TORONTO — Carey Price and Patrice Bergeron reflected on the people behind their careers Saturday as they prepared to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame with the rest of its 2026 class on Monday.

The former Montreal Canadiens goaltender and Boston Bruins centre will be inducted in the player category alongside Pekka Rinne, Keith Tkachuk and Cindy Curley. Longtime NHL executive Brian Burke will enter as a builder, The Canadian Press reported in a story published by Sportsnet.

Price recalled receiving the hall’s call in June while driving to visit his grandmother in hospital. She recovered, he said, and they were able to spend the rest of that day together.

The journey brought back memories of travelling by plane and vehicle with his father to pursue hockey while growing up in Anahim Lake, B.C.

“I'm just extremely thankful for that journey and everything that I learned along the way — not only in hockey but in life,” Price said.

Price spent all 15 of his NHL seasons with Montreal, winning the Hart and Vezina trophies in 2015. He recorded 361 regular-season victories and helped carry the Canadiens to the 2021 Stanley Cup final. A knee problem prevented him from playing beyond the 2021–22 season.

Bergeron, a six-time Selke Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defensive forward, spent his entire 19-season career with Boston. He won the Stanley Cup in 2011 and finished with 1,040 points in 1,294 regular-season games before retiring in 2023.

“You look back at all the memories and the people that have helped you along the way,” Bergeron said.

The two also won Olympic gold together with Canada in 2014 and the World Cup of Hockey in 2016.

Their fellow inductees bring achievements across the sport: Rinne won the 2018 Vezina Trophy with Nashville; Tkachuk scored 538 NHL goals; Curley captained the United States to three world championship silver medals in the 1990s; and Burke was Anaheim’s general manager for its 2007 Stanley Cup victory.

Sources