Usually, Goalies are not unsung heroes in Stanley Cup wins, but a case could be made that Matt Murray falls into this category.

Murray toiled in the minors for two years before he was called up late in the 2015-16 Season, and he logged almost all of the minutes in between the pipes during the Penguins' Stanley Cup win.  The Penguins also had Marc-Andre Fleury, who was arguably the better Goalie, but he was injured. Murray looked like a superstar on the rise, though it was Sidney Crosby and company that gained the bulk of the attention.

Although he was already a Stanley Cup Champion, Murray was Calder eligible, finishing fourth for the honor and securing an All-Rookie nod with a 2.41 GAA and .923 Save Percentage, his best year in Pittsburgh.  The Penguins again repeated as Stanley Cup Champions, though they shared netminding duties with Fleury in their repeat.

Despite his youth, Murray seemed to regress and dealt with concussion issues.  After two more years in Pittsburgh, Murray was traded to the Ottawa Senators.  As a Penguin, Murray won two Cups and had a very good record of 117-53-19.

You don’t think of Omaha, Nebraska, as a hockey hotbed, but it was in Cornhusker territory where Jake Guentzel came from.  

The Nebraskan stayed in state, competing collegiately for the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and while this was not a hockey powerhouse, Guentzel impressed in college, bringing the school to their first Frozen Four.  Taken in the Third Round of the NHL Draft years before, Guentzel joined the Penguins in 2016, making the team after a brief stop in the AHL, and he would play a large role in the Penguins in their 2017 Stanley Cup win, where he led all skaters in Goals (13) and Even-Strength Goals (11).

The Center had 48 Points in its first full year (2017-18), and it increased that to 76 the following year.  In the last three years, Guentzel has averaged over a point per game, specifically 184 Points in 171 Games.  Guentzel went to his first All-Star Game in 2021/22, and tied his previous best of 40 Goals, and had 73 Points in 2022/23.

Although Guentzel was still performing at a point-per-game level in 2023-24 (52 Points and 50 Games), the Penguins, who were struggling, traded him to the Carolina Panthers at the trade dealine.  With Pittsburgh, Guentzel compiled 466 Points in 503 Games.

LeSean McCoy, who played twelve years in the NFL, signed a one-day contract with his original NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles, and is now retired from professional football.

From the University of Pittsburgh, McCoy was phenomenal with the Panthers, winning the Big East Offensive Player of the Year (2008) and parlaying that into a Second Round Pick to the same-state Philadelphia Eagles in 2009.

McCoy played his first six years with the Eagles, four of which would see the Running Back exceed the four-digit mark in Rushing Yards.  The “scat back” led the NFL in Rushing Touchdowns (17) in 2011, and in Rushing Yards in 2013 (1,607) and in both of those seasons, McCoy was a First Team All-Pro.

As special as McCoy was with Philadelphia, the team traded the Running Back to the Buffalo Bills, where he added three more Pro Bowls (in addition to the three he had in Philadelphia) with two 1,000-Yard plus Rushing years.  

As special as McCoy was with Philadelphia, the team traded the Running Back to the Buffalo Bills, where he added three more Pro Bowls (in addition to the three he had in Philadelphia) with two 1,000-Yard plus Rushing years.  

McCoy joined Kansas City, assisting the Chiefs in their win in Super Bowl LIV, and he finished his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where although he did not play in the Super Bowl, retired as a back-to-back champion.

As special as McCoy was with Philadelphia, the team traded the Running Back to the Buffalo Bills, where he added three more Pro Bowls (in addition to the three he had in Philadelphia) with two 1,000-Yard plus Rushing years.  

McCoy joined Kansas City, assisting the Chiefs in their win in Super Bowl LIV, and he finished his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where although he did not play in the Super Bowl, retired as a back-to-back champion.

Overall, McCoy had 11,102 Rushing Yards, 73 Rushing Touchdowns and an even 15,000 Yards from Scrimmage with 89 Touchdowns.

He will be honored this Sunday in Philadelphia.

In our 2021 pre-season ranking of active players to consider for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, McCoy was ranked at #29 Overall and #3 in Running Backs.  He is now Hall of Fame eligible in 2026, and should be considered a fringe contender for Canton. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish McCoy the best in his post-playing career.

Up next on this list, we have Gene Watson. He was raised in Paris, Texas but relocated to Houston in 1963. Gene was spending his time in Houston working in an auto body shop while playing local clubs at night. After recording a couple independent albums, someone at Capitol Records happened to pick up a copy and Gene was eventually signed to the label. He never was a huge star nor one to be showered with awards, but Gene stayed in back and slowly built a collection of hits for over a decade and was a solid radio performer for the country music genre. When it comes time for the Hall Of Fame to do their voting on new inductees, Gene is not ever going to be a name that stands out as an obvious one to vote for. But with a large group of fans (who have petitions going to get him in) and him continuing to tour around to keep the legacy of country music alive, he might just end up getting his name on a plaque in the Hall Of Fame one of these days.