Good morning Toronto Maple Leafs fans!

Yesterday afternoon the Hockey Hall of Fame announced the class of 2024 and I am unimpressed this time around.

First, the good news. The HHoF selection committee remembered that they can induct two women at once and did just that.

Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl are entering the Hall this fall.

Darwitz has won countless medals with the US National Team, including three World Championship gold medals and two Olympic silver medals. She is a member of the IIHF Hall of Fame and managed Minnesota to the very first PWHL Championship, but was let go shortly afterwards.

Krissy Wendell-Pohl is another US National Team member, with a few less medals than Darwitz, but is top 10 in NCAA scoring from her time with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. She retired in 2007, and has been a youth hockey coach and is currently a scout with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

David Poile is going in as a builder, having worked in NHL front offices since he was an administrative assistant for the Atlanta Flames in 1972. He is also has our mandatory Toronto connection, being born in the city.

He stays where he works for a long time. He stayed with the Flames after their move to Calgary; he worked his way up to assistant general manager in Atlanta and left that position in 1982 when he took over as VP and GM of the Washington Capitals where he held that position until 1995.

After that he became the first General Manager of the Nashville Predators in 1997 and only left the position at the end of the 2022-23 season, where he took the usual retirement position of Senior Advisor.

Pavel Datsyuk is one of the male inductees and we all know about him

The questionable inductees people are talking about are Jeremy Roenick, Shea Weber, and Colin Campbell.

Roenick and Weber are well known names, and have played big roles in the NHL, but a lot of people point to their good numbers but no Stanley Cups.

Weber has won plenty outside of that; One Memorial Cup, one WHL Championship, Olympic gold, World Cup gold. World Championship gold, World Juniors gold, and captained the Predators and Canadiens.

Roenick is a big name, fits the game part of the hall for sure. As a player he never captained a team or won much of anything. He was a Calder Trophy finalist in 1990, and won an Olympic Silver medal (lost to Canada for gold) in 2002. He was a talking head on NBCs hockey coverage for a while and is well quoted for this tweet:

JR goes off on Kovalchuk
Jeremy Roenick has facts *and* opinions to share about Thursday’s big NHL news.
SBNation.comJames Pennington

But, overall he was loud and opinionated, and always made for a good quote which got him plenty of camera time. This where we must remember it's a hall of fame, not excellence, which I discussed here regarding John Tavares.

Is John Tavares a Hall of Fame player?
John Tavares is an exceptional player and will be remembered for a long time after he’s retired. Should he enter the Hall of Fame?
PPP LeafsAdam Selvig

One of the most questionable additions this year is NHL executive Colin Campbell. Campbell is most notorious for his emails regarding the treatment of his son Gregory by the NHL officials.

Have Savard emails exposed NHL’s Colin Campbell as corrupt?
Blogger Tyler Dellow has damned NHL vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell with his own words.
Yahoo SportsGreg Wyshynski

The story also connects the dots to Campbell being careless with discipline after Matt Cooke ended current leafs assistant coach Marc Savard's career.

After calling Savard "a little fake artist" in his emails, Campbell decided this play wasn't worth any discipline. Huh.

Anyway he kept working for the NHL and I bet he will replace Gary Bettman if Gary ever retires.

So. That's your class of 2024. It's...whatever.

One final fun fact though, all of the men have been members of the Arizona Coyotes! What a fun treat for the now defunct franchise.

Good riddance, Alex Meruelo. Someone else can do Arizona hockey better
Opinion: Alex Meruelo is reportedly walking away from the Arizona Coyotes. Now, can we talk about what it’ll take to bring hockey back to Arizona?
The Arizona Republic, The Arizona Republic

Ooph, that's way too many words for this early. Here's some other stuff to look at.

Those clowns at Fanatics are at it again, what a bunch of clowns.

Detroit is making cap space. But for who?

PWHL Toronto signed their seventh round pick from this past draft, goalie Raygan Kirk

PWHL TORONTO SIGNS DRAFT PICK RAYGAN KIRK
Professional Women's Hockey Leagueamclellan

Winner of an U18 World Championship gold medal and the NCAA championship will be a good addition to the franchise.

Alright folks, have a great day!

From The Branches