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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump has embraced the sports world. Has it embraced him back?
When President Donald Trump signed his college sports executive order on Thursday, it marked the president's latest efforts to immerse himself into the sports world. The executive order was the second sports-related headline Trump made in the last seven days, following his call on the NFL's Washington Commanders to adopt their previous name, the Redskins. Since Inauguration Day six months ago, Trump has attended some of the country's biggest sporting events, courted prominent sports figures and weighed in on sports-related debates and issues. Here's a look at the president's relationship with the sports world in his second term. Wielding presidential power Trump hasn't shied away from wielding his presidential power to influence sports decision makers. His recent executive order as well as the one he signed in February to block transgender women from participating in women's sports are proof. But he's also entered multiple issues and conversations beyond the executive office. During the NFL draft, when Colorado's Shedeur Sanders, a presumed first-round pick, went undrafted in the first three rounds, Trump, via social media, called NFL owners 'stupid' for passing on the quarterback and said that Sanders 'should be 'picked' IMMEDIATELY by a team that wants to WIN.' Sanders was drafted the next day by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round. Once in Cleveland, Sanders told reporters he was 'thankful' for the president's post, in a video shared by NFL Network's Andrew Siciliano. When asked if the president took credit for Sanders getting drafted, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, 'the facts speak for themselves.' 'All I will say is the president put out a statement and a few rounds later, he was drafted,' Leavitt said. Whether or not that's true, the president did influence another sports-related decision. In February, Trump had previously said he would pardon baseball's all-time hits leader Pete Rose, who was on baseball's lifetime ban list. Then a month after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred met with Trump in April, the commissioner lifted the ban on Rose, who died in September 2024. 'The President was one of a number of voices that was supportive of the idea that this was the right decision,' Manfred told The Athletic. 'Obviously, I have respect for the office and the advice that he gave. I paid attention to (it). But I had a lot of other people that were weighing in on the topic as well.' Trump appears to be hoping to influence the NFL's Commanders — or what he called in his Truth Social post, the 'Washington Whatevers' — and MLB's Cleveland Guardians with regards to their nicknames. The president said 'there is a big clamoring for' the Commanders and Guardians to become the Redskins and the Indians, respectively, again. 'Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago,' he wrote. The president then followed up his post with another in which he said he 'may put a restriction on (the Commanders)' if the team doesn't change its name back and that he 'won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington.' The president's posts received support from Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who wrote on X, 'I agree with President Trump — it's time to BRING BACK the Redskins." Former Redskins players Jason Buck and Scott Turner, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, also voiced their support for Trump's comments. Buck, a former BYU defensive lineman who won a Super Bowl with the Redskins, had called on Trump to back a team name change just the day prior to the president's posts. On Monday, Buck told Fox News that it was 'a dream come true' to see Trump's involvement. 'I'm a Native American, so I'm a real Redskin and a proud one, and a proud Washington Redskin from the glory days of Joe Gibbs,' he said. But not all Native Americans share Buck's enthusiasm. The National Congress of American Indians released a statement on X, saying: 'We unequivocally oppose President Trump's call ... to reinstate their former, racist names.' In 2013, Trump criticized former President Barack Obama regarding his stance on Washington's NFL team's nickname. 'President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name — our country has far bigger problems! Focus on them, not nonsense," Trump wrote at the time. On Monday, Leavitt said the president was serious about the stadium restriction. 'As you know, sports is one of the many passions of this president, and he wants to see the name of that team changed,' Leavitt said. Why would the president get involved in that discussion? 'I think you've seen the president gets involved in a lot of things that most presidents have not. He's a nontraditional president,' Leavitt said. Presidential presence That passion and nontraditional approach has been especially evident in Trump's second term. In February, Trump became the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl, according to ESPN, when he watched the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans. Ahead of the big game, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce called it 'a great honor' to play in front of the president 'no matter who the president is.' His quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, expressed a similar sentiment. 'It's always cool to be able to play in front of a sitting-president, someone that is at the top position of our country. It's cool to hear that he's seen me play football and respects the game that I play,' he said. Trump went on to attend the Daytona 500, two UFC fights and the FIFA Club World Cup final earlier this month. Newsweek reported that between Inauguration Day and the Club World Cup final, the president had made seven sports-related trips. For comparison, he had made five campaign or political-related visits and three disaster response trips in that time frame. Trump's Club World Cup attendance went viral. On the one-year anniversary of his assassination attempt, he joined FIFA President Gianni Infantino on the field for the trophy presentation. (They had shared a box suite during the match.) It's not uncommon for the host nation's head of state to join Infantino on stage and shake the athletes' hands after they receive their medals. France's President Emmanuel Macron did so at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in Paris. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, did the same at the 2022 World Cup. But Trump took it a step further when he stayed onstage for Chelsea's trophy lift, a moment traditionally reserved for the winning team's players and coaching staff. Chelsea's Reece James appeared confused by the president's choice to stay but ultimately lifted the trophy anyway. 'Before, they told me that he was going to present the trophy and then exit the stage, and I thought that he was going to exit the stage but he wanted to stay,' James told reporters afterwards, per Sky Sports News. Even when Trump isn't physically in attendance, he finds a way to be present. Right after Derrick Lewis won a heavyweight contest on UFC's Fight Night on July 12 — the day before the Club World Cup final — Dana White, the CEO of UFC, handed Lewis a phone. Lewis remained on the phone while he was declared the winner. In his post-fight interview, it was revealed that he was on the phone with Trump. 'Ubiquitous presidency' Why would Trump be so present at sporting events? Is it a sign that his relationship with the sports world and athletes has changed? Not necessarily, according to Kevin Coe, a communications professor at the University of Utah who researches political communication. Coe told the Deseret News it's 'more that we're seeing the continued growth of what scholars call the 'ubiquitous presidency,' where presidents seek new audiences in nontraditional spaces, such as sports and entertainment.' He said Trump has employed similar strategies used by Obama, who would unveil his March Madness brackets on ESPN's SportsCenter. 'Presidents look for audiences anywhere they can find them, and sports are often more popular than traditional politics,' Coe said. There will be plenty of opportunities and audiences for the president to continue his 'ubiquitous presidency' when it comes to sports. The NFL draft will also come to the nation's capital in 2027 for the first time ever. One million fans are expected to descend on the National Mall for the three-day event, according to ESPN. It wouldn't be a surprise if Trump made some sort of appearance. After all, some NFL players adopted his signature 'Trump dance' as their touchdown celebrations last season, as the Deseret News previously reported. A UFC fight will also make its way to D.C. next Fourth of July for the nation's 250th birthday. Trump announced the fight would be held at the White House, and according to White, every UFC fighter is excited about the opportunity. 'Everybody wants to fight this fight,' White told Happy Punch. Both retired fighters Jon Jones and Conor McGregor expressed their interest in being on the card for the fight. Courting the sports world In his second term, Trump has courted some of the biggest athletes, a noticeable shift from his first term which included feuds with stars like Stephen Curry and LeBron James. In 2017, Curry said he wouldn't visit the White House if the Golden State Warriors were invited after winning the NBA Finals. Trump took to Twitter to say the 'invitation is withdrawn.' James responded to Trump's tweet by calling him a 'bum' 'Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up,' James said. When Curry and the Warriors won the NBA Finals again in 2019, the team met with Obama instead of Trump, per The Mercury News. No NBA or WNBA team has visited Trump at the White House in either term. The Oklahoma City Thunder could become the first. The Boston Celtics, who won last year, visited while former President Joe Biden was in office. The New York Liberty, who won last season's WNBA Finals, instead visited with the Obamas, per the New York Post. Trump's rocky first term relationship extended to the NFL. In 2018, the president canceled the Eagles' Super Bowl visit after the White House learned 'that the great majority of players would not attend the event,' per a White House statement. 'They disagree with their president because he insists that they proudly stand for the national anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country,' Trump said in his own statement. While there are still athletes who remain outspoken about Trump following his reelection, others haven't shied away from being associated with the president. This year, the NHL's Florida Panthers and MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers visited the White House to celebrate their championship seasons. Mookie Betts, who skipped the Boston Red Sox's White House visit in Trump's first term, was among the notable Dodgers players to attend. 'I'm not trying to make this political by any means at all. All it is, is just me being with my team to celebrate something. It's a privilege to get an invitation like this. I just want to be there with them,' Betts said, per ESPN. Earlier this month, Trump met with brothers and NFL head coaches Jim and John Harbaugh at the White House. John Harbaugh was asked about the visit at the Baltimore Ravens' first day of training camp on Wednesday. 'I promise you I root for our president. I want our president to be successful just like I want my quarterback to be successful and I want my team to be successful, and it was an amazing experience. It's not often you get invited and you get a chance to do something like that as a family,' John Harbaugh said. He also noted that he has met with three former presidents. Eagles running back Saquon Barkley shared a similar sentiment as the Ravens head coach when he spent the day before the Eagles' White House visit golfing with Trump at his golf course. In response to backlash, Barkley took to social media, writing on X that, 'Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand,' noting he golfed with Obama last fall. 'Athletes, like many public figures outside of traditional political roles, have to determine the costs and benefits of publicly expressing their political views,' said Coe, the University of Utah communications professor. 'Trump's political and cultural role was perhaps somewhat less clear during his first term than it is now, so athletes who support or oppose him might be more convinced of those positions than they once were.' These associations with or 'endorsements' of Trump from sports figures will have little effect on the president's standing, according to Coe. 'Most people's attitudes about Trump are quite fixed, and it's unlikely that any given athlete's views will change that,' he said. 'Major celebrity endorsements during a campaign (such as Taylor Swift endorsing Kamala Harris) can aid fundraising and mobilization efforts, but still tend not to change people's attitudes per se.' Despite that, the president's embracement of the sports world likely won't end any time soon. Trump's second presidential term coincides with the country hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, some of the world's most-celebrated sporting events. With these events in the U.S., Trump will have an even bigger stage available to him.
New York Times
31-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Hockey Hall of Fame tiers: Which active NHL players boosted their cases?
For sports fans who enjoy debates, there is perhaps no better topic than the Hall of Fame. It's a subjective honor, in hockey's case decided by an 18-member committee consisting of executives, journalists and former players. For election, players are eligible three years after their retirement from any hockey league, and they must receive at least 14 of 18 committee votes. This summer, the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto announced that it had elected eight new members to be inducted in November: Jennifer Botterill, Zdeno Chara, Brianna Decker, Duncan Keith, Alexander Mogilny and Joe Thornton as players and Jack Parker and Danièle Sauvageau as builders. Advertisement Last year, I went through current NHL players and evaluated their Hall of Fame cases alongside the great Eric Duhatschek, a former committee member who was a writer for The Athletic before retiring in November. We sorted the players into tiers based on their likelihood of induction, focusing solely on those who had played a minimum of five years, had appeared in a 2023-24 game and were under contract for 2024-25. With another regular season, an international tournament and a playoff cycle all complete, it's time to re-evaluate our rankings. First, some parameters: • Once again, I'm limiting this project to players who have logged at least five seasons. Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard could be in a similar article in a few years, but it's simply too early to evaluate their careers through this lens. • This focuses solely on players who are under contract for next season. Jonathan Toews is included since he signed with Winnipeg, as is Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who is under contract for next season but announced in June that he is unlikely to play again due to injury. Joe Pavelski is not, however, since he retired after 2023-24 and is no longer under contract. Neither is Nicklas Backstrom (though we will get to him later). • I've incorporated a couple new tiers to try to make the project more complete. • Non-newcomers in each tier are sorted by position (forwards, then defensemen, then goalies) with the player who has the most points first. Goalies are ordered by wins. • Players whose tiers have changed from last year are italicized and listed at the bottom of their category. Now, here's how the tiers currently shake out, followed by analysis of each newcomer. For analysis of everyone else, check out last year's installment. Tier 1: They could retire today and make it Sidney Crosby Alex Ovechkin Evgeni Malkin Patrick Kane Anze Kopitar Steven Stamkos Connor McDavid Nathan MacKinnon Nikita Kucherov Erik Karlsson Victor Hedman Drew Doughty Sergei Bobrovsky Jonathan Quick Andrei Vasilevskiy Leon Draisaitl Tier 1.5 (new): Almost there — if not already a lock Brad Marchand Jonathan Toews Brent Burns Aleksander Barkov Connor Hellebuyck Advertisement Tier 2: Right on the cusp Auston Matthews Kris Letang Roman Josi Alex Pietrangelo Tier 2.5 (new): Crossing the blue line John Tavares Corey Perry Tier 3: Outside shots Claude Giroux Jamie Benn Ryan O'Reilly John Carlson Tier 4: On track Artemi Panarin David Pastrňák Mikko Rantanen Matthew Tkachuk Quinn Hughes Tier 5: Check back in a few years Mitch Marner Brayden Point Sebastian Aho Jack Eichel Jack Hughes Adam Fox Charlie McAvoy Miro Heiskanen Igor Shesterkin Kirill Kaprizov Evan Bouchard Leon Draisaitl (2024-25 ranking: Tier 2) Marc-André Fleury graduated from this tier by retiring, and Draisaitl is the only new entry. At this point, he's done enough to join teammate Connor McDavid in this category of locks. Draisaitl was excellent in 2024-25 for Edmonton, narrowly missing out on his second-career Hart Trophy; instead he merely finished second and led the league in goals. To make the Hall as a skater with fewer than 800 games played, a player has to be at the level of past inductees Peter Forsberg, Eric Lindros and Pavel Bure. Well, Draisaitl has already scored more goals than Forsberg and Lindros, and he has at least 76 points more than all of them. His resume at this point is undeniable, especially after a 2025 playoffs in which he scored four overtime goals and led all players in points with 33. The Oilers reached their second-consecutive Stanley Cup Final but once again fell to Florida. Still only 29, he'll continue to make himself more of a sure thing over the coming years. He's on pace to be not just a Hall of Famer but also one who makes it on the first ballot. Auston Matthews — the league's leading goal-scorer since his debut in 2016 — falls in the same conversation as Draisaitl: skaters under 30 whose peaks have been so high that they might already have amassed Hall of Fame credentials. But Matthews' resume is a little less convincing than Draisaitl's, mainly because he has seen less postseason success. Draisaitl has 52 goals and 114 points in 96 playoff games — a 44-goal, 120-point pace for an 82-game season — whereas Matthews has 26 goals and 59 points in 68 games: a 31-goal, 71-point pace. Advertisement Of the two players under 30 in last year's Tier 2 ('Right on the cusp'), Draisaitl has separated himself. Brad Marchand (2024-25: Tier 2) Perhaps no one raised their stock more this season than the Panthers winger, almost entirely because of what happened in the playoffs. His regular season was respectable for a 37-year-old but not legendary: He finished with 51 points, as well as a gold medal with Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, adding to the World Cup of Hockey and world championship golds already in his trophy case. Notably, the Bruins traded him to Florida at the trade deadline, putting Marchand in position for a legendary postseason run. Marchand was one of the Panthers' best players as they won their second-consecutive Stanley Cup. He finished with 10 goals in 23 games, two of which came in overtime. His first was in Game 3 against Toronto when his team was in danger of going down 3-0 in the series, and his second came against Edmonton in the Cup Final. Marchand is now up to 66 career playoff goals, tied with Denis Savard and Joe Nieuwendyk for 23rd all-time. Savard and Nieuwendyk are already in the Hall of Fame, and only four of the players ahead of them are neither already in nor locks when they become eligible: Claude Lemieux, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Esa Tikkanen. At the start of free agency, Marchand signed a six-year extension in Florida with a $5.25 million annual cap hit. He should fly past 1,000 next season, sitting at 980 now, and with 424 career goals, he has a shot at breaking into the 500 club in the coming years too. Except for Patrik Eliáš, every NHL player in history with at least 1,000 points and two Stanley Cups is either in the Hall of Fame or not yet eligible for induction. Marchand also finished top-10 in Hart Trophy voting four times, so he was widely considered an elite player at his peak. The Panthers are set to remain contenders in the coming years, so Marchand should have plenty of time to add to his postseason statistics — and maybe even add another Stanley Cup. If he's not a lock yet, he's in position to be very soon. Jonathan Toews (2024-25: not ranked) Toews didn't make last year's tiers because he had not played in 2023-24 and was not under contract for 2024-25. Now that the center has signed with the Jets, I'm counting him as eligible. His box-score stats don't scream 'Hall of Famer' on the surface, but he captained three Blackhawks teams to Stanley Cups, earned a Conn Smythe and also won a Selke. He's part of the Triple Gold Club — meaning he's won a Stanley Cup, Olympic Gold (two in his case) and a world championship — and feels bound for induction. He has a chance to add to his case with Winnipeg. Advertisement One potential factor for when the committee considers Toews' candidacy: He was the captain of Chicago in 2010, the year it won its first Stanley Cup of the 21st century but also the year former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich allegedly sexually assaulted then-player Kyle Beach. The Athletic's Mark Lazarus wrote in 2022 about how the scandal impacted Toews' legacy. His teammate from that era, Keith, will be enshrined in the Hall in November. Aleksander Barkov (2024-25: Tier 4) Only six players have won the Selke Trophy three or more times: Patrice Bergeron, Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau, Pavel Datsyuk, Jere Lehtinen and now Barkov. Of the rest, four are either in the Hall of Fame or will be when they are eligible (Bergeron). Lehtinen, who played 875 games but was not the level of offensive threat as Barkov, is the only one on the outside looking in. Barkov has now captained two teams to Stanley Cup wins, plus another to a Final appearance. Between that and his hardware (three Selkes, a King Clancy and a Lady Byng), it's hard to envision him not getting in, especially with how the Panthers are set up to continue being a force. He's still only 29 and has scored at better than a point-per-game pace each of the past five seasons. If he's not a lock yet, he's very, very close. Brent Burns (2024-25: Tier 2) Last year we had Burns in 'Right on the cusp,' but this feels fair. He's part of the reason I added this tier. With a Norris Trophy, three end-of-season All-Star teams, nearly 1,500 NHL games played and several international medals to his name, the defenseman, who signed with the Avalanche this offseason, probably has already done enough to warrant induction. It's just not enough of a sure thing to move him into the top tier. Connor Hellebuyck (2024-25: Tier 4) Hellebuyck's past season is difficult to evaluate. He was brilliant in the regular season, becoming the first goaltender to win the Hart Trophy since Carey Price in 2015, then had a rocky playoffs for the Jets. He's posted a sub-.900 save percentage in each the past three postseasons, including sub-.870 in the past two. That's not all his fault, but it has nevertheless been a tough look for one of the game's best at his position. Even with some playoff struggles, Hellebuyck's accolades can't be overlooked. He has three Vezina Trophies, and every other goalie with that many is already in except for Michel Larocque. The criteria for the Vezina was different in the 1970s when Larocque won: It went to the goalies on the team that allowed the fewest goals, so he was a joint winner all four times despite never being the starter. So essentially there's no precedent for a goalie with Hellebuyck's accomplishments missing the Hall. Cale Makar (2024-25: Tier 4) The Avalanche defenseman is the only new inclusion in this tier. Bumping him up might feel a bit dramatic, considering he's only played 395 games. But by winning a second Norris Trophy and scoring 30 goals this past season — the first blueliner to do so since 2008-09 — he's continued to build an impossible-to-ignore resume. He now has a Stanley Cup, a Conn Smythe, two Norrises, a Calder and has made five end-of-season All-Star teams. He picked up an international gold medal, too, by helping Canada to a 4 Nations Face-Off win, assisting on McDavid's overtime goal in the gold medal game for good measure. Advertisement Even if Makar had average showings the next three seasons (hard to fathom because he's still in his prime) and decided to retire after (hard to fathom because he's only 26), he'd still be Hall of Fame worthy. He's a rare player who appears bound for heights rarely seen by a defenseman. John Tavares (2024-25: Tier 3) Tavares, who turns 35 in September, put together a 38-goal season for the Maple Leafs in 2024-25, tied for the second most in his career. Suddenly the center is only six goals shy of 500, and he inked a new four-year extension in Toronto. He'll reach 600 goals if he averages 26.5 goals per year over that contract, which feels feasible given how last season went. Every player with 600 goals is either in the Hall of Fame or a lock to make it when they become eligible. Tavares has been durable throughout his career, which if continued will allow him to accumulate statistics to further bolster his resume before retirement. His peak is notable, too. He's twice finished top-three in Hart Trophy voting, and over a seven-season span from 2012-13 to 2018-19 his 235 goals were second to only Ovechkin. He also had 507 points in that stretch, ranking fifth. He has not yet captured a Stanley Cup, but he did win an Olympic gold in 2014. Corey Perry (2024-25: Tier 3) Perry is one of the trickier players to evaluate in this exercise. He has a Hart Trophy (2010-11) but has only appeared on ballots one other season. Now 40, he has scored 448 goals and seems likely to finish his career shy of 500. He needs 65 points to reach 1,000, but he hasn't scored more than 30 in the past three seasons. Yet Perry keeps hanging around and contributing to strong teams. In his quest for a second Stanley Cup, after winning in 2007 with Anaheim, he has been a runner-up in five of the past six seasons with four different teams. Most recently, he scored 10 playoff goals for Edmonton, helping the Oilers reach a second-consecutive Stanley Cup Final. With a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold and world championship gold, Perry is also a member of the Triple Gold Club, which the committee will surely value. Perry signed with the Kings this summer and is entering his 21st season. The committee someday will have to decide if his Hart is enough to validate his peak and if his accumulated career achievements are enough to overcome strong but not elite counting statistics. At this point he feels like at least a coin flip to make the Hall. There's no one new in this tier, so I'll take a moment to address one of the most frequent complaints from last year's comment section: the omission of Backstrom, the longtime Capitals center who is now ineligible since he signed in Sweden. Advertisement If I needed to put Backstrom in a tier, it would be this one. But it's frankly too hard to see a world in which he gets in. That should not take away from his greatness. He won a Stanley Cup in 2018, played a part in so many Ovechkin goals and won a world championship gold and Olympic silver. Still, he never won an individual trophy, only had 80 points three times and only appeared on Hart ballots twice. He's a great player who should always get a hero's welcome in Washington, but he's not quite at Hall-of-Fame level. Matthew Tkachuk (2024-25: Tier 5) As shown by Bobrovsky, Marchand and Barkov, winning Stanley Cups helps with this exercise. Tkachuk now has two rings, along with 69 points in 67 playoff games over the past three seasons. Pair that with two 100-point seasons and two end-of-season All-Star teams, and the 27-year-old is on track to reach the Hall. Tkachuk's playoff achievements are the trump card over Marner, whom I also considered bumping into this tier. Eichel also has a case to move up, but he probably needs another season like 2024-25 before I move him into that range. Maybe next summer. Quinn Hughes (2024-25: Tier 5) Hughes, however, has done enough to join this grouping after another season as a Norris finalist. If the Canucks defenseman keeps playing at the level he's shown the past two seasons, he will eventually be elected. Kirill Kaprizov (2024-25: Not ranked) Last year's parameters dictated that a player needed to play five years before he was considered. Everything else felt too soon. Kaprizov has now played five seasons, and he's established himself as one of the game's most electrifying talents. He might've won the Hart Trophy this season had he not gotten hurt. Kaprizov did not come over to the U.S. until he was 23, so his counting stats are behind those of other players his age. But if his peak continues, he'll certainly be a potential Hall of Famer. Evan Bouchard (2024-25: Not ranked) Bouchard is one of the more polarizing players in hockey. He's a brilliant offensive player, even when not on the ice with McDavid and Draisaitl, but is prone to defensive lapses. Still only 25, his hopes could depend on if Edmonton gets over the hump and wins the Stanley Cup in the coming years. Advertisement Other questions to consider: If Florida continues its dominance and wins multiple more Cups, could Sam Reinhart or even a defenseman such as Gustav Forsling push their way into the Hall of Fame picture? And with best-on-best Olympics returning, which players — Panthers or not — will seize the opportunity to improve their cases? (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Andy Devlin/NHLI, Claus Andersen, Steph Chambers,)
