The Hockey Hall of Fame, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, opened its doors to the first class of inductees in 1945. Every year since then, fans and writers across the globe have debated the merits of every player lacing up a pair of skates and whether they deserve enshrinement.
There are currently 293 players, 112 builders, and 16 on-ice officials with plaques in the Hall of Fame. Furthermore, when we take a deeper dive into the numbers, the players include 180 forwards, 77 defensemen, and just 36 goalies who are inducted to this point. The pool for forwards is far greater than that of defensemen and goalies, but as history showcases, some of the game’s greatest players were the guys guarding the net.
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Whether they were Georges Vezina, Terry Sawchuk, Johnny Bower, Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy, Dominic Hasek, or Martin Brodeur, each player carved their legacy in the league. Coincidentally, the only two goalies in the HHOF without any NHL experience are Vladislav Tretiak (class of 1989) and Kim St. Pierre (class of 2020). The pair have six Olympic gold medals and 16 World Championships, meaning they earned their way into the HHOF by dominating the international stage.
Only five goalies, including Tretiak and St. Pierre, are enshrined in the HHOF and didn’t have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup. These players are Roy Worters (class of 1969), Chuck Rayner (class of 1973), and Eddie Giacomin (class of 1987). Rayner sticks out from the crowd because not only did he fail to win the Cup, but he never won a Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalie. However, one of the contributing factors to his enshrinement is that he won the Hart Trophy (Most Valuable Player) in 1950, one of just seven goalies to win the prestigious award.
All these players and their accomplishments bring us to this year’s induction class, which features a new goalie entering the HHOF, Roberto Luongo. Whether you loved or hated him, he was a dependable goalie who consistently ranked among his generation’s best netminders. While a member of the Vancouver Canucks, Luongo became captain of the team for two seasons. Eventually, he passed the leadership role to Henrik Sedin and backstopped his team to the Stanley Cup Final, losing in Game 7 to the Boston Bruins.
Throughout his career, Luongo suited up for 1,044 contests (second all-time), won 489 games (fourth), and lost 392 (second), finishing with a 2.52 goals-against-average (GAA) and .919 save percentage (SV%). He won a single award, the William M. Jennings Trophy, in 2010-11 and played in five All-Star Games. Internationally, he won two Olympic gold medals (as a backup), two World Championships, and one World Cup. Luongo’s recent induction opened the floodgates for debates that may never end. How could a guy who achieved so much without a lot of hardware deserve to be immortalized among the greats?
Here is a list of three goalies with more on their resumes who deserve recognition for their outstanding careers.
Tom Barrasso (1983 – 2003)
The Buffalo Sabres shocked the hockey world by selecting a high school goalie, Tom Barrasso, as the fifth overall pick in the 1983 Entry Draft. A few months after graduating, he was in the net for the team, winning the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year) and Vezina as an 18-year-old. At the time, he became the third goalie in league history to win both awards in the same season.
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Eventually, the Sabres traded their young goalie to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 12, 1988. The deal involved Barrasso and a third-round draft pick in the 1990 Entry Draft (Jo Dziedzic) for the Penguins’ Doug Bodger and Darrin Shannon. Barrasso led his new team to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships within three seasons. Before a March 2000 trade to the Ottawa Senators, he became the first American-born goalie to collect 300 wins.
On the backside of his career, Barrasso played with the Senators (seven games), Carolina Hurricanes (34 games), Toronto Maple Leafs (four games), and St. Louis Blues (six games) before retiring in 2003. Almost 20 years after retiring, he remains the highest-scoring goalie in league history with 48 points (all assists) and playoff wins by an American-born goalie with 61.
Barrasso became eligible for the HHOF in 2006, and his name rarely appears in discussions regarding future candidates. With the Penguins, he developed a bad relationship with the media, leaving many observers to speculate if it has kept him out of the Hall. It is a shame that one of the greatest American-born goalies may never get his chance to be enshrined; however, until it happens, his name will always be up for discussion amongst fans and experts.
Andy Moog (1980-1988)
In 1955, Don Moog, Andy Moog’s father, won the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship as a member of the Penticton Vees. Twenty-five years later, his son Andy became a member of the Edmonton Oilers as the 132nd overall pick in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. The Oilers already had their goalies, so Moog waited his turn before making his debut on Dec. 23, 1980.
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After only seven games in the regular season, Moog stepped up and became the number one goalie for the Oilers, who shocked the hockey world by upsetting the heavily favored Montreal Canadiens in a three-game sweep. Eventually, the Oilers fell to the New York Islanders in six games during the second round, but Moog showed he could be the goalie of the future. The following season (1982), he suited up for only eight games before management shuffled the deck and built their tandem with Moog and 20-year-old Grant Fuhr for 1983-84.
Moog earned the number one job in 1983, which resulted in a Stanley Cup Final loss; however, he rebounded in 1984, taking over for an injured Fuhr to lead the Oilers to their first championship. The duo repeated as champions in 1985 and secured another ring in 1987. A year later, on Mar. 8, 1988, Moog found himself on the way to the Bruins for a second-round draft pick in 1988 (Petro Koivunen), Geoff Courtnall, and Bill Ranford. As fate would have it, Moog and his new partner Reggie Lemelin led the Bruins to the Final against the Oilers. Two years later, the two teams met again in 1990, when Ranford led his new club to the title, and won the Conn Smythe (playoff MVP).
While in Boston, Moog led the Bruins to the playoffs for six seasons and served as Vice-President of the National Hockey League Players Association. After developing a lousy relationship with then-Bruins coach Brian Sutter, Moog became a member of the recently relocated Dallas Stars in a trade for Jon Casey.
After being pushed out of the crease when the club signed Ed Belfour in 1998, he opted to sign with former rival, the Canadiens, that summer. Despite a history of eliminating the franchise in four playoff races, Moog led the team to their first series win since winning the Stanley Cup in 1993.
Historically, Moog became the second-fastest goalie to reach 300 wins, which took only 543 games, falling short of Plante’s record of 526. At the time of his retirement, he was the fifth goalie in league history to surpass 370 wins and currently ranks 18th all-time. Out of the goalies above him, only Marc-Andre Fleury, Henrik Lundqvist, Curtis Joseph, Chris Osgood, Ryan Miller, Mike Vernon, and John Vanbiesbrouck are not in the Hall of Fame. Conversely, the majority of these players all played after Moog retired, meaning he ranked higher when he hung his skates up.
Moog has three Stanley Cup rings, a William M. Jennings Trophy, and four All-Star Game appearances in his trophy case. Internationally, he played at the 1988 Olympic Games, producing a 4-0-0 record with a shutout, but he didn’t win a medal.
Twelve goalies have four or more championships in their careers, leaving Moog tied with seven other netminders with three. Twenty-one years after he became eligible for the HHOF, he still has not heard his name called for the introduction. It is unfair that one of the game’s best puck-stoppers continues to get bypassed.
Chris Osgood (1992-2011)
During the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, the Detroit Red Wings found their goalie of the future, Chris Osgood, with the 54th overall pick. However, he didn’t make his debut until the 1993 season, suiting up for 41 games before taking the brunt of the heat when the young San Jose Sharks upset the Red Wings in the playoffs. During the team’s run to the 1995 Stanley Cup Final, he saw limited action in the regular season (14 games) and postseason (two games).
He was given another chance in 1995-96 before the Red Wings acquired Vernon to lead them to the Stanley Cup in 1997. Vernon won the Conn Smythe that year, departing in the offseason, leaving Osgood to man the fort again. However, he didn’t disappoint, leading the team to their second consecutive championship in 1998.
By 2001-02 the Red Wings were going head to head with the Colorado Avalanche for Western Conference supremacy; however, they could never get past their rivals. Additionally, the team exposed Osgood, so the Islanders picked him up in the waiver draft. After 103 games in New York, he made his way to the St. Louis Blues in a trade, where he suited up for 76 games. Then, in the summer of 2005, he reunited with the Red Wings as a free agent.
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After coming full circle in his career, Osgood led the Red Wings to another Stanley Cup title in 2008, winning a thrilling six-game series. Additionally, in 2009, at 36 years old, he led his team back to the Final in a repeat matchup against the Penguins, this time losing in a heartbreaking Game 7.
Osgood led the Red Wings to Stanley Cup titles ten years apart, a feat not accomplished since Sawchuk in 1955 and 1967. He ranks 12th all-time in wins (401), becoming the last goalie in league history to reach the 400-win plateau in 2010. During his 17-season career, he had one losing season, 7-9-4 in 23 games, in 2009-10. He earned the William M. Jennings Trophy on two occasions and played in two All-Star Games.
Despite all the team success Osgood experienced, his crowning achievement may have occurred on Mar. 6, 1996, when he became just the second goalie in NHL history to score a goal by shooting the puck into his opponent’s net.
Chris Osgood scores against the Hartford Whalers, becoming only the second goalie in NHL history to score a goal. https://t.co/3cSFpqZqj7
When Osgood’s name comes up in HHOF debates, people usually point out that he was fortunate enough to play behind a powerful Red Wings organization loaded with future Hall of Famers. However, it is an unfair argument because if he was a byproduct of the environment, how many wins can we credit the game’s winningest goalie Brodeur? Furthermore, Osgood played in New York and St. Louis and didn’t produce a losing record in either city. Moreover, he was stapled to the bench numerous times during his career and called upon when someone else failed.
Eight years after retirement, Osgood has yet to earn his plaque at the HHOF. Of the goalies ranked above him in wins, only Joseph (454) has yet to earn enshrinement, since Fleury is still playing and Lundqvist is still waiting out his eligibility period, which ends in 2023. The longer it takes the selection committee to pull the trigger, the longer one of the game’s greatest netminders has to wait for his rightful place amongst his former teammates.
Every year, the debates continue about which players are not in the HHOF yet and who gets inducted that doesn’t measure up. We just gave you three Stanley Cup-winning goalies with this debate, and can’t wait to see who you want to talk about in the comments.
Ryan Gagne is back for his second tour of duty with The Hockey Writers. In 2021 he wrote about the New York Islanders and now will embrace the challenge of covering the Calgary Flames. The best part of this new assignment is Ryan currently lives in Edmonton and will get to see both sides of the Battle of Alberta up close and personal. None of this will make much sense since he was born and raised in New England and the Boston Bruins are his still team.