*Photo from Elite Sports NY*
The Hall is adding more new names. Henrik Lundqvist, Pierre Turgeon, Tom Barrasso, Mike Vernon, Caroline Ouellette, Ken Hitchcock, and Pierre Lacroix are the 7 inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame for the class of 2023, according to an announcement on Tuesday.
Lundqvist, Barrasso, and Vernon are 3 goalies being inducted into the Hall of Fame, with Turgeon and Ouellette joining them on the player side. Hitchcock and Lacroix were elected into the Hall of Fame as builders. The 7 will be inducted formally on November 13 in Toronto.
The most recent name is Lundqvist, elected in his first year of eligibility. The former 7th round pick is a Vezina trophy winner and Olympic Gold Medalist, winning 459 games in net, the 6th most in NHL history. In the salary cap era, only Marc-Andre Fleury has started and won more games than Lundqvist. His .918 career save percentage is tied for 8th among goalies with at least 300 games played.
Lundqvist said of being inducted that "I just want to say thank you to the committee for voting me in. I mean, 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."
After being passed over 12 times, Turgeon gets inducted this year. His 1,327 points were the most among eligible players not in the Hall of Fame. Turgeon reached 80 points in a season 8 times in 19 years in the NHL, with his highest being 132 in the 1992-1993 season.
A native of Alberta and playing for the Calgary Flames, Vernon gets the call as another goalie. A 3rd round pick in 1981, Vernon backstopped the Flames to the Stanley Cup in 1989, when he finished as the runner up for the Vezina trophy. He won the Cup again with the Detroit Red Wings in 1997, also winning the Conn Smythe trophy that year. He is 16th on the wins list with 385.
Vernon said of being inducted that "Yeah, it is an emotional time for me. Might be a long time coming, but it's still worth it. Hockey was instilled in me at a very young age, and I had older brothers that used to shoot pucks on me, so I was obviously the guy that was stuck in net, and it was fun. I just enjoyed the game, and the game means a lot to me. It still means a lot to me, and I loved it."
Originally a first round draft pick in 1983, Barrasso jumped from high school right to the NHL. He won the Vezina and Calder trophies in his rookie season, being a finalist for the Vezina 4 more times. He won back to back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992 with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Barrasso said of being inducted that "I was definitely not waiting by the phone. In fact, they had a hard time getting ahold of me even after they had made the decision. I think as a player, you're competitive, and you hold yourself in certain regard as how you think your career was. And then this obviously the ultimate honor, and do you make that grade or not? It's not for you to decide. It's for others to decide. So as time goes by, you think, 'Well, it's not going to happen.'"
Ouellette is one of the most decorated players male or female, and is one of 3 female players with at least 4 Olympic Gold Medals, the other two are in the Hall of Fame. She won 6 gold and 6 silver medals at World Championships, winning an NCAA championship in college and 4 CWHL titles.
Hitchcock coached 5 teams in 22 seasons as a head coach. He won the Stanley Cup in 1999 with the Dallas Stars and the Jack Adams award in 2012 with the St. Louis Blues. Also coaching the Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers, and Edmonton Oilers, his 849 wins are the 4th most in NHL history.
As an executive, Lacroix led the Colorado Avalanche to Stanley Cup titles in 1996 in 2001, making trades for players like Patrick Roy, Rob Blake, and Ray Bourque. He was GM of the Avalanche and Quebec Nordiques before they relocated to Colorado. Lacroix passed away from complications due to Covid-19 in 2020.
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