Earlier this week the Tampa Bay Lightning announced their 2025 Hall of Fame class with Brian Bradley and Rick Peckham receiving the honors. Chosen from a field of eight candidates, the duo will join Marty St. Louis (2023), Vincent Lecavalier (2023), Phil Esposito (2023), Brad Richards (2024), and Dave Andreychuck (2024) in the three-year old Hall of Fame. Henry Paul, Jay Feaster, Pavel Kubina, Nikolai Khabibulin, Ben Bishop, and Ryan Callahan were the other six individuals up for induction this year, but they will have to wait at least one more year to hear their names called.
With the induction of Peckham and Bradley, the Lightning reached back to the very beginnings of the franchise. Bradley was part of the inaugural team, while Peckham was behind the microphone for 24 seasons as the lead play-by-play announcer for the Lightning’s TV broadcasts.
Bradley was stuck on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ fourth line before being exposed in the expansion draft. He watched 35 other players get selected by Tampa Bay and Ottawa before hearing his name called. All he did after that was set a record for goals scored by a player with an expansion team with 42 goals while posting 86 points for the Lightning. The two-time all-star would finish his Lightning career with an even 300 points (111 goals, 189 assists) in 328 regular season games while adding 3 assists in 5 play-off games.
He still ranks 12th all-time in franchise points and 13th in goals and assists and currently serves as a Community Relations Representative for the Lightning.
For many fans, Rick Peckham was the voice of the Lightning for their entire fandom. He will be honored to join the Hall of Fame, but he’s already received an accolade greater than that. After all, there aren’t going to be many players, coaches, or broadcasters that are going to have a portion of the building named after them. Following his retirement in 2020 the team named the broadcast booths in Amalie Arena after him. His name is also on the walls of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto as a recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award.
He made a couple of pinch-hit appearances following his retirement, including a Lightning game where he called a game from the broadcast booth that bears his name. Which call was our favorite? How about Vinny Lecavalier’s between-the-legs goal in the playoffs against the Canadiens?
It seems Peckham liked that one as well.
