I have a confession to make.
I was surprised to learn Tom Barrasso was being considered for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. I was even more surprised when he was voted in.
That’s not to say he wasn’t a very good goaltender in his day. He was, to the tune of a Calder Trophy, a Vezina Trophy and a Jennings Trophy. Not to mention those two Stanley Cup rings he earned with the Pens back in the early ‘90s.
Maybe it’s his boxcar numbers…a bloated 3.24 goals against average and a pedestrian .892 save percentage…which pale in comparison to old-timers like Johnny Bower, Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall…not to mention today’s netminders.
No, Barrasso’s numbers weren’t glittering, especially after he was acquired from the Sabres in a 1988 blockbuster for former first-round picks Doug Bodger and Darrin Shannon to backstop a high octane but porous black-and-gold team. But I need to remind myself that he played in a different era, when offense and small brown goalie pads ruled and supernovas such as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux routinely flirted with 200-point seasons.
Contemporaries like Grant Fuhr (.887), Billy Smith (.895) and Andy Moog (.892)…who the Pens nearly acquired instead of Barrasso…didn’t post pretty numbers, either.
What Barrasso did do was win. Twenty-first on the all-time list in victories among goalies with 369 (226 with the Pens), fourth among American-born goalies. For a two-year stretch covering our Cup seasons no one stopped the puck better than Barrasso.
“Tom Barrasso was magnificent,” play-by-play announcer Mike Lange said of the supremely confident netminder following our ’92 Cup triumph.
“It seems that for the saves you absolutely have to have, in the games you absolutely have to win, he’s there,” said teammate and current Canucks coach Rick Tocchet. “He makes the big saves.”
Indeed, his numbers improved across the board during the cauldron of postseason play when the stakes are considerably higher.
Not only a stud between the pipes, he was an extraordinary puckhandler as well, often operating as a third defenseman.
“At the time, when not a lot of goalies handled the puck, stickhandled, shot the puck, Tommy was one of the best,” said Bryan Trottier. “We used Tommy to counter a lot of teams in transition. They shot it in, he shot it out.
“He was better than some defensemen in moving the puck.”
Guess it’s no surprise that he’s first all-time in assists and points among goalies (48).
On second thought, perhaps Barrasso is deserving of the honor after all.
Crazy Eights
Eight members of those great ‘90s Cup champs are enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame…Barrasso, Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Ron Francis, Joey Mullen, Larry Murphy, Mark Recchi and Trottier.
Talk about a Murder’s Row!
Jaromir Jagr will surely make nine…if he ever decides to retire…
Rick
Great stuff. Really makes you think. I tell my kids all the time everything
happens for a reason. “Makes you wonder”!!
Rick
When talking about the past and former Penguin players I can’ t
help but wonder how good Michel Briere would or could of been.
Nice article on Barrasso – I loved the way he competed.
Hey Mike,
You do wonder. Most people who saw Briere play seem to agree that, while he wouldn’t have been a Lemieux or Gretzky (who is?), he would’ve been a consistent 70-80 point scorer, kind of along the line of Syl Apps.
But Michel was a huge scorer in junior…320 points over his last two seasons in the Quebec League…so who knows? The guys who played with him said he had a quiet confidence and determination and was a quick study. Sounds kind of Sid-like.
I was doing some research on him a while back when something caught my eye. Over his last nine regular season games he tallied 11 points. Including the playoffs, he had six goals and 19 points over his final 19 games. A point-per-game clip.
Mind you, this is a 20-year-old kid on what was basically an expansion team doing this back in 1969-70, when point-per-game scorers even among established veterans were rare.
Again, makes you wonder.
Too, you wonder what kind of trajectory the team would’ve had if he’d lived. With Briere, do they make the playoffs the next season instead of faltering? Do they trade for Apps, who basically became a replacement for Briere? Do they beat the Islanders in ’75 and avoid receivership and ill-fated reconstructs by Wren Blair and Baz Bastien? And…the biggest ‘what if’ of ‘em all. Are we still in a position to draft Mario Lemieux down the road?
Really makes you think, doesn’t it?
I toss one more tidbit at you that I’ve always found fascinating. If you add Briere’s No. 21 to Mario’s 66 you get Sid’s 87. Really makes you wonder if this all wasn’t fated somehow…
Rick