Brodeur heads list of HOF inductees
TORONTO — Martin Brodeur couldn’t see the three Stanley Cup titles and jawdropping career ahead when he played his first game in goal for the New Jersey Devils in 1992 — 20 years after Russian winger Aleksander Yakushev won Canadian hearts with his effort against NHL stars in the historic Summit Series.
And Willie O’Ree didn’t know he had broken the NHL’s color barrier when he made his debut in 1958.
All three will go into the Hockey Hall of Fame together as headliners of a trailblazing class of 2018 that also includes current commissioner Gary Bettman, diminutive forward Martin St. Louis and four-time gold-medal-winning Canadian women’s national team star Jayna Hefford.
Brodeur piled up the most wins and shutouts of any goaltender in NHL history, while Yakushev was the top scorer on an All-Star team from the former Soviet Union in the groundbreaking eight-game series against Team Canada in 1972.
“This is an exciting class to be around because everyone has tried to take their game to the next level,” Bettman said on Tuesday.
“I really wasn’t focused on whether this was happening now; I was really focused on whether Willie O’Ree was going to be selected because that to me was a very important act for the Hall to take.”
Bettman has been commissioner since 1993, during which time the NHL has expanded its footprint across North America and grown from 24 to 31 teams.
In that time, the league has gone from a $437 million business to one with almost $5 billion in revenue. It’s been an occasionally bruising ride, with three work stoppages, including one that canceled the entire 2004-05 season and led to the salary cap.
“His leadership and love for hockey is very evident,” said all-time great Wayne Gretzky. “Hockey has become more entertaining year after year, thanks in part to Gary’s passion for the game.”
Brodeur lifted the Stanley Cup three times with the Devils between 1995 and 2003.
He leads all goalies with 691 wins and 125 shutouts in 1,266 regular-season games with the Devils and St. Louis Blues, and he won the Vezina Trophy four times.
Brodeur won 113 playoff games and had a 2.02 postseason goals-against average.
While Brodeur and St. Louis were first-ballot selections, O’Ree, a Canadian from Fredericton, New Brunswick, had waited decades for this honor since making history at the Montreal Forum on Jan 18, 1958, with the Boston Bruins.