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.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  As such, it is news to us that the New York Islanders will be retiring the numbers of John Tonelli and Butch Goring this year.

John Tonelli played his first three seasons in pro hockey with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association, and he debuted on Long Island for the 1978-79 season.  The Left Wing played there for seven and a half seasons, and was a member of all four of New York’s Stanley Cup wins, and he was named a Second Team All-Star twice. For the Islanders, Tonelli would accumulate 544 Points in 594 Games.  Currently, his number 27 is being worn by Anders Lee, the current captain of the Islanders.  Tonelli has asked that Lee continue to wear that number as long as he is in New York.  His number will go up the rafter on their February 21 home game against the Detroit Red Wings.  He is currently ranked #39 on our Notinhalloffame.com hockey list of those to consider for the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Butch Goring was traded from the Los Angeles Kings during the 1979-80 season, and he was the final piece of the puzzle that would help the Islanders win their first Stanley Cup.  He would play with New York until 1985, and like Tonelli, he was also a member of all four Stanley Cup wins.  Goring was especially valuable in the 1981 Championship, when he won the Conn Smythe Trophy.  He played 332 Games, scoring 195 Points for New York.  Goring’s number 91 will be officially retired on February 29, at their home game against the Buffalo Sabres.  He is currently ranked #38 on our Notinhalloffame.com hockey list.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Butch Goring and John Tonelli for earning this honor.

Possibly the best player of the New York Islanders dynasty not yet in the Hall of Fame, John Tonelli traveled where others feared to tread. Tonelli was a grinder and was one of the few players who were just as comfortable chasing an open puck as he was digging for it in the corner. Usually, players defined by grit were not known for their scoring touch but John Tonelli was able to rack 834 NHL career points. Had he gone to the NHL right away odds are he would have hit that four-digit plateau.