The Hockey Hall of Fame received an injection of scoring, leadership and class Monday in Toronto.

In what has been called one of the strongest classes in the history of the organization, the Hall opened its doors to players Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Brian Leetch and Luc Robitaille plus one builder, Lou Lamoriello.

As a testament to the game not ending once a player hangs up his blades, three of the players remain active in the league as executives with NHL teams.

Yzerman, the longest tenured captain in North American sports history, spent his entire 22-year playing career with the Detroit Red Wings and is still with the club as a vice-president and alternate governor. He’s also the executive director of Canada’s men’s hockey entry for the 2010 Olympics.

Yzerman hoisted the Stanley Cup three times as a player and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1998.

“Entering my fourth year of retirement, I look back on my life in hockey, how it’s shaped me and all it’s given me,” Yzerman said during his induction speech. “I’m certain of one thing, I’m where I want to be, working with and amongst the people I enjoy.”

Hull, a two-time Cup champion known for his wicked shot and nose for the net, joins his father Bobby in the Hall and he thanked his dad for one special piece of advice.

“You gave me giant footsteps to follow and you taught me to speak my mind,” Brett Hull said.

“And you gave me the best advice in your own unique way that you could ever have given. And I quote: ‘The further you are from the play, the closest you are to it’

“I am really fortunate that I was able to figure out what the hell he was talking about.”

Hull won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP in 1991. After retiring, Hull joined the front office of the Dallas Stars. He spent last season as a co-general manager and is now the team’s executive vice-president and alternate governor.

Given the family history, it’s not surprising the hockey bug bit a third generation. Brett Hull’s eldest son Jude, however, isn’t exactly following the in the giant footsteps.

“I’m not sure where it happened, but between your great uncle Dennis, and your grandpa and me, we have 1,654 goals,” Brett Hull said. “And you’re a goalie.”

Robitaille won a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2002, but is best known for his time with the Los Angeles Kings. He spent 14 of his 19 years with the team and is now president of business operations and alternate governor.

“We will have a Stanley Cup in Los Angeles soon, I can feel it,” he said.

Given the knock as a weak skater as a junior, Robitaille was picked in the ninth round of the 1984 entry draft by the Kings. Once he got to the NHL he flourished as goal scorer. He reached the 30-goal plateau on 12 occasions, peaking with a 63-goal season in 1992-93.

Leetch, the anchor of the New York Rangers blue-line for 16 seasons, was twice named the NHL’s top defenceman. But he’s best known for leading the Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup, ending a 54-year championship drought in Manhattan, and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy. He finished his career with stops in Toronto and Boston.

“The National Hockey League has gone through a lot of changes in its long history,” Leetch said. “But the one thing that never changes is the privilege it is to compete in the NHL and I was lucky enough to play for three of the Original Six teams. My time in both Toronto and Boston was short, but wearing the Maple Leaf and the Spoked B on my jersey, like so many great players had before me, I felt a lot of pride in that.”

Lamoriello built a winner in New Jersey — a market which had not tasted success before the Providence College grad entered the scene 20 years ago. Now there are three Stanley Cup championship banners hanging from the rafters of the Prudential Center.

The Hall also recognized the work of Pittsburgh Penguins beat writer Dave Molinari and former broadcaster John Davidson — now the president of the St. Louis Blues — in the media wing.