Tom Barrasso, Henrik Lundqvist and Mike Vernon all had his hall call on Wednesday.
The three former NHL goaltenders have been voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2023, after voting by the Hall’s 18-member selection committee.
Candidates had to receive at least 75 percent of the votes from the selection committee to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. No more than four retired players, two retired women players, two builders or one construction worker, and one retired employee may be recruited in one year.
Other players to be recruited include former midfielder Pierre Turgeon and former Canadian women’s national team player Caroline Ouellette. Voted into the Builder’s Hall of Fame category are former coach Ken Hitchcock and former general manager Pierre Lacroix.
Lundqvist topped the list of Hall of Fame hopefuls in their first year of eligibility.
Although he has never won a Stanley Cup, Lundqvist has won just about everything in the game, including the Vezina Trophy as the best goaltender in the NHL, an Olympic gold medal and an IIHF World Championship gold medal.
Lundqvist last played in the 2019-20 season and had to retire due to a heart condition.
He is sixth in wins (459), ninth in games played (887) and 17th in shutouts (64). Among goaltenders with at least 300 games, he is tied for eighth in save percentage (. 918) and tied for 19th in GAA (2.43). He helped the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Final three times (2012, 2014, 2015) in his 15 seasons, including the Stanley Cup Final in 2014. He won the Vezina Trophy in 2011-12, one of the five times he was a favorite Award finalists. 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 Turin Olympics. He also won a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and won gold at the 2017 IIHF World Championships.
Barrasso was the starting goaltender on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Stanley Cup championship teams in 1991 and 1992. He went 12-7 with a 2.60 GAA and 0.919 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 Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year with the Buffalo Sabers in 1983-84, when he became the winningest 18-year-old goaltender in NHL history. He was 26-12 with three ties, two shutouts, a 2.85 GAA and a . 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 athletes to win at least four Olympic gold medals, joining fellow Canadian women’s national team Hayley Wickenheiser (five) and Gina Hefford (four). Wickenheiser and Hefford are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Ouellette won Olympic gold in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014, totaling 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 20 Olympic games. Ouellette has won gold six times at the IIHF Women’s World Championships and has taken silver in the other six tournaments in which she played from 1999-2015. Ouellette also won the Clarkson Cup with the Canadiennes de Montreal of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League four times and the 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 and 812 assists) in 1,294 games with the Sabers, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, and St. Louis Cardinals. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche. He also had 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) in 109 playoff games. Turgeon never won a Stanley Cup and his only major individual award was the Lady Byng Trophy for gentleman’s play in 1992-93.
Vernon was the starting goaltender on two Stanley Cup championship teams, with the Calgary Flames in 1989 and the Detroit Red Wings in 1997. He won the Conn Smith Trophy in 1997 after going 16-4 with a 1.76 GAA and 0.927 save percentage in 20 games. He also helped the Flames reach the Stanley Cup Final in 1986 and reach the Red Wings in 1995. Vernon won 385 regular season games and went 77-56 in the playoffs.
Hitchcock is the fourth winningest coach in NHL history, with a record of 849-534-127 with 88 games played in 23 seasons with the Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Blues and Edmonton Oilers. Led Dallas to the Stanley Cup in 1999.
Lacroix served as general manager of the Quebec Nordiques and Avalanche from 1994 to 2006. He built Stanley Cup winning teams in 1996 and 2001.
Image credit – NHL.com