Henrik Lundqvist, Pierre Turgeon, Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, and Caroline Ouellette were announced as the Hockey Hall of Fame five-player 2023 class Wednesday.
The HOF is also inducting Ken Hitchcock and Pierre Lacroix as builders.
Henrik Lundqvist
Position: Goalie
Nationality: 🇸🇪
NHL career: 2005-20
Team: Rangers
Key accomplishments: Vezina Trophy, Olympic gold medal
This was Lundqvist's first year of eligibility. One of the greatest goalies of his generation, only Marc-Andre Fleury has started and won more games than "King Henrik" during the salary-cap era. His 459 career victories are the sixth-most in NHL history. Lundqvist won the Vezina in 2012 when he posted a personal-best .930 save percentage and was a finalist four other times throughout his 15-year career.
Lundqvist never won a Stanley Cup, but he took the Rangers to the final with a memorable postseason run in 2014. However, he won an Olympic gold medal as the starting goalie with Sweden in 2006, an Olympic silver medal in 2014, and a World Championship gold medal in 2017.
Pierre Turgeon
Position: Center
Nationality: 🇨🇦
NHL career: 1987-2007
Teams: Sabres, Islanders, Canadiens, Blues, Stars, Avalanche
Key accomplishment: 1,327 points
Turgeon's wait ends after being passed over 12 times by the HOF committee. He ranks 34th on the NHL's all-time points list and had the most points among eligible players not currently in the Hall. The knock on Turgeon was that he never won anything outside of a Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1993, but the counting stats were enough to push him through. He played in 1,294 games across 19 NHL seasons and hit the 80-point mark eight times, including a career-high 132 in 1992-93.
Mike Vernon
Position: Goalie
Nationality: 🇨🇦
NHL career: 1982-2002
Teams: Flames, Red Wings, Sharks, Panthers
Key accomplishments: 2 Stanley Cups, Conn Smythe Trophy
All of Calgary can celebrate for Vernon - a native of the Alberta city who played 13 of his 19 NHL seasons with the Flames, leading them to the Stanley Cup in 1989. Vernon won another ring as the starting goalie for the Detroit Red Wings in 1997, taking home the Conn Smythe Trophy that year with a 16-4 record and a .927 save percentage during that run. His 385 career victories are the 16th most ever.
Tom Barrasso
Position: Goalie
Nationality: 🇺🇸
NHL career: 1983-2003
Teams: Sabres, Penguins, Senators, Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Blues
Key accomplishments: 2 Stanley Cups, Vezina Trophy, Calder Trophy
Barrasso makes it three goalies in the class. The 1983 fifth overall pick by the Sabres took the hockey world by storm in his rookie year when he won the Calder and Vezina Trophies in his age-18 season. The Boston native was a Vezina finalist four more times in his 19-year career. Despite his success in Buffalo, the peak of Barrasso's playing days came during his next stop with the Penguins when he won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992.
Caroline Ouellette
Position: Forward
Nationality: 🇨🇦
Key accomplishment: 4 Olympic gold medals
Ouellette is one of the most decorated players of all time - male or female. She won an astounding four Olympic gold medals throughout her career, never losing an Olympic final. She also racked up six gold medals and six silver medals at the World Championship. Ouellette won an NCAA championship with Minnesota-Duluth and four CWHL titles as well. Her 26 Olympic points are the eighth-most ever, and her 70 World Championship points are the seventh-most all time.
Ken Hitchcock
Role: Coach
Nationality: 🇨🇦
Teams: Stars, Flyers, Blue Jackets, Blues, Oilers
Key accomplishments: Stanley Cup, Jack Adams Award
Hitchcock showed an uncanny ability to adapt throughout his 22 seasons as an NHL head coach, but his teams always had one thing in common: stingy defense. No matter the era, Hitchcock knew how to keep the puck away from his net. He won the Cup with Dallas in 1999 and the Jack Adams in 2012 with St. Louis. His 849 career wins are the fourth-most in NHL history.
Pierre Lacroix
Role: Executive
Nationality: 🇨🇦
Teams: Nordiques, Avalanche
Key accomplishment: 2 Stanley Cups
Lacroix inherited a great team in Quebec when he took over as Nordiques general manager in 1994, but he made the necessary tweaks to make the Avalanche a Stanley Cup winner in their first season in Colorado in 1995-96 - his most notable move being a blockbuster trade for Patrick Roy. His acquisitions of Hall of Fame defensemen Rob Blake and Ray Bourque helped the Avs hoist the Cup again in 2001. He died in 2020 due to complications from COVID-19.
