Pat Quinn to be inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame

The late Pat Quinn, along with three others, will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, it was announced on Monday.

Quinn, who passed away in November of 2014, will be honoured in the builder’s category.

https://twitter.com/HockeyHallFame/status/747513621773590528

Other inductees in the 2016 class include Eric Lindros, Sergei Makarov, and Rogie Vachon.

Quinn is a well deserving selection. With the Canucks, Quinn oversaw one of the most successful periods of hockey in franchise history. He coached his team to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 1994 and won two division titles in 1992 and 1993. As a GM, he drafted players like Pavel Bure, Trevor Linden, and Mattias Ohlund. He won the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year in 1992 with the Canucks as well as in 1980 when he coached the Philadelphia Flyers.

Quinn was also a member of the expansion-era Canucks as a player, and served as president of the organization from 1987-1997. He was inducted into the Canucks Ring of Honour in 2014.

Quinn coached 1400 NHL games spanning 20 seasons with Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Toronto, and Edmonton. He coached Canada internationally, winning gold with Canada at the 2002 Olympics and coaching Canada to victory at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. He also won gold with the U18 team in 2008 and at the World Junior Championships in 2009.

Quinn was part of the Hall of Fame selection committee from 1998 to 2013.

For Eric Lindros, this was a long time coming. Lindros had been snubbed numerous times before. He had superior numbers to recent inductees Pavel Bure and Cam Neely, other elite players who had their careers cut short due to injury. Lindros scored 865 points in 760 games and was a dominant player in the 1990s. He won a Hart Trophy in 1995 and was captain of Team Canada at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.

Sergei Makarov was part of the famed KLM line in Russia with former Canucks Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov. He transitioned to the NHL in 1989, having a great deal of success with the Calgary Flames. His most successful NHL season was his first, when he scored 86 points (24-62-86) in 80 games.

Rogie Vachon played 15 NHL seasons with Montreal, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Boston before retiring in 1982. He’s had the longest wait of the four inductees, as goaltenders are woefully under represented in the Hall. Vachon won a Vezina Trophy in 1968 and his number retired by the LA Kings.

Quinn, Lindros, Makarov, and Vachon will be honoured at the Hall of Fame gala in Toronto in November.