{"id":550060,"date":"2026-04-11T05:10:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T05:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/550060\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T05:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T05:10:18","slug":"trio-inducted-in-inaugural-hall-of-fame-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/550060\/","title":{"rendered":"Trio inducted in inaugural Hall of Fame class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago Blackhawks players and fans on Friday trickled their way to the USG Arena, the new home of USHL\u2019s Chicago Steel. The event on the Near West Side was more prestigious than a junior hockey league game.<\/p>\n

It was a special evening full of tear-jerking speeches, lengthy applause and a trip down memory lane of 100 years of Hawks hockey. Sitting in the front row were legendary players and their families, soaking in a long list of historic moments.<\/p>\n

Retired Hall of Fame broadcaster Pat Foley kicked things off the only way he could \u2014 thanking the players for their contributions to the centennial franchise. Their names already etched in Hawks history, they now can say it officially.<\/p>\n

Duncan Keith, Steve Larmer and the late Troy Murray were inducted into the inaugural class of the Hawks Hall of Fame on Friday evening. The trio joined the \u201cautomatic inductees\u201d who already have their sweaters hanging in the United Center rafters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible honor,\u201d said Larmer, the former right wing. \u201cTo be part of this, to have played 11 years here, (I) come in as a young kid and left as a man. It was a lot of fun playing in the old Chicago Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n

After giving some love to the retired sweaters, Foley turned his attention to Murray, the benevolent and beloved Hawks great who died of cancer last month at age 63<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before a video of Murray highlights aired, Foley closed his introduction:\u00a0\u201cHe was everything you want a Blackhawk to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks drafted Murray in the third round (No. 57) of the 1980 draft. He played 12 of his 15 NHL seasons with the Hawks, winning the Selke Trophy in 1985-86 after a career-best 45 goals and 99 points.<\/p>\n

He scored 20-plus goals in five straight seasons (1984-85 to 1988-89) and finished his two Hawks tenures with 488 points (197 goals, 291 assists). Overall, he finished his career with 584 points (230 goals, 354 assists) in 915 games with the Hawks, Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche \u2014 with whom he won a Stanley Cup in his final season in 1996.<\/p>\n

His time with the Hawks wouldn\u2019t end there \u2014 he spent 27 years as a radio analyst alongside John Wiedeman. The pair was named the best sports play-by-play team from the Illinois Broadcasters Association.<\/p>\n

\"TroyTroy Murray, right, greets Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews before a game against the Senators on Feb. 21, 2018, at the United Center. (Nam Y. Huh\/AP file)<\/p>\n

Murray\u2019s son, Blake, accepted the Hall of Fame honor on his father\u2019s behalf and read a multipage speech as the crowd gazed upon him. One thing Blake noted about his dad: He saw hockey as his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for what you did for the beautiful game of hockey,\u201d Murray said before embracing Foley and being flooded with applause.<\/p>\n

Larmer, Murray\u2019s former teammate, was introduced by another Hawks legend in Denis Savard, a visual of how much history was in the building. Fans of different generations showed their appreciation for the two.<\/p>\n

\u201cDenis was a great teammate, we played together for eight years and we had a lot of success together with Al (Secord),\u201d Larmer, 64, said. \u201cHe\u2019s been a great friend, one of the few guys I stay in touch with from that era. It\u2019s great, he was a fun guy to play with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks drafted Larmer in the sixth round (No. 120) in 1980, and he became a model of consistency for the franchise. He appeared in 884 straight regular-season games from 1982-83 \u2014 when he won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league\u2019s top rookie \u2014 through 1992-93, totaling 70-plus points in each of those 11 seasons. He played his final two seasons with the New York Rangers, winning a Stanley Cup in 1994, and finished his career with 1,012 points (441 goals, 571 assists).<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve Larmer played in 884 straight regular-season games with the Blackhawks. (Jim Prisching\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Murray and Larmer played their first full seasons with the Hawks together. Now their names sit in the same Hall of Fame class forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an Original Six team, it\u2019s been around for 100 years and there were a lot of great players who came and played,\u201d Larmer said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to play for a franchise that has as much history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those on hand Friday were current Hawks players, a roster that\u2019s the youngest in the NHL. Larmer sees similarities to his early teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to keep building on that and keep playing and keep getting better, all teams go through it \u2014 we went through that in the early 1980s,\u201d Larmer said. \u201cYou have a bad game, you forget about it, wake up the next morning, put your boots on and go to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the young Hawks most connected with Keith, the night\u2019s third honoree. The former defenseman, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last year, helped the Hawks win Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015.<\/p>\n

During his speech, Keith gave shout-outs to Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook, among other teammates. He also gave love to the current Hawks, specifically Connor Bedard.<\/p>\n

\"BlackhawksBlackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith celebrates after the clinching victory over the Flyers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 9, 2010, in Philadelphia. (Scott Strazzante\/ Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not all just about one guy or one player or one group of players, it\u2019s all 20 guys pulling on the rope and being a part of the team success,\u201d Keith, 42, said. \u201cCertainly Connor has shown improvement in his game and that drive and motivation that he can be a good leader for this group, but it\u2019s going to take everyone to step up and take on some leadership role.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good western boy, so let\u2019s get that straight. Hawks are in good hands with that,\u201d the Winnipeg, Manitoba, native added about Bedard, who\u2019s from North Vancouver, British Columbia.<\/p>\n

Drafted in the second round (No. 54) in 2002, Keith would become one of the best blueliners in history. His 2009-10 season stands out after racking up 69 points (14 goals, 55 assists) and winning the first of his two Norris trophies as the league\u2019s top defenseman. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2015 after the Hawks won their third Stanley Cup in six years.<\/p>\n

Keith had 21 points (three goals, 18 assists) in the 2015 playoffs, averaging a whopping 31 minutes, 7 seconds of ice time \u2014 including a 49:51 effort in a three-overtime win versus the Anaheim Ducks in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. And he scored the game-winning goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the clinching Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouldn\u2019t be more proud to join former Blackhawk players (like) with Steve and Troy,\u201d Keith said. \u201cIt comes down (when you) play with so many great teammates that push you and make you a better player.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nine Hawks whose numbers are retired \u2014 Glenn Hall, Pierre Pilote, Keith Magnuson, Chris Chelios, Bobby Hull, Denis Savard, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito and Marian Hossa \u2014 were included automatically in the inaugural class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago Blackhawks players and fans on Friday trickled their way to the USG Arena, the new home of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5115],"tags":[521,37,96,62456,5263,8207,5,4,43562,8211,44674],"class_list":{"0":"post-550060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-blackhawks","8":"tag-blackhawks","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","11":"tag-chicago-blackhawks-hall-of-fame","12":"tag-chicagoblackhawks","13":"tag-duncan-keith","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-pat-foley","17":"tag-steve-larmer","18":"tag-troy-murray"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116384356785429495","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}