Arguably, Scott Gomez is one of the greatest players from the state of Alaska and as a New Jersey Devil in his rookie year he would win the Calder Trophy and the Stanley Cup.  The Alaskan would win another Stanley Cup in 2003 and would have four 70 Point seasons in the NHL.

A member of the Detroit Red Wings for years, Pavel Datsyuk has thus far spent his career in the National Hockey League as a productive scorer and discipline player who as a four time Lady Byng Trophy and three time Frank J. Selke Trophy Award winner brings to the table a very unique Hockey Hall of Fame resume.

A long time San Jose Shark, Patrick Marleau has been very productive over his career and has gone to three All Star Games. Nearing (as of this writing) the 1,000 point total, Marleau is regarded as a very efficient player, but the question that will be asked once he is Hall of Fame eligible is was he ever considered an elite player?   Many would say that Marleau is in the “Hall of Very Good” and without a major trophy he might struggle to get in unless he stat accumulation is impossible to ignore.

Arriving to the NHL relatively late (age 28), Niklas Backstrom would emerge as one of the better Goalies in the league as a member of the Minnesota Wild. Backstrom would win the William M. Jennings Award in his rookie year (with Manny Fernandez) and lead the NHL in Goals Against Average. The Finnish Goaltender finished with a very good National Hockey League career, but without really being considered in the upper echelon his path to Toronto will be difficult.