Keith Tkachuk makes Hall of Fame after sons become teammates - ESPN

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