Hockey’s highest honour gets handed out in Toronto tonight, and the biggest ovation at Brookfield Place belongs to a goaltender. Carey Price headlines the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2026, with the Induction Ceremony set for 7:30 p.m. ET tonight, Monday, November 9, at Brookfield Place in downtown Toronto. The gala celebration opens at 5:30 p.m., and the inductee speeches and formal plaque presentations will be broadcast live from the Allen Lambert Galleria throughout the Hall, according to the Hall’s induction brochure.
The ceremony closes an Induction Weekend that began Saturday, November 7, including the annual Hockey Hall of Fame Game hosted by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Six names go onto the Honoured Members register tonight, elected back on June 22 by the Hall’s selection committee under chair Ron Francis, in the Hall’s official announcement.
Join The iimiTV Letter
Enter your email and we will send you a confirmation link. Click it and your first edition lands on Friday.
The Class of 2026
Price is joined in the Player Category by Patrice Bergeron, Pekka Rinne, Keith Tkachuk and Cindy Curley, with Brian Burke elected in the Builder Category.
Bergeron is the class’s other portrait of one-club loyalty: drafted 45th overall by Boston in 2003 out of the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titans, he played 19 NHL seasons, all with the Bruins, scored the Stanley Cup winning goal in 2011, and won Olympic gold with Team Canada in 2010 and 2014 plus a World Championship, making him a member of the Triple Gold Club.
Rinne gives the class a second franchise goaltender. Born in Kempele, Finland, he played 15 seasons with the Nashville Predators, winning 369 games and recording 60 shutouts, took the Vezina Trophy in 2017-18, and was named MVP of the 2014 World Championship with Finland.
Tkachuk brings the power forward. After a season at Boston University, he debuted with the Winnipeg Jets in 1991-92, and in 1996-97 became the first U.S. born player to lead the NHL in goals, scoring 52.
Curley carries the women’s game into the class. She starred at Providence College, helping the Friars repeat as NCAA champions in 1983-84 and 1984-85, then captained the United States women’s team, winning silver at the inaugural 1990 IIHF Women’s World Championship and adding further silver medals in 1992 and 1994.
Burke enters as the Builder. His front office career began with the Vancouver Canucks in 1987 and ran through the Hartford Whalers, the NHL head office, a return to Vancouver, and Anaheim, where he led the Ducks to the Stanley Cup in 2007, before team president roles with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Calgary Flames and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Carey Price’s Case, In Full
Price’s case was built in a single crease. A British Columbia product who played his junior hockey with the Tri-City Americans, he was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, fifth overall, in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, and made his debut at the beginning of the 2007-08 season. He played all 15 of his NHL seasons in Montreal and retired as the Canadiens’ all-time goaltending leader with 712 games and 361 victories, backstopping the team to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020-21, the Hall’s release notes.
The peak season still stands apart. In 2014-15, Price posted a 1.96 goals-against average, a .933 save percentage and nine shutouts, and took home the Hart Trophy, the Vezina Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award while co-winning the William H. Jennings Trophy, as NHL.com’s account of his election recounts. He finished his career with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage, was named an All-Star seven times, won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2021-22, and earned a place on the NHL’s Quarter-Century Team. For Canada, he won gold at the 2007 World Junior Championship, the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
He gets the call in his second year of eligibility. When the election was announced in June, Price said: “Hockey has taught me a lot of life lessons, especially persistence and never giving up. The game has given me the opportunity to work with dedicated and talented people, and I’m especially grateful to live a dream playing my entire career in Montreal.”
Tomorrow, Montreal Answers
Tonight makes it official in Toronto, where Price becomes the 62nd member of the Canadiens organization inducted into the Hall. Tomorrow makes it personal. On Tuesday, November 10, one day after the induction, Price returns to the Bell Centre, where his name will be added to the Canadiens’ Ring of Honour in an on-ice celebration before Montreal hosts the Minnesota Wild, as the Canadiens announced. The Ring of Honour showcases the club’s Hall of Fame inductees near the arena rafters, and Price joins Shea Weber, Pierre Turgeon and Guy Carbonneau as its most recent additions. A plaque in Toronto tonight, his name over the ice in Montreal tomorrow: for a goaltender who never played anywhere else, the two nights say the same thing in the only two buildings that could say it.
