This week is always a weird time on the NHL calendar. The Stanley Cup Final has just ended, and everyone is trying to catch their breath before the offseason truly gets going. The draft, trade rumors and UFA boards are all happening against the backdrop of Cup parties and parades.But we’re also just days away from the announcement of this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame class, which comes Monday. That timing always struck me as a bit odd, since what should be a huge announcement ends up being overshadowed by everything else happening. If you’re a history nerd like me, the HHOF is catnip — perfect for debates and speculation and analysis. But most years, that’s a hard pivot to make after the final has just ended.But maybe not this year, because the Venn diagram between “just crowned the new champions” and “Hall of Fame debates” produces an interesting sliver of overlap, in the form of a question: Did the Carolina Hurricanes just win the Stanley Cup without a single future Hall of Famer on the roster?I think they might have. And if so, that’s an incredibly rare feat. In fact, it’s so rare that it leads to a bigger question: Among teams without any future HHOFers, could the Hurricanes be the best team ever?These Canes were built differentShayna Goldman and Max BultmanWho holds the current crown for best team without a HHOF player?It’s surprisingly difficult to find a truly great team without any Hall of Famers. I tried a few years ago, and the list of candidates was slim. Remember, we’re not saying the team has to be built around HHOFers, or even that they have to play key roles. We just want at least one on the roster. Plenty of teams have had just one, often a veteran near the end of their career playing a leadership role. But none? That’s rare.When I dove in a few years ago, two teams emerged as my best candidates: the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues and the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres. The Blues, of course, won the Stanley Cup that year after sitting dead last in the league in January and finishing with 99 points. The Sabres were a 113-point powerhouse that won the Presidents’ Trophy before falling in the conference final.Both solid options, and both without a single Hall of Famer … yet.That Sabres team had Ryan Miller in goal, and while he’s been eligible for a few years without getting the call, he has a strong case. It wouldn’t be a shock to see him there someday, maybe as early as Monday. And if that happens, the Sabres are out. As for the Blues, while there’s still time for someone such as Robert Thomas or even Jordan Binnington to make a push, it seems like the main spoiler candidate is Alex Pietrangelo. He’s a three-time second-team All-Star and a two-time Cup winner facing an uncertain future. Has he done enough to earn consideration? Probably, but that may not be enough to get him over the finish line.That’s really the whole list as far as truly elite teams. The 2023 Golden Knights are the only other Cup winner without a player who’s either already in the Hall or a slam dunk, according to HHOF maven Paul Pidutti of Adjusted Hockey. If Pietrangelo gets in, he’ll take both the Blues and Knights off the list. Jack Eichel is probably on pace to get there, too, and the Knights also had Jonathan Quick as their backup.Add it all up, and the Hurricanes might have this wrapped up. With all due respect to the Blues and Sabres, this year’s Hurricanes were better than both. They tied the Sabres with 113 points, but they actually won the Cup. And they did it in dominant fashion, going 16-3 over one of the best postseason runs of all time. I’m sure there are some fans in Buffalo or St. Louis who might want to nitpick at Carolina’s credentials, but it’s a tough case to make after what we just watched.So sure, I think the Hurricanes are the easy winner here. But that’s if and only if they actually don’t have any Hall of Famers.Do they? The short answer, of course, is that we don’t know yet. But HHOF season is the time for speculation, debate, and projection. So let’s dive in.The case for a Hurricane in the Hall of FameLike pretty much every other successful team, the Hurricanes are mostly made up of good players who won’t come close to the Hall of Fame. That’s fine — the Hall is meant for the best of the best, and unless you’re the 2002 Red Wings or late-’70s Habs, the vast majority of your roster isn’t in that conversation. The Hurricanes are no exception.But they do have a handful of candidates, and they fall into three categories.The old guysFor our purposes, this is the most interesting group because their Hall of Fame cases are mostly finished products. We don’t need to do a ton of speculation here; we just have to look at the resumes and see if any of them are Hall-worthy.Three names stand out here.Frederik Andersen: Great guy. Great story. Not a Hall of Famer. If he’d stayed hot (and healthy) through the final and won the Conn Smythe, maybe that at least cracks the door open. But after he had to yield the net to Brandon Bussi, it’s not happening unless he goes full Jacques Plante well into his 40s.Jordan Staal: The Conn Smythe at least makes it interesting. The compelling narrative is certainly there — the second overall pick who wins an early Cup as a kid in Pittsburgh, then waits 17 long years to get another, this time as the grizzled captain. He has a ton of Selke votes to point to. But that’s about it as far as the honors go, and he’s 20 years into his career without hitting the 800-point mark. The weird Guy Carbonneau induction means pretty much every defensive center can make a Hall case, but Staal’s isn’t a strong one.Taylor Hall: This might be the most interesting name on the list. Hall has a Hart Trophy, and the list of players to win that and not make the Hall is extremely short. But so far, that was the only year among his 16 seasons that he so much as got an MVP vote, and he’s been well into the veteran journeyman stage of his career for a while now. It was extremely cool to see him emerge as a crucial piece for this year’s Hurricanes run, and if he’d won the Conn Smythe, it would have made the debate at least mildly spicy. As it stands, though, he looks like an offensive player who won’t come close to cracking 1,000 points. I don’t see him getting in.OK, so the veterans don’t offer a ton of HHOF hope. What about the younger stars?The guys in their primeThese are the players who are already well-established NHL stars, but still have enough runway that their careers could go in a variety of directions.Judging the Hall chances of a player in their late 20s can be tricky; it’s not rare for a star at this age to look like a slam dunk, then turn out not to be. That said, I’m not sure any of Carolina’s top names even fall into that category. Let’s take a look.Sebastian Aho: He’s the team’s biggest star and leading scorer. He’s also about to turn 29, and has yet to have a 40-goal or 90-point season. He came in 10th in Hart voting in 2019, which remains his best finish. His seventh-place finish in postseason All-Star voting in 2021 is the only time he’s ever received votes at the ultra-competitive center spot. He’s good defensively, but this year was his first in the top 10 in Selke voting. And while winning a Cup will help his resume, he didn’t have a great postseason.Aho’s always been a better player than his offensive numbers would indicate, and his Hockey-Reference similarity scores through 10 seasons include some HHOF names, including Mats Sundin and Peter Štastný. At his current pace, he could threaten the 1,000-point mark four years from now. But right now, he’s trending more toward being an Eric Staal type of candidate — not out of the discussion, but unlikely to kick down the door.Nikolaj Ehlers: He looked like a Hall candidate at times in this playoff run, without question. But he’s 30 years old and just finished his 11th season with a career-high 71 points, and has never received an award vote for anything other than the Lady Byng. He’d need a very strong second act to get into contention.Andrei Svechnikov: It feels weird to include him with the veterans, but he’s 26 and just finished his eighth season; he’s far from a finished product, but it’s getting late for any kind of major leap. His numbers were up across the board this year, although that really only got him back to his previous 2022 level. His seventh-place Calder finish was his only award love, and his postseason was only so-so. His list of similar players is a weird one, including HHOFer Clark Gillies but also guys such as Scott Gomez and Craig Janney, and even Alex Frolov. There’s no guarantee he even hits the 500-point milestone next year, so he’s got lots of ground left to cover.Jaccob Slavin: I saved the toughest for last. Slavin is almost certainly the Hurricanes’ most important player, and probably their best. He’s also a defensive defenseman, which is a tough category for Hall voters. Some guys have made it, most notably Rod Langway and Kevin Lowe. But Langway won a pair of Norris Trophies, while Slavin’s only top-five finish came in 2020. And Lowe got in on the strength of his six Cup rings. I’d love to see a HHOF where guys such as Slavin got recognized, but I’m not sure that’s the Hall we have right now. And of course, he has to stay healthy, something he didn’t do this year.Bottom line, I’d guess Aho has the best shot, while Slavin should but might not. It wouldn’t be a shock if both guys got in someday, and for our purposes, we only need one. But at the very least, it’s fair to say none of the Hurricanes’ current stars are on any kind of a sure-thing track.So that’s the vets. But won’t somebody please think of the children youngsters?The youngstersWe’re primarily looking at Seth Jarvis, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake here. I suppose we could slip Bussi in there too, even though he’s about to turn 28, because goalie aging curves can be weird.It’s really too early to do any kind of deep-dive Hall analysis on any of these players. Blake just finished his second season, and Stankoven his third. Neither has scored more than 22 goals in a year, so they’re not on any kind of Hall track yet, but there’s time. And while Bussi would need to follow a very unusual career path to get into the picture, after the year he just had, you can’t rule anything out.Jarvis is the furthest along, both in terms of his career and building a Hall resume. He’s played five seasons, and his selection to Team Canada’s entry in the 4 Nations Face-Off speaks to how highly he’s thought of around the league. If we find ourselves 20 years in the future and Jarvis is a Hall of Famer, I don’t think anyone would be shocked. That said, he just turned 24 and his production has plateaued; his offensive numbers are basically identical in each of the last three seasons, and they’re hardly Hall-worthy. He’s had a handful of Selke and Byng votes, but isn’t anywhere near any kind of “best at his position” conversation. And his similar players include names such as Jeff Skinner, Alexei Yashin and Marián Gáborík, all reminders to varying degrees that a strong start to a career is no guarantee of continued success.I don’t see any locks here, and depending on how strict your criteria may be, there may not even be any favorites. But at the very least, there are absolutely some guys who are realistically in play.What about Brind’Amour?Rod Brind’Amour isn’t in the Hall of Fame as a player despite two Selke wins and almost 1,200 career points, a fact you’re no doubt already aware of if you’ve ever talked to a Hurricanes fan for more than three minutes. In the past, I’ve made the case that he wouldn’t get my vote, but that he also wouldn’t be an indefensible pick. I could see him getting in someday. And it’s even possible some day might be Monday.Either way, Brind’Amour doesn’t really factor in here because he’s not on the roster. (If you’re wondering, the 2006 team he captained to the Cup had Mark Recchi, so they’re not contenders for today’s crown.) He could get in as a player or even as a builder for his work behind the bench. In theory, those are two completely separate categories and his coaching success won’t help his playing case, but with the secretive HHOF committee, you never know.But sure, it’s possible we might end up looking back on the 2026 Hurricanes as a team without any Hall of Famers on the ice, but with one behind the bench. And maybe even in the front office too, as Eric Tulsky continues to serve as the face of hockey’s analytics era.That’s for down the road, though, and we’ve already spent most of his piece getting ahead of ourselves. For now, let’s close with a poll.