The problem with running a Hall of Fame-related website is that many of the big ones we cover all have announcements within months of each other.  The backbone of what we do is list-related, resulting in a long push to revise what we already have, specifically now with our Football Hockey and Basketball Lists.

At present, we have a minor update as we have completed the next ten of the 2024 Hockey List, which you can comment on and vote on:

The new 21 to 30:

21. Rick Martin
22. Rick Middleton
23. John Tonelli
24. Carl Brewer
25. Curtis Joseph
26. Ralph Backstrom
27. Nikolai Khabibulin
28. Peter Bondra
29. Marc Tardif
30. Kent Nilsson

Rankings are impacted annually based on your comments and votes.

Thank you all for your patience. We will soon unveil more changes to the football and basketball lists.

When it comes to hockey players who stood firm on their principles, Carl Brewer might have stood the tallest.

Brewer debuted in 1958 and was second in Calder Trophy voting for the 1958/59 Season.  Showing grit on the defensive end and strong passing on the rush, Brewer quickly moved up to the upper-tier of blueliners in the NHL, earning three post-season All-Star Selections and anchoring them to three consecutive Stanley Cups (1962-64).  Like so many Maple Leafs, Brewer began to have issues with management, namely Head Coach Punch Imlach.

Brewer abruptly retired and regained his amateur status, playing for Team Canada in the 1967 World Championship.  He would also play and coach in Finland, and Brewer is credited with elevating their program.  He did come back to the NHL, playing for Detroit, St. Louis and Toronto of the WHA before retiring again in 1974.

He would make a comeback for the Maple Leafs in January of 1980 for 20 Games after not playing for over six years and retired for good at season's end.

After his playing career ended, Brewer suspected that a substantial portion of the NHL's pension funds had been siphoned away to league owners.  He was right, and $40 million was reimbursed, and Alan Eagleson, the Players' Association Executive Director, was charged with fraud and jailed. 

The work that Brewer did behind the scenes in hockey should never be forgotten.

If ever there was a hockey player who marched to his own tune, it would have to be Carl Brewer. A brilliant stay at home defenseman, Brewer would literally do whatever it took to stop any attacker. He was also the victim of rash decision making as his uncontrollable intensity often cost his team costly penalties. Brewer also left the game on multiple occasions (even during the peak of his career) due to off ice disagreements with other players, coaches, or management. Had Brewer stayed in the NHL consistently, his hockey accomplishment would be unquestionably larger but as such he will go down in history far more for his off ice activities than on.