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There are so many good candidates for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins second Hall of Fame class it’s going to be difficult for fans to settle on two.

Even family members of former players are having a hard time making a choice.

“I got a text from Jonathan Filewich who said his wife wants to vote for Ryan Lannon and not him,” Penguins vice president of operations Brian Coe said.

Good-natured kidding aside, this year’s list of 20 candidates is full of Penguins from the past, as well as those who donned the jersey not long ago. It’s that mesh of old and, well, not-so-old is what makes this year’s list an interesting mix.

Fans can vote for players who played on the inaugural team in 1999, such as John Slaney, Martin Sonnenberg, Greg Crozier, Sven Butenschon, Chris Kelleher and Josef Melichar. More recent players on the list include former captain Dave Gove, winger Ryan Stone, center Kenny Corupe and Filewich and Lannon.

In addition to Gove, other former captains include Slaney, Butenschon and Jason MacDonald.

“It’s exciting to see the mesh of those players who came in here to establish a brand new team and those that carried that on through the mid-2000s,” Coe said.

To be eligible for the Penguin’s Hall of Fame, a player must have played parts of at least two seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, be retired for at least two seasons and have made a significant contribution either on or off the ice.

The on-ice qualifications are obvious, such as Slaney’s 30 goals in 49 games during the 1999-00 season and Kelleher’s 25 points in 21 playoff games in 2001.

But the off-ice qualifications are equally important, Coe said.

“That includes the guys who were quality players but were also the first ones to volunteer to visit kids in a hospital and spearhead fundraisers,” he said.

This year’s list is expected to surpass the total number of votes generated by the first Hall of Fame induction in 2014 when Dennis Bonvie, Alain Nasreddine and former state Rep. Kevin Blaum were voted in. Coe said the 2014 nominations resulted in more than 500 votes online.

Voting for the current candidates has already surpassed 350 after one week. Voting ends on Sept. 15 and the two players who will be inducted will be announced in October. A Hall of Fame Night to honor the newest members will be held during a home game this season on a date to be announced after the AHL releases the regular season schedule.

“Our plan was to do this bi-annually and make it a process that’s fair and meaningful,” Coe said. “It’s generated a lot of excitement among our fans and even some of the players thanked us for being included on the list.”

Perhaps the biggest difference with the current list and the one from 2014 is there isn’t a clear front-runner. Bonvie was a lock to be voted in to the first Hall of Fame class, but this year there’s a bit more parity among the candidates.

“There’s guys like Slaney who is in the AHL Hall of Fame and there’s also great personalities such as Steve Parsons, who was a fan favorite because of his toughness, and Kelleher, who still lives in the area and had two great stints here,” Coe said. “We’ve seen a lot of people talking about the list online, and the response to this keeps building.”

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By Tom Venesky

[email protected]

Voting for the 2015 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Hall of Fame class ends Sept. 15. To cast your vote for two players, visit wbspenguins.com.

2015 Hall of Fame candidates:

Brendan Buckley

Sven Butenschon

Kenny Corupe

Greg Crozier

Shane Endicott

Jonathan Filewich

Dave Gove

Chris Kelleher

Milan Kraft

Ryan Lannon

Ross Lupaschuk

Jason MacDonald

Josef Melichar

Eric Meloche

Michel Ouellet

Steve Parsons

Peter Ratchuk

John Slaney

Martin Sonnenberg

Ryan Stone

Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky