Should Jaccob Slavin deserve more love as a future Hockey Hall of Famer?

On Saturday, the Hockey Hall of Fame will induct former NHLers Patrice Bergeron, Carey Price, Pekka Rinne, and Keith Tkachuk, executive Brian Burke, and former women’s player Cindy Curley as its class of 2026. Whenever another Hall of Fame class comes around, discussions arise about which current players are deserving of future Hall of Fame consideration.

Paul Pidutti’s recent Hall of Fame tiers ranking does a great job of outlining which players are making the best case for Hall of Fame inclusion one day. It’s of course topped by active legends like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, and lists in-their-prime stars like Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon as no-doubters. But which under-the-radar players could be quietly putting together a Hall-of-Fame resume?

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk was joined by Jeff Marek to identify a contemporary NHLer that is making a stronger Hall-of-Fame case than most realize.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Is there anyone right now in the NHL who you think we’re overlooking their eventual Hall-of-Fame candidacy?

Jeff Marek: Can I get on my stump about something?

Tyler Yaremchuk: Yes. You’re going to say a defensive defenseman, aren’t you?

Jeff Marek: You know it. You’ve known me for long enough. Where’s Jaccob Slavin? There are some players that aren’t going to have the boxcar numbers that make you go “Hall of Fame”, but you ask any of the players and you ask any of the coaches or anyone around the game and they’ll tell you, you win championships with players like Jaccob Slavin. Every single team wants this guy. Every single team would drive a bulldozer through their salary structure or through their blueline to accommodate Jaccob Slavin or someone like him.

The Hall of Fame is doing a really good job cleaning up the goaltending situation. I was really happy to see Kevin Lowe go in, because there’s a defensive defenseman. We used to always just point at Rod Langway and go “See, there’s a defensive defenseman in there.” We’ll have the conversations about the Leo Boivin’s of the world, etc. But defensive defensemen belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame. If ‘pure goal scorers’ go in, why the resistance to put in pure defensemen?

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Friday’s episode here…