Finland's Valtteri Filppula #51 receives his Triple Gold Club pin from Luc Tardif, IIHF President after a 4-3 overtime win against Canada in the gold medal game at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship at Nokia Arena on May 29, 2022 in Tampere, Finland.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andre Ringuette
We started with 30 names this season, but as the World Championship gets under way and with the Stanley Cup playoffs in full swing, it looks like there won’t be any new members to the IIHF’s Triple Gold Club this spring.
Last year the Club hit #30 with the addition of Finland’s Valtteri Filppula, who won both Olympic and World Championship gold last year after having won the Cup with Detroit back in 2008. As history has shown, that Red Wings victory was huge in TGC history, a key component also for Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg, Mikael Samuelsson, and Pavel Datsyuk.
But in 2022, Finland became only the second team after Sweden in 2006 to win OG and WM in the same year, and that added a trove of new possibilities for the Club. Filppula became the first Finn to join, but 18 others now have two of the three required honours. The problem, though, is that most of those winning Finns play in their domestic league, not the NHL, limiting their ability to join Filppula.
Of the remaining 12 possibilities, four are still in play….but barely. There is Sakari Manninen, who currently plays for the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL. This is the farm team for Vegas, which is still in the NHL playoffs, so technically Manninen could get called up and help the Golden Knights win the Cup. Possible, but not likely at this point given that he and the team don't see eye to eye and he's almost certainly not returning next season.
Then there are three others, all Canadians, who could join the TGC with World Championship gold, but they aren’t here now and aren’t likely to be. Jeff Carter (Pittsburgh) has Olympics gold from 2014, and two Stanley Cup wins with Los Angeles (2012, 2014); Drew Doughty won back-to-back Olympic gold in 2010 and 2014 as well as those two Cups with Carter in L.A.; and, Alex Pietrangelo, who was also on that 2014 team and won the Cup with St. Louis in 2019. He is playing with Vegas now, but the chances of the Knights being eliminated and then him coming to Riga are slim right now.
The first three members of the Triple Gold Club all came from Sweden’s historic 1994 Olympic victory—Tomas Jonsson, Mats Naslund, and Hakan Loob. In the last 30 years, only 27 players have managed to join them, and only twice—1996 and 2008—has one year welcomed as many as three new members.
Perhaps the most impressive member is the one with a unique distinction. Canada's Sidney Crosby is the only TGC member to win all of his honours as team captain.
But perhaps the most notable fact behind the scenes of the Triple Gold Club watch is that we still don’t have a single goaltender. Two came close, but fell achingly short. Dominik Hasek won Olympic gold in 1998 and also won the Cup twice with Detroit (2002, 2008). He also won four medals at the World Championship, just not gold (one silver, three bronze). And Canada’s Martin Brodeur can boast the same, winning two Olympic gold (2002, 2010) and three Cups with New Jersey (1995, 2000, 2003). He has two silver medals from WM play--but no gold.
Nevertheless, the chase continues. A new team will win the Cup this year, and those players will have earned an important honour in the TGC process, and on 28 May a team will win World Championship gold, giving those players another notch on the TGC belt. But for now, it looks like the hardest club in the world to join will remain with just 30 members.
Last year the Club hit #30 with the addition of Finland’s Valtteri Filppula, who won both Olympic and World Championship gold last year after having won the Cup with Detroit back in 2008. As history has shown, that Red Wings victory was huge in TGC history, a key component also for Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg, Mikael Samuelsson, and Pavel Datsyuk.
But in 2022, Finland became only the second team after Sweden in 2006 to win OG and WM in the same year, and that added a trove of new possibilities for the Club. Filppula became the first Finn to join, but 18 others now have two of the three required honours. The problem, though, is that most of those winning Finns play in their domestic league, not the NHL, limiting their ability to join Filppula.
Of the remaining 12 possibilities, four are still in play….but barely. There is Sakari Manninen, who currently plays for the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL. This is the farm team for Vegas, which is still in the NHL playoffs, so technically Manninen could get called up and help the Golden Knights win the Cup. Possible, but not likely at this point given that he and the team don't see eye to eye and he's almost certainly not returning next season.
Then there are three others, all Canadians, who could join the TGC with World Championship gold, but they aren’t here now and aren’t likely to be. Jeff Carter (Pittsburgh) has Olympics gold from 2014, and two Stanley Cup wins with Los Angeles (2012, 2014); Drew Doughty won back-to-back Olympic gold in 2010 and 2014 as well as those two Cups with Carter in L.A.; and, Alex Pietrangelo, who was also on that 2014 team and won the Cup with St. Louis in 2019. He is playing with Vegas now, but the chances of the Knights being eliminated and then him coming to Riga are slim right now.
The first three members of the Triple Gold Club all came from Sweden’s historic 1994 Olympic victory—Tomas Jonsson, Mats Naslund, and Hakan Loob. In the last 30 years, only 27 players have managed to join them, and only twice—1996 and 2008—has one year welcomed as many as three new members.
Perhaps the most impressive member is the one with a unique distinction. Canada's Sidney Crosby is the only TGC member to win all of his honours as team captain.
But perhaps the most notable fact behind the scenes of the Triple Gold Club watch is that we still don’t have a single goaltender. Two came close, but fell achingly short. Dominik Hasek won Olympic gold in 1998 and also won the Cup twice with Detroit (2002, 2008). He also won four medals at the World Championship, just not gold (one silver, three bronze). And Canada’s Martin Brodeur can boast the same, winning two Olympic gold (2002, 2010) and three Cups with New Jersey (1995, 2000, 2003). He has two silver medals from WM play--but no gold.
Nevertheless, the chase continues. A new team will win the Cup this year, and those players will have earned an important honour in the TGC process, and on 28 May a team will win World Championship gold, giving those players another notch on the TGC belt. But for now, it looks like the hardest club in the world to join will remain with just 30 members.