Tom Barrasso, Henrik Lundqvist and Mike Vernon each received his Hall call Wednesday.
The three former NHL goalies were voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2023, after ballotting by the Hall’s 18-member Selection Committee.
Candidates had to received at least 75 percent of the vote from the selection committee to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. A maximum of four retired male players, two retired female players, two builders or one builder and one retired official may be inducted in a single year.
Others to be inducted include former center Pierre Turgeon, former Canada women’s national team player Caroline Ouellette. Voted into the Hall of Fame in the Builder’s Category are former coach Ken Hitchcock and former general manager Pierre Lacroix.
Lundqvist headlined the list of Hall of Fame hopefuls in their first year of eligibility.
Although he never won the Stanley Cup, Lundqvist won just about everything else he could in the game, including the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL, an Olympic gold medal and a gold medal at the IIHF World Championship.
Lundqvist last played in the 2019-20 season and was forced to retire because of a heart ailment.
He ranks sixth all-time in wins (459), ninth in games played (887) and 17th in shutouts (64). Among goalies who appeared in at least 300 games, he’s tied for eighth in save percentage (.918) and tied for 19th in GAA (2.43). He helped the Rangers get to the Eastern Conference Final three times (2012, 2014, 2015) in his 15 seasons, including to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014. He won the Vezina Trophy in 2011-12, one of the five times he was a finalist for the award. He also had a 2.30 GAA, .921 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 130 playoff games. Lundqvist also won an Olympic gold medal with Sweden at the 2006 Torino Olympics. He also won the silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and won the gold medal at the 2017 IIHF World Championship.
Barrasso was the goalie on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Stanley Cup championship teams in 1991 and 1992. He went 12-7 with a 2.60 GAA and .919 save percentage in 1991 and 16-5 with a 2.82 GAA and .907 save percentage in 1992. Prior to his success in Pittsburgh, Barrasso won the Vezina Trophy and the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year with the Buffalo Sabres in 1983-84, when he became arguably the best 18-year-old goalie in NHL history. He was 26-12 with three ties, two shutouts, a 2.85 GAA and .893 save percentage in 42 games after going straight from high school to the NHL. He finished his career with 369 wins, tied for 20th all-time.
Ouellette is one of three female players who has won at least four Olympic gold medals, joining Canada women’s national team teammates Hayley Wickenheiser (five) and Jayna Hefford (four). Wickenheiser and Hefford are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Ouellette won gold at the Olympics in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014, totaling 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 20 Olympic games. Ouellette won the gold six times at the IIHF Women’s World Championship and earned silver at the other six tournaments she played in from 1999-2015. Ouellette also won the Clarkson Cup playing for the Canadiennes de Montreal in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League four times and an NCAA Division I title at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Turgeon has the most points of any eligible player not in the Hall of Fame with 1,327 (515 goals, 812 assists) in 1,294 games with the Sabres, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche. He also had 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) in 109 playoff games. Turgeon never won the Stanley Cup and his only major individual award was the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play in 1992-93.
Vernon was the starting goalie on two Stanley Cup championship teams, with the Calgary Flames in 1989 and the Detroit Red Wings in 1997. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1997 after he went 16-4 with a 1.76 GAA and .927 save percentage in 20 games. He also helped the Flames get to the Stanley Cup Final in 1986 and the Red Wings get there in 1995. Vernon won 385 regular-season games and went 77-56 in the playoffs.
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Hitchcock is the fourth-winningest coach in NHL history, with a record of 849-534-127 with 88 ties in 23 seasons with the Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Blues and Edmonton Oilers. He guided Dallas to the Stanley Cup in 1999.
Lacroix was GM of the Quebec Nordiques and Avalanche from 1994-2006. He built Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1996 and 2001.
Photo Credit – NHL.com
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