ballot includes Tony Amonte, Brian Campbell, Corey Crawford, Eric Daze, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp, Andrew Shaw, Steve Sullivan, Jocelyn Thibault and Alexei Zhamnov.
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The first heritage-era ballot includes Ed Belfour, Doug Bentley, Johnny Gottselig, Dirk Graham, Dennis Hull, Cliff Koroll, Larmer, Chico Maki, Mush March, Pit Martin, Bill Mosienko, Troy Murray, Eric Nesterenko, Jeremy Roenick and Doug Wilson.
Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are not eligible for the ballots because neither has announced his retirement. Both have indicated they'd like to play in the NHL next season.
'Those players mean the world to us and to our fans and to our history,' Wirtz said of Kane and Toews. 'But at the same time, they're playing. The good news is, especially with all the players, these are still young guys, they have a long time. Whether they play one more year, five more years, 10 more years, I do think they all feel a connection to the Blackhawks, to the organization. Our fans feel that. We will celebrate them in lots of forms and factors for many years to come.'
In addition to the Hall of Fame, the Blackhawks also announced their centennial celebration will be themed 'Always An Original' and will feature four chapters focusing on different parts of the franchise's history. Each chapter will have signature game nights, the return of bobblehead giveaways, archival memorabilia and more. The Blackhawks are expected to have more information about those chapters in another announcement after the NHL 2025-26 season schedule is released this summer.
'We started planning this almost three years ago,' Blackhawks president of business Jaime Faulkner said. 'You only get to celebrate your 100th once. We knew we'd be celebrating with a couple other teams, so there would be opportunity to do some really neat things there. But we want to make it really special for our fans, special for our alumni, and to do that, it takes a lot of planning. We started a long time ago.'
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Wirtz said: 'It's a tremendous amount of pride (to have the centennial). Anything that has survived and grown over this period of time is something to be proud of. You get very reflective and very nostalgic when you do those things. All those kind of feelings are swirling as we start to put this thing together. The family is very excited to have the formal way to kind of celebrate so many moments, eras, people and memories that not only are family shares, but the fans share.'
The Blackhawks are expected to honor their six Stanley Cup teams during signature game nights. Players and fans had wondered why the Blackhawks didn't recognize their most recent Stanley Cup-winning teams on their 10-year anniversaries.
'I truly believe the wait will be worth it,' Wirtz said. 'Look, those teams mean so much to me personally and to so many fans. But when you do it, you really want to get it done right. I think the way in which we plan to celebrate those three Cups in '10, '13 and '15, I think will be really special and kick off sort of a series of things with that group of alumni that are new in the alumni world as retired players, for the most part.'
The Blackhawks' centennial will last through the 2025-26 season and end early in the 2026-27 season because the franchise's first NHL game was officially played on Nov. 17, 1926.
As part of their celebration, the Blackhawks also announced plans to host a fan-centered event in the fall of 2026. They haven't revealed what that will look like, but it is expected to include elements of their previous popular fan conventions.
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