McDonald reminisces on ‘coolest job in the world’ ahead of final Hall of Fame induction ceremony | NHL.com

Lanny McDonald’s 10-year term as Hockey Hall of Fame chairman will end in June 2025, with fellow Hall of Famer Mike Gartner stepping into the role. About to preside over his final induction class, McDonald reflects on his past nine years as the shrine’s chairman, a remarkable period for the game and for himself.

It wasn’t long into Lanny McDonald‘s tenure as chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame that he took his title quite literally.

The decision by committee, as McDonald remembers it with a laugh, “was a game-changer.”

The hockey world annually would assemble in the grand setting of Toronto’s Brookfield Place, home of the shrine, for induction ceremonies. And for two-plus hours, the audience would squirm uncomfortably on narrow folding wood chairs.

“We said, ‘We have to do something,'” said McDonald, who will officiate his final induction on Nov. 11, his 10-year term as chair ending next June. “Those chairs were taking away too much from the ceremony.”

Mike Gartner, who will succeed McDonald as chairman of the Hall, remembers almost in jest, “that everyone was hoping the inductees would hurry up with their speeches so we could all stand up.”