Last month, the Hockey Hall of Fame unveiled its class of 2024, which consisted of five players — three in the male player category, two in the female player category — and two builders. Two of the male players, Pavel Datsyuk and Shea Weber, went in during their first year of eligibility. Jeremy Roenick had been eligible since 2012, or three years after he played his last official game as a professional with the 2008-09 San Jose Sharks. That’s a distinction that’s unique to the HHOF, because it takes into account players who continue to play professionally around the world, even after their NHL careers conclude.

So, for example, Datsyuk played five years in Russia after leaving the Detroit Red Wings following the 2015-16 season, which is why he wasn’t eligible for selection until this year. Jaromir Jagr, the NHL’s second all-time leading scorer, hasn’t played a game in the NHL since 2017-18, but he continues to play a handful of games every year for Kladno, the team he owns in Czechia. If Jagr finally stops playing this year, he’ll become eligible in 2027 — and he’ll be about as sure a thing as there is to a guaranteed first-ballot inductee.

That’s the thing about Hall of Fame debates. They generally aren’t too controversial at the top end.

GO DEEPER

How…

Byron Ritchie jotted out a quick note on his phone and sent off a text to Jarome Iginla, his former Calgary Flames teammate.

Ritchie’s son Ryder was mired in a goal-scoring slump, and Ritchie asked Iginla if he could watch a few of his son’s shifts. “Just see if you’re seeing something different than I am,” Byron asked.

It was one hockey dad asking another for advice, but in truth, less personal versions of this type of exchange are commonplace for Ritchie and Iginla. The two former NHL forwards played together in Calgary for two seasons nearly 20 years ago. They both made their offseason homes in the Okanagan, a picturesque locale in the interior of British Columbia that’s popular among NHL players.

In August 2006, following their first year as teammates in Calgary, Ritchie’s wife, Maria Johansson, and Jarome’s wife, Kara Iginla, both gave birth to sons. Ryder was born on Aug. 3. Tij Iginla arrived the very next day.

Now the two 17-year-olds are top NHL prospects heading into this weekend’s NHL Draft in Las Vegas and working through the pressures of draft eligibility together at RINK Hockey Academy in Kelowna. Jarome Iginla coaches the academy’s U18 team — including his son Joe, who made his WHL debut as a 15-year-old this season — while Byron Ritchie…

RALEIGH, N.C. — As tributes poured in last month when legendary broadcaster Bob Cole died, Mike Guentzel googled “Hockey Night in Canada 2017 playoffs” to relive the soundtrack of a playoff in which his son Jake, then a quiet, wide-eyed rookie, had a postseason run for the ages.

In helping lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a second consecutive Stanley Cup, Guentzel became the first rookie in NHL history to lead the postseason in goal scoring with 13. He came within one goal of matching Hall of Famer Dino Ciccarelli’s rookie NHL record set in 1981 and tied for the most postseason points in history by a rookie with 21.

Cole called many of those goals.

“It was just amazing to hear Bob Cole talking about my son and the excitement in his voice,” said Mike Guentzel, a former longtime college and junior coach and now a pro scout with the new NHL Utah franchise after coming over from Arizona. “You forget about those memories and what happened, but it was cool to reminisce back to that and to hear Bob Cole talking about Jake. I’m like, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’”

That playoff run, after scoring 16 goals and 33 points in a 40-game regular season, turned out to be a family affair for Mike and his wife, Sally, and their two other sons, Gabe, who’s now 36 and a father of…

ELMONT, N.Y. — Jeff Carter retired from the NHL in a memorable way, scoring a goal in his final game Wednesday night.

“I kind of knew coming in at the start of the year that this was it,” Carter said after scoring on the power play in the third period of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.

“It was time.”

Carter, 39, was joined in New York by his wife, children and other family members. To his surprise, the Islanders requested he take a victory lap that is normally reserved for home team players.

“That was nice,” Carter said. “Bo (Horvat) actually came up to me and said a couple of the guys wanted to talk after. That was really nice of them. There’s guys on that other side that have been around for a while, too — and I’ve played against quite a bit.

“A lot of respect for those guys.”

A classy move for a classy guy. pic.twitter.com/6OdoBgH2dc

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 18, 2024

Carter played for four franchises during his 19 seasons, including a couple of Stanley Cup champions while with the Los Angeles Kings from 2011-12 through 2020-21, when he was acquired by the Penguins at the trade deadline.

Once a fierce rival of the Penguins’ long-serving core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang,…

Ron Burkle, the owner of San Diego Wave FC and a minority stakeholder in the Pittsburgh Penguins, was included in the names unsealed this week in a lawsuit involving Jeffrey Epstein. Burkle is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Court documents released Thursday said Burkle “has knowledge of (Epstein’s former girlfriend) Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual trafficking conduct.”

Burkle has not been charged in connection with the Epstein case.

“Jeffrey Epstein was a heinous criminal. Anyone complicit in his crimes should be held to account, and certainly would have no role in our league,” the NWSL said in a statement to The Athletic. “To suggest that someone’s name appearing in a legal filing is evidence of such complicity is a dangerous precedent and we reject it completely.”

The NWSL did not say whether it knew about Burkle’s mention in the case before the filing was released.

Burkle did not respond to messages seeking comment through his investment firm, The Yucaipa Companies. The Wave and the NHL also did not respond to messages. When reached by The Athletic, the Penguins declined to comment.

Federal prosecutors charged Epstein, a millionaire who associated with celebrities, politicians and members of the wealthy elite, with sex trafficking in New York…

A mid-winter day in Montreal can be cold enough to make you numb. But on this particular day in late January, Kris Letang felt only pain. About a month after the unexpected death of his father and around two months after his second stroke, Letang had spent enough time inside his house — only he didn’t know it.

“The kids were in school, it was just us,” Letang said, referring to his wife, Catherine. “She could tell I was still in pain.”

Sensing her husband needed encouragement to press the reset button, Catherine did what her husband would do: She brought the truth.

“She said, ‘I think you should go back to training, go back to the team, go back to your routine that you do every single day so you can get back into it,’” Kris Letang said, recalling one of the most important conversations of his hockey life.

“It actually really helped me.”

Hockey helped, particularly all that comes with playing it for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Practices. Staying on the ice to fine-tune his technique and work with teammates who sought to pick up some tips. Film study. Off-ice workouts. Morning skates and team meetings before games and media scrums after.

Being present for each small but normal moment instead of spending long days and sleepless nights contemplating the…

CRANBERRY TWP, Pa. — Evgeni Malkin isn’t thrilled with how November has played out for him on the ice, but a visit from his wife, Anna, and son, Nikita, lifted his spirits last week.

“Not here for long, but I’m in better mood when they here,” Malkin said. “Nikita has school, (soccer) tournaments, so they can’t stay long. I wish longer.”

Malkin’s family spends much of the regular season in South Florida, where he has a home and another one for his parents, who usually make an annual trip to North America during the last month of the regular season. His parents didn’t make that trip last season because the Penguins missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in Malkin’s career.

Some good vibes in recent days were therapeutic for Malkin, who said he hasn’t slept well some nights during a stretch where he has scored only two goals and five points in 10 games. Overall, Malkin has scored nine goals and 18 points, but he has played in every game (as he did last season).

Malkin spoke to The Athletic on a myriad of topics Monday, including his play and the Penguins’ push for the playoffs.

(Note: Conversation has been edited for clarity and length.)

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How have you felt about your season so far?

Ha! It’s 20 games.

It’s good start. First, like, 12-14 games is…

At the beginning of a video call with Pittsburgh media Thursday afternoon, Tristan Jarry briefly excused himself to deal with a barking dog. No big thing, but nonetheless one more — and if Jarry has his way, one last — delay before he could finally move on from a “very frustrating” previous 10 months.

“Sorry, give me a couple of seconds,” Jarry said before a brief on-screen disappearance.

He returned to take questions for the first time since signing a new contract with the Penguins, though most of his answers weren’t about that five-year deal worth almost $27 million. And though his actions during the upcoming season will speak louder than any words he offered Thursday, Jarry’s level-headed demeanor as he repeatedly addressed an elephant in the organization — his health — perhaps provided a glimpse of what Kyle Dubas saw when visiting him, his wife and their dogs in Edmonton late in June.

“I was excited he took the time to come see me, it showed a lot,” Jarry said. “It really helped us make that decision.”

Helpful, no doubt, was Dubas’ having arrived at the Jarrys’ residence already confident — after meeting extensively with team doctors and trainers, and also coach Mike Sullivan and goaltending coach Andy Chiodo — he was greeting a healthy…

Editor’s Note: This story is included in The Athletic’s Best of 2023. View the full list.

Early last summer, at his spacious home in Montreal, Kris Letang finally saw the document that secured his future in Pittsburgh.

No stranger to the multi-page, standard player contract, this one was particularly special. It was his fourth, and probably his last. It contained specific elements Letang and his agent required. One line read “six years.” Another read “$36.6 million.” The line that Letang really loved?: “full no-movement clause.”

Together, those words recommitted Letang and the Penguins, the only NHL franchise he had ever known. With his wife, Catherine, nearby and his two young children, Victoria and Alexander, elsewhere inside their house, Letang signed his name. At 35, he would finish his career in Pittsburgh.

As word spread last July 7, Letang’s phone blew up. The flood of well-wishers included teammates past and present, various Penguins personnel he’d befriended over his previous 16 seasons, and family and friends. He took only a few calls. Among them: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, his oldest and dearest teammates in Pittsburgh, who were thrilled for him.

Crosby, the Penguins captain and franchise icon, had made it clear to general manager Ron Hextall…