The Hockey Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023 includes three masked men who took vastly different paths to the NHL.
For the first time since 1963, the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee unveiled three goalies in the same class: Henrik Lundqvist, Tom Barrasso and Mike Vernon.
Barrasso was a high school star who became the fifth overall pick in the 1983 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres, Vernon was a junior star who went in the third round to the Calgary Flames in 1981 and Lundqvist was a European netminder who lasted until the seventh round and 205th overall selection before joining the New York Rangers organization in 2000.
Also going in on the player side are Canadian women’s hockey star Caroline Ouellette and skilled centre Pierre Turgeon.
On the builder side, longtime coach Ken Hitchcock got the call along with the late Pierre Lacroix, a long-time general manager who passed away in December of 2020.
The 2023 Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony is set for Nov. 13.
Barrasso, who retired in 2003 and was eligible for Hall of Fame consideration since 2006, was quick to admit that he was beginning to wonder if the call would ever come.
“I was definitely not waiting by the phone,” said Barrasso, noting the committee had trouble getting in touch with him before the announcement was made. “As a player, you’re competitive and you hold yourself in certain regard as to how you think your career was. This is obviously the ultimate honour and, do you make that grade or not, is not for you to decide. It’s for others to decide. As time goes by, you think, ‘Well, it’s not going to happen,’ and you just grow to accept that and you say, ‘That’s OK.’ I’ll write down what my career was, and I’m happy with that.”
Barrasso never subscribed to the theory that his often icy relationship with some members of the media prevented him from receiving this honour any earlier.
“At the end of the day, it’s not really the media that’s on that committee, so I don’t think that’s anything that’s ever been in the back of my mind,” said Barrasso, who won the Calder Trophy and the Vezina Trophy in 1984 and later captured two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins. “The media didn’t help me win games. They didn’t make me lose games. To me, it was just me showing up and doing my job. I tried to not ever be too conscious of that. I didn’t read anything. Fortunately there was no internet, really, back then, so I didn’t read anything, I didn’t watch television, I didn’t pay much attention to it.
“But you always know that there’s that negative vibe out there, which is not fun to deal with. But if that’s the path you’re going down, you just deal with it — and I did. I don’t particularly have any real regret over much of that. There’s people out there that are not pulling for you sometimes, and that’s the way it goes. You don’t need to be cozy with them. The people you need on your side are your teammates, your family and that’s what gets you through. To me, the thing that’s stuck with me this whole time since I retired is the idea that I’m very comfortable with my career — all of it. I can live with that. There’s good in it, there’s bad in it and that’s life.”
Vernon helped the Calgary Flames capture the Stanley Cup in 1989, then was part of the Detroit Red Wings club that won it all in 1997, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after going 16-4 during the run.
Being able to lead his hometown team to the promised land was something Vernon takes a lot of pride in.
“I thought Lanny was calling me for a golf game,” Vernon joked, before getting serious. “The pressure that comes with that, being in your hometown, it’s difficult. It’s not an easy thing. People expect you to win all the time, to be on top of your game. As a young man, I went through some trials and tribulations here in Calgary. It wasn’t easy, but it was a bit of a push, a driving force that forced me to try to work harder or to try to figure it out and just to move forward with my career.
“It was difficult at times, I’m not going to shy away from that. This is a great city, it’s a hockey city and we had some great teams. It was an honour to be part of that (as a) Calgary Flame. What Cliff Fletcher instilled in the Calgary Flames organization, with all of the young players and the work ethic and the culture, it was a breeding ground for a lot of us.”
Lundqvist played more than 900 games with the Rangers between the regular season and playoffs and led the organization to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014. He also helped Sweden win a gold medal at the 2006 Olympics, silver at the 2014 Sochi Games and gold at the 2017 men’s world hockey championship.
He also won the Vezina Trophy in 2012.
“Growing up as a kid, thinking about players in the Hall of Fame, it’s such a big inspiration to me, why I started playing hockey,” said Lundqvist, noting he had posters of both Vernon and Barrasso up on his wall while growing up. “It’s really cool (to be inducted with two other goalies). There’s so many players that inspire you when you start playing the game, and there were a lot of posters on that wall growing up as a kid. I just look forward to celebrating it in Toronto in November and get an opportunity to meet both of them. It will be extremely special.”
Ouellette, who recently was elected to the IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame and named a recipient of the Order of Quebec, was a high-scoring forward who joined the national team in 1998-99 and won four gold medals at the Olympics and another six IIHF world championship titles.
Ouellette became the first player in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League to reach the 300-point plateau in 2016-17 and is currently the associate head coach of the University of Concordia Stingers program alongside her wife Julie Chu.
Turgeon, the first overall pick in the 1987 NHL Draft by the Sabres, went on to score 515 goals and record 1,327 points in 1,294 regular season games over 19 NHL seasons. Before getting the call Wednesday, he had the most points of any player eligible to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, a distinction that now belongs to Jeremy Roenick.
“There are a number of people they’re looking at and there are a lot of great players that had great careers. So, it’s got to be tough for them to decide,” said Turgeon, who spent part of his time sympathizing with the 18 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee. “For me, it’s just a privilege to be a part of this. I was blessed to do something I love for many years, and I get on that ice still and I still love the game.”
Lacroix was a former player agent who became the general manager of the Quebec Nordiques in 1984. He was the architect when the Colorado Avalanche won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history in 1996 and then a second title in 2001.
Lacroix’s wife, Coco, was emotional when she received the news from Gartner and McDonald and the couple’s sons, Marty and Eric, shared similar sentiments.
“It’s been a long time coming. I’m sure my father today in spirit is overwhelmed,” said Marty Lacroix. “I know he wanted this badly.”
Hitchcock’s journey began at the minor hockey level and he eventually made his mark at the junior level in the Western Hockey League, winning a pair of league championships before graduating to the NHL as an assistant coach.
Hitchcock got his first NHL head coaching gig with the Dallas Stars and also spent time as the bench boss of the St. Louis Blues, Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers during 23 seasons in that role. His 849 wins currently rank fourth all-time.
“What I’m proudest of is that I’ve survived,” said Hitchcock, who led the Stars to the Stanley Cup in 1999. “In this business, if you get fired and you do a good job and you have good relationships with people, there’s a really good chance you’ll get hired again. I felt really proud of the fact I didn’t leave places with bad blood. We’re in that business of getting hired and fired. The other thing I feel really proud of is the relationship I’ve been able to maintain since I stopped coaching.
“I’ve had strong friendships with people that I worked with that continue to this day. That’s what matters to me, all the friends I made in the game of hockey. I’m really proud of the fact that when I coached I stayed current. It’s really hard to stay current. I was able to do it. I worked really hard in the off-season in staying current even as I got older. I really understand how valuable that was looking back on it now.”
As is always the case, who was not inducted becomes part of the story, with plenty of people questioning the omission of Alexander Mogilny, whose defection paved the way for players from Russia to come to the NHL.
The inclusion of three goalies in this class could eventually open the door for someone like Curtis Joseph, who had 454 wins while appearing in 943 regular season games to go along with another 63 wins in 133 playoff games.
Even with Ouellette’s well-deserved inclusion, the Hockey Hall of Fame still has work to do when it comes to the recognition of the many female players who were able to thrive on both the international and professional stages. The election committee is allowed to select two women each year but they have only used both slots once, when Angela James and Cammi Granato became the first women ever inducted in 2010.
For the time being, those chosen in this class will be celebrated accordingly after delivering distinguished careers.
