Penguins' Great Tom Barrasso's Hall of Fame Induction Long Overdue
One of the greatest goaltenders in Pittsburgh Penguins and NHL history is finally going to the NHL Hall of Fame.
Tom Barrasso played nearly two decades in the National Hockey League. Spending 12 of his seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he's arguably the greatest or second greatest goaltender in team history. When Barrasso retired from hockey following the 2002-03 season, he was not only a Pittsburgh great, but also one of the winningest goaltenders in league history with individual and team accolades to match. It seemed a given that his next call would be from Toronto and the Hockey Hall of Fame in a few years.
Why wouldn't he expect that? After all, Barrasso put up nothing short of an all-time great career over his 20 seasons. He started it off with a bang, and immediately displayed why he was the fifth overall draft pick in 1983. Just six months after graduating high school, Barrasso was in net for the Buffalo Sabres, winning 26 games, the Calder Trophy as the NHL's best rookie, and the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender.
A few years later, he was dealt to the Penguins and cemented his legacy of greatness. He won 269 out of his 369 career wins in black and gold, and two Stanley Cups with the Penguins. Playing backstop to one of the most incredible offensive teams in league history, his agility, athleticism in net, and puck control skills were the perfect compliment to the run and gun Pens.
To this day, Barrasso is the all-time leader in points by an NHL goalie with 48.
All in all, Barrasso appeared in over 700 games during his 20 year career, and currently sits tied for 20th all-time in wins by a goaltender with 369. He posted a very era-consistent career goals against average of 3.24 GAA and a career save percentage of .892. Amongst his generation of goalies, there's no denying that Barrasso was a top-10 if not top five goaltender in an era when goaltending was largely irrelevant.
Sounds like a hall of fame career, right?
For Barrasso and so many others, his career stood out as exceptional and historical. For the Hockey Hall of Fame, that simply wasn't the case. The Hall turns a blind eye to goaltenders in general, and seemed especially opposed to awarding goalies who played in the 80's and 90's the honor of being a Hall of Famer. After 20 years had passed since his last NHL game, Barrasso figured the opportunity to enter the hall had vanished. He attributed it to many possible reasons, but it wasn't the end of the world.
"As time goes by you think, ‘Well, it’s not going to happen,’" Barrasso said. "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."
But then Barrasso's agent called. He saw on social media that his client was finally, after two decades, getting his due and being inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the 2023 class.
"It’s a tremendous honor to have been selected by the committee and it puts a bit of a validation on the idea of what I thought along the way of my career.”
A bit of validation that was long overdue and immensely deserved.
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