Update 29 May, 2022: Valtteri Filppula became the first Finnish player to join the club following IIHF World Championship 2022 win.
Who Could Be the Next Member of the Triple Gold Club?
History of the Club
It wasn’t until 1977, that the Olympics and the World Championship began accepting professional players into their competitions, meaning that those playing in the NHL were not able to participate before.
It was equally impossible for European players to win all these three competitions until the 1980s, as the NHL nearly exclusively consisted of players from North America. For Russian players, the opportunity didn’t open until a decade later.
Missing a Stanley Cup
Mike Smith (Edmonton Oilers)
After signing the contract to remain with the Oilers in 2020, the 40-year-old made it clear that he hopes to finish his career with the Edmonton Oilers and that “there would be no better way to go out than to bring the Stanley Cup back to the city”.
The Oilers will face Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final.
At the international level, Smith has two gold medals – one from the 2014 Sochi Olympics and one from the 2015 IIHF World Championship in Czech Republic.
If the Canadian netminder manages to pull this off, he would become the first goalie ever to join the Triple Gold Club.
Current Members of the Hockey’s Most Exclusive Club
Sweden: Tomas Jonsson (New York Islanders), Mats Naslund (Montreal Canadiens), Hakan Loob (Calgary Flames), Peter Forsberg (Colorado Avalanche), Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings), Fredrik Modin (Tampa Bay Lightning), Niklas Kronwall (Detroit Red Wings), Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit Red Wings) and Mikael Samuelsson (Detroit Red Wings).
Russia, the Soviet Union, or the Unified Team: Valeri Kamenski (Colorado Avalanche), Alexei Gusarov (Colorado Avalanche), Vyacheslav Fetisov (Detroit Red Wings), Igor Larionov (Detroit Red Wings), Alexander Mogilny (New Jersey Devils), Vladimir Malakhov (New Jersey Devils) and Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings).
Canada: Rob Blake (Colorado Avalanche), Joe Sakic (Colorado Avalanche), Brendan Shanahan (Detroit Red Wings), Scott Niedermayer (New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks), Chris Pronger (Anaheim Ducks), Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes), Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks), Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins), Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks) and Jay Bouwmeester (St. Louis Blues).
The Czech Republic or former Czechoslovakia: Jaromir Jagr (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Jiri Slegr (Detroit Red Wings)
Finland: Valtteri Filppula (Detroit Red Wings)
