Bill Durnan may have only played seven seasons in the National Hockey League, but his vast accomplishments were impossible to ignore. In six of his seven years, Durnan won the Vezina Trophy and was a First Team All Star. He would also backstop the Habs to the Stanley Cup twice. Had Bill Durnan entered the league sooner (he did not enter until he was 28, content to retain his amateur status) and not retired early (he retired at the age of 35, while still on top), it is possible that he might be considered among the best Goalies of all time. As such, he is the best Goalie that time seems to have forgotten.

His physical style, checking ability and the letter “S” at the start of his last name made Babe Siebert the perfect complement to the scoring touch of Nels Stewart and the passing skills of Hooley Smith on the Montreal Maroons famed “S Line”. It was in Montreal where Siebert started his career and posted his best offensive statistics.

Tommy Gorman’s family purchased the Ottawa Senators, and gradually Tommy worked his way up the ranks to the point where he ran the franchise. Gorman was part of the group that formed the National Hockey League in 1917 and he would become the manager and part owner of the Senators that won three Stanley Cups. After selling his interest in Ottawa, he would become the coach in Chicago and took them to a Stanley Cup. He had a dispute with the Blackhawks owner, left to join the Montreal Maroons and coached them the following year to the final Cup in that franchise’s history. Again proving he was a certified winner, he joined the cross town Montreal Canadians and became the General Manager of a team that won two more cups! Tommy Gorman became (and remains) the only General Manager to win a championship four times in the big four North American sports.

A somewhat puzzling induction, Tom Hooper’s induction is largely based on his performance in the Kenora Thistles Stanley Cup win in 1907 where he scored three goals in the second game. Hooper would win another Cup, but was largely ineffective in that win for his Montreal Wanderers. Hooper had a good career, but his is one of the pre-NHL inductions that we will openly question.