Hasek, Forsberg, Blake & Modano elected to HHoF
Posted June 23, 2014 3:23 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Dominik Hasek, Peter Forsberg, Rob Blake and Mike Modano were announced as the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2014 inductees on Monday.
Pat Burns was named to the builders category while Bill McCreary will join the officials category.
Hasek won 389 regular season games with 81 shutouts and earned six Vezina trophies, three William M. Jennings, two Harts and two Stanley Cups. He backstopped the Czech Republic to Olympic gold at the 1998 Nagano Games and also won bronze at Turin in 2006.
Drafted in the 10th round, 199th overall, by Chicago in 1983, Hasek made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks in the 1990-91 season and was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 1992. Hasek had a breakout campaign in 1993-94 with Buffalo, posting a 30-20-6 record and a league-leading seven shutouts to capture his first Vezina Trophy. Hasek came close to winning the Cup with the Sabres in 1999 but lost to the Dallas Stars in a series that ended on Brett Hull’s controversial foot-in-the-crease overtime goal.
Hasek won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and 2008 and played his final professional game in the KHL at the age of 46 in 2011.
Forsberg played 708 NHL games and had 249 goals and 636 assists for 885 points. He was drafted sixth overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1991 and was traded to the Quebec Nordiques as part of the blockbuster Eric Lindros deal.
He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1994-95 with 15 goals and 35 assists. Forsberg won the Stanley Cup in 1996 after the club relocated and changed its name to the Colorado Avalanche. He earned a second Stanley Cup with the team in 2001. Forsberg had a league-leading 106 points (29 goals, 77 assists) in 2002-03 and captured both the Art Ross and Hart Memorial trophies.
Forsberg won Olympic gold with Sweden twice: He scored the medal-winning goal in the shootout to beat Canada at the 1994 Lillehammer Games and won a second gold at Turin in 2006. He is a member of the Triple Gold Club having also won the IIHF World Hockey Championship in 1992 and 1998.
Injuries cut Forsberg’s career short. He had his spleen removed during the 2001 playoffs and missed the entire 2001-02 regular season to recover while foot injuries plagued the latter portion of his NHL tenure. He retired after playing just two games in the 2010-11 season.
Mike Modano retired as the highest scoring American-born hockey player in NHL history with 1,374 points over 21 seasons with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings. Modano won the Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999 and earned an Olympic silver medal with Team USA at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Modano was the first overall pick in the 1988 draft.
Rob Blake played 20 seasons in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001. He won gold with Canada at the World Hockey Championship in 1994 and 1997 and the Olympic gold medal in 2002.
It’s been four years since fans all across North America were calling for Pat Burns to be inducted into the hall.
Over 71,000 hockey fans joined a Facebook group calling for Burns’ inclusion. It was the last opportunity for him to be inducted while alive, as he succumbed to cancer on November 19, 2010.
The late coach enters the hall under the builder category. The three-time Jack Adams Award winner (NHL’s coach of the year) guided the New Jersey Devils to their most recent Stanley Cup in 2003. In 12 full seasons behind the bench Burns’ team missed the playoffs just once. He also made it to the Cup final with the Montreal Canadiens as a first-year NHL head coach in 1989.
Over 14 NHL seasons, Burns compiled a 501-353-165 record with the Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and the Devils.
