A day after he learned his sons would become teammates in the NHL, Keith Tkachuk was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday.
On Sunday, the Ottawa Senators traded captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, who already have his brother Matthew on the roster, reuniting a pair of players who starred for Team USA in February's Winter Olympics.
On Monday, the family patriarch, nicknamed "Walt" Tkachuk, became part of a player Hall of Fame class that includes center Patrice Bergeron, who won the Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 and the Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward six times, goaltenders Carey Price from Montreal and Pekka Rinne from Nashville, and U.S. women's hockey pioneer Cindy Curley.
Executive Brian Burke is also set to be inducted in November.
Tkachuk was one of the premier power forwards of his era, playing in the 1990s and 2000s as part of the first great generation of American hockey players. He recorded 1,121 points in 1,290 games, counting the playoffs, with Winnipeg, Phoenix, St. Louis and Atlanta, and was part of the U.S. team that won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
"I was blessed to play in the greatest sports league in the world," Tkachuk said. "Through good times and bad times, it was always the best experience imaginable."
Tkachuk led the league in goals only once (1996-97), but was otherwise a model of consistency. He ranks 35th all time in NHL tallies, though he did not win a Stanley Cup, a feat his son, Matthew, has achieved twice with the Panthers.
Bergeron was a first-ballot option following his retirement from the Bruins in 2023. Lauded as one of the best defensive forwards in NHL history, Bergeron won the Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward six times during his 19-season NHL career (2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2022, 2023), more than any other player in league history. He was a finalist for the award in 12 straight seasons from 2011-12 to 2022-23, his final campaign. And his 57.9% faceoff winning percentage ranks as one of the highest all-time.
Price, a longtime netminder for the Canadiens, was on the ballot last year, but the loaded 2025 class already included his contemporaries Zdeno Chara, Duncan Keith and Joe Thornton. At his peak, Price was considered the best goalie in the sport. From 2013-17, Price had 125 wins in 199 games with a .928 save percentage and 20 shutouts. He became just the eighth goalie to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 2014-15, winning the Vezina Trophy as top goaltender and the Ted Lindsay Award as NHLPA player of the year as well.
Price was also awarded gold with Team Canada in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and at the 2007 world junior championships. He also led the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.
Rinne spent the whole of his NHL career from 2005-21 with the Predators after coming over to North America from the Finnish Elite League. Over the course of his 15 NHL seasons, Rinne won a Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender in 2018, recorded 369 wins, and collected 60 shutouts.
Curley is a longtime player, coach and executive. Hailing from Stow, Massachusetts, Curley was a standout forward with the Providence College Friars and helped them to a pair of NCAA championships in 1983-84 and 1984-85. She went on to be part of the inaugural 1990 IIHF Women's World Championships squad that saw Team USA win silver. And she won two more of those medals at the 1992 and 1994 games while also serving as the U.S. captain.
Burke made the class as one of the game's touted builders. His management career began in 1987 as director of hockey operations and vice president of the Vancouver Canucks, where he remained until 1992 when Burke departed to join the Hartford Whalers as GM.
It was a short stint that rolled into Burke being ensconced at the league's head office as senior vice president and director of hockey operations in 1993. Burke went back to Vancouver in 1998 as the Canucks president and general manager, before moving on to be the executive vice president for Anaheim, where he led the Ducks to a Stanley Cup in 2007. The Rhode Island product also held management roles with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The class will have its official ceremony Nov. 9.
Information from ESPN's Greg Wyshynski and the Associated Press was used in this report.