Hockey Hall of Fame

The Hockey Hall of Fame, housed in Toronto, was established in 1943 under the leadership of James T. Sutherland to honor elite individuals in the sport of hockey. The first Hall of Fame class was inducted in 1945, before the Hall of Fame had a permanent home. The first full-time Hall of Fame building opened in 1961 at Exhibition Place in Toronto, and the museum was relocated to its current home in 1993.

As of 2012, the Hall of Fame honors 370 members -- 255 players, 100 builders and 15 on-ice officials. The players category covers all players, male and female, from around the world, but primarily focuses on players from the National Hockey League. The builders category covers coaches, executives, commentators and others who have contributed to the game in an extraordinary way.

Induction Process

Currently, individuals can be honored by the Hall of Fame in one of three categories: players, builders or on-ice officials. Candidates for induction are nominated by an 18-person selection committee, made up of Hall of Famers, hockey personnel and media members. The committee includes at least one expert on international hockey and one expert on amateur hockey, to ensure those groups are properly represented.

Each committee member can nominate one candidate per category per year, with nominations due by April 15 of the voting year. In June, the committee meets and holds a series of votes on the nominees. Any individual receiving at least 75 percent of the vote of the committee is inducted. Individuals receiving less than 50 percent of the vote are dropped from subsequent ballots. If the maximum number of inductees is not reached on the first vote, a series of runoff votes is held, continuing the process until either a maximum is reached or all individuals have dropped off.

In an induction year, a maximum of four players and two builders/on-ice officials can be inducted. Players and on-ice officials have to be retired for three years before becoming eligible for nomination. Builders can be nominated while still active. In 2010, the Hall of Fame created a subcategory of players for female nominees, with a maximum of two women eligible for induction in any given year. That year, Angela James and Cammi Granato became the first women inducted into the Hall of Fame.

In the past, the Hall of Fame has waived the three-year waiting period for players it deemed exceptional, most recently Wayne Gretzky, who was inducted the year immediately following his retirement in 1999. Following that induction, the Hall of Fame ruled that the waiting period would no longer be waived, except in the event of "certain humanitarian circumstances."

The Hall of Fame also presents the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award to distinguished newspaper professionals and the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award to members of the radio and television industry. Similar to the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford Frick Award, recipients of the Ferguson and Hewitt Awards are honored by the Hall of Fame but are not considered "Hall of Famers" (though they can be nominated for induction in the builders category).

The Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame museum is located in Toronto at a former Bank of Montreal building. The current location opened in 1993, after the Hall of Fame outgrew its previous location in Exhibition Place. The currently location holds more than 50,000 square feet of exhibit space and hosts more than 300,000 visitors a year.

The centerpiece of the Hockey Hall of Fame is the Great Hall, which holds the Stanley Cup -- a replica takes the place of the presentation trophy when the Cup is traveling -- and the NHL's other annual trophies. Portraits of all the members of the Hall of Fame are on display in the Great Hall. The Great Hall also has the original Stanley Cup on display.

The Hall of Fame also has exhibits dedicated to the current NHL, past NHL dynasties, and international and Olympic hockey.

Removed Members

In 1993, NHL president Gil Stein was announced as a Hall of Fame inductee. However, his induction was immediately called into question, with allegations that he'd manipulated the board of directors to get selected. Commissioner Gary Bettman hired two independent lawyers to investigate, and they determined that Stein had manipulated the process, with the involvement of then-Kings owner Bruce McNall, who was serving as the chairman of the NHL's Board of Governors. They recommended that Stein's election be overturned, but Stein himself turned down the induction before they made their recommendation.

Alan Eagleson became the only enshrined member of the Hall of Fame to be removed after being inducted. In 1998, Eagleson -- who'd been inducted as a builder in 1989 -- pleaded guilty to mail fraud and embezzling money from the NHL Players' Association pension funds. The Hall of Fame scheduled a vote on whether to remove him, after dozens of Hall of Famers called for his expulsion. Six days before the vote, Eagleson voluntarily resigned from the Hall of Fame.