The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup. Founded in Kingston, Ontario, the Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1943 under the leadership of James T. Sutherland. The first class of honoured members was inducted in 1945, before the Hall of Fame had a permanent location. It moved to Toronto in 1958 after the NHL withdrew its support for the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston, Ontario, due to funding issues. Its first permanent building opened at Exhibition Place in 1961. The hall was relocated in 1993, and is now in downtown Toronto, inside Brookfield Place, and a historic Bank of Montreal building. The Hockey Hall of Fame has hosted International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) exhibits and the IIHF Hall of Fame since 1998.
An 18-person committee of players, coaches and others meets annually in June to select new honourees, who are inducted as players, builders or on-ice officials. In 2010, a subcategory was established for female players. The builders' category includes coaches, general managers, commentators, team owners and others who have helped build the game. Honoured members are inducted into the Hall of Fame in an annual ceremony held at the Hall of Fame building in November, which is followed by a special "Hockey Hall of Fame Game" between the Toronto Maple Leafs and a visiting team. , 310 players (including ten women), 119 builders and 16 on-ice officials have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame has been criticized for focusing mainly on players from the National Hockey League and largely ignoring players from other North American and international leagues.
History The Hockey Hall of Fame was established through the efforts of James T. Sutherland, a former president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). Sutherland sought to establish it in Kingston, Ontario, as he believed that the city was the birthplace of hockey.Honoured members: the Hockey Hall of Fame, p. 1 In 1943, the NHL and CAHA reached an agreement that a Hall of Fame would be established in Kingston. Originally called the "International Hockey Hall of Fame", its mandate was to honour great hockey players and to raise funds for a permanent location. The first nine "honoured members" (players Hobey Baker, Charlie Gardiner, Eddie Gerard, Frank McGee, Howie Morenz, Tommy Phillips, Harvey Pulford, Hod Stuart and Georges Vezina) were inducted on April 30, 1945, although the Hall of Fame still did not have a permanent home. The first board of governors included hockey executives Red Dutton, Art Ross, Frank Sargent, and Lester Patrick; and journalists Abbie Coo, Wes McKnight, Basil O'Meara, J. P. Fitzgerald, and W. A. Hewitt.
Kingston lost its most influential advocate as permanent site of the Hockey Hall of Fame when Sutherland died in 1955. By 1958, the Hockey Hall of Fame had still not raised sufficient funds to construct a permanent building in Kingston. Clarence Campbell, then President of the NHL, grew tired of waiting for the construction to begin and withdrew the NHL's support to situate the hall in Kingston. In January 1958, the NHL and the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) reached an agreement to establish a new Hall of Fame building in Toronto, and Frank J. Selke was named managing director of the project.
The temporary Hockey Hall of Fame opened as an exhibit within Canada's Sports Hall of Fame at Exhibition Place in August 1958, and 350,000 people visited it during the 1958 CNE fair.Honoured members: the Hockey Hall of Fame, p. 25 Due to the success of the exhibit, NHL and CNE decided that a permanent home in the Exhibition Place was needed.Honoured members: the Hockey Hall of Fame, p. 33 The NHL agreed to fully fund the building of the new facility on the grounds of Exhibition Place, and construction began in 1960.Honoured members: the Hockey Hall of Fame, p. 35
The first permanent Hockey Hall of Fame, which shared a building with the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, was opened on August 26, 1961, by Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. Over 750,000 people visited the Hall in its inaugural year.Honoured members: the Hockey Hall of Fame, p. 47 Admission to the Hockey Hall of Fame was free until 1980, when the Hockey Hall of Fame facilities underwent expansion.
By 1986, the Hall of Fame was running out of room in its existing facilities and the board of directors decided that a new home was needed.Honoured members: the Hockey Hall of Fame, p. 155 The Hall vacated the Exhibition Place building in 1992, and its half was taken over by the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. The building was eventually demolished; portion of its façade was preserved as an entrance to BMO Field stadium. Development of the new location in the BCE Place complex (now Brookfield Place, featuring the former Bank of Montreal at the corner of Yonge and Front Streets in Toronto, began soon after. The design was by Frank Darling and S. George Curry. The new Hockey Hall of Fame officially opened on June 18, 1993. The new location has of exhibition space, seven times larger than that of the old facility. The Hockey Hall of Fame averaged an annual attendance of 292,000 between 1994 and 2019.
Operations and organization The first curator of the new Hall of Fame was Bobby Hewitson. Following Hewitson's retirement in 1967, Lefty Reid was appointed to the position. Reid was curator of the Hockey Hall of Fame for the next 25 years, retiring in 1992. Following Reid's retirement, former NHL referee-in-chief Scotty Morrison, who was the president of the Hockey Hall of Fame since 1986, was appointed curator. Morrison supervised the relocation of the Hall of Fame and its exhibits. The current curator is Phil Pritchard.
The Hockey Hall of Fame is led by Lanny McDonald, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Denomme. McDonald was succeeded by Mike Gartner in June 2025. The Hall of Fame is operated as a non-profit business called the "Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum" (HHFM), independent of the National Hockey League. It was originally sponsored by the NHL and Hockey Canada and revenue is generated mainly through admissions.
Exhibits
The Hockey Hall of Fame has 15 exhibit areas covering . Visitors can view trophies, memorabilia and equipment worn by players during special games. The Esso Great Hall, described as "a Cathedral to the icons of Hockey", contains portraits and biographical information about every Hall of Fame honoured member. The centrepiece of the Great Hall is the Stanley Cup; for part of the year a replica is put on display when the presentation cup travels outside of the Hall of Fame. The original version of the Cup and the older rings, as well as all of the current National Hockey League trophies, are displayed in the bank vault, an alcove off the Great Hall. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held in the Great Hall until it outgrew the space and moved to the Allan Lambert Galleria in Brookfield Place.
The NHL Zone is a large area featuring displays relating to the NHL. Current teams and players are highlighted in the NHL Today area, while the NHL Retro displays include memorabilia and information about every NHL team past and present. The NHL Legends area features rotating exhibits focusing on honoured members; and NHL Milestones displays exhibits of noteworthy records including Darryl Sittler's ten-point game and Wayne Gretzky's all-time points record. The Stanley Cup dynasties exhibit features displays that include memorabilia from the rosters of nine teams considered to be dynasties because they dominated the NHL for several years at a time. This area also has a replica of the Montreal Canadiens' dressing room as it existed at the old Montreal Forum. The St. Louis Bar and Grill Arena Zone is dedicated to hockey across all levels of play in North America; it includes exhibits about various leagues and sections on women's and disabled hockey leagues. Newly renovated, the exhibit now contains several big ticket items including trophies from multiple North American leagues, artifacts from all Original Six arenas, and a full size Zamboni machine once used at the Boston Garden.
Interactive displays are featured at the NHLPA Gametime, visitors take shots using real pucks at a computer simulation of goaltender Ed Belfour. Visitors can also take turns playing goaltender, blocking shots from computer simulations of players like Sidney Crosby, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. The TSN/RDS Broadcast Zone provides a look at how hockey broadcasting works and allows users to record messages that may be displayed on both the Hockey Hall of Fame's website, and the TSN/RDS networks.
World of Hockey Zone
While many of the Hall of Fame exhibits are dedicated to the NHL, there is a large section devoted to hockey leagues and players outside North America. On June 29, 1998, the World of Hockey Zone opened.See description of agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) – concerning the IIHF Hall of Fame – at List of members of the IIHF Hall of Fame. See also: It is a area dedicated to international hockey, including World and Olympic competition and contains profiles on all International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) member countries.
The IIHF agreed to transfer its exhibits from the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston, Ontario, to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998. The World of Hockey Zone is sponsored by Tissot. The zone includes the IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame honour roll, listing each inductee by country and year of enshrinement. Each national association member of the IIHF is represented in the collection of artifacts in the display, which includes many national team hockey jerseys. The World of Hockey also recognizes members of the Triple Gold Club, and displays memorabilia from the "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. Other notable events included are the 1972 Summit Series, the men's and women's Ice Hockey World Championships, national-level hockey leagues in Europe, the Spengler Cup, the World Cup of Hockey, and the Canada Cup.
A new addition to the World of Hockey is Women's Hockey: Celebrating Excellence. This exhibit takes a deep dive into the history of the women's game and features stories and artifacts beginning with the earliest days of women's hockey and continuing through to the PWHL.
Hall of Fame
Selection process As of 2009, new members can be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as players, builders or on-ice officials. The builders' category includes coaches, general managers, commentators, team owners and others who have helped build the game. The category for on-ice officials was added in 1961Honoured members: the Hockey Hall of Fame, p. 39 and a "veteran player" category was established in 1988. The purpose of the category was to "provide a vehicle for players who may have been overlooked and whose chances for election would be limited when placed on the same ballot with contemporary players". Eleven players were inducted into that category, but in 2000, the Board of Directors eliminated it; the players who had been inducted under this category were merged into the player category.