It's taken more than five decades, but a former Penguins goalie finally is being inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The catch is, Jim Rutherford will be going in as a Builder, not a player.
Rutherford's quarter-century of work as a general manager in Hartford/Carolina and with the Penguins, which includes presiding over three Stanley Cup-winning clubs, makes him worthy of the honor.
Which his solid, but unspectacular, playing career did not.
And that gives him something in common with nearly all of the dozens of other goaltenders who have strapped on pads while wearing a Penguins sweater.
Of the 17 men who have managed, coached or played for the Penguins before being chosen for induction to the Hall, not a single one got there by virtue of his work as a goalie. Indeed, Rutherford will be the only one in that group who even played the position.
But while many of the guys who tended goal for the Penguins disappeared into the mists of hockey history long ago -- how many people recall much about, say, Rob Dopson, Paul Hoganson, Greg Redquest or Robbie Holland? -- there have been several who did quality work.
They include some who labored primarily on sub-par teams, like Denis Herron and Michel Dion, and a few who helped their teams win Stanley Cups.
At the very least, there have been enough quality goaltenders in the organization to assure that the all-time team we have selected will have no concerns at the position.
As with the forwards and defensemen who were announced previously, the goaltenders were chosen with input from two longtime beat writers and observers of the team, Bob Grove and Tom McMillan.
NO. 1 GOALIE
Marc Andre Fleury
Why him? It was not an easy call. In fact, it was the toughest of any of the decisions that went into assembling this team. In some ways, Fleury and Tom Barrasso could not have been more different. Barrasso caught with his right hand, Fleury, his left. Barrasso was a superb puck-handler, while Fleury was a blooper reel waiting to happen anytime he tried to play it. Fleury was universally liked by his teammates, whereas Barrasso's relationship was some of the guys in his locker room was prickly, at best. But both won multiple Cups, and earned the majority of their team's victories during two title drives. Barrasso had 12 in 1991 and 16 the following year; Fleury had 16 in 2009 and nine in 2017. Fleury owns a decided edge in regular-season games-played here, 691-460, and that translates to an advantage in career victories (375-226) and shutouts (44-22). Their playoff stats were much closer. Fleury was 62-51 in 115 playoff appearances, with 10 shutouts. Barrasso was 56-42 with six shutouts in 101 games. Fleury ultimately gets the nod on a length-of-service tiebreaker. It was either that or a coin toss.
Who missed out? Barrasso was Fleury's only real competition, if only because Matt Murray's pro career has barely moved past its embryonic stages.
BACKUP GOALIE
Ken Wregget
Why him? From the moment Wregget was acquired from Philadelphia in 1992, he accepted -- even embraced -- his duties as Barrasso's backup. He was consistently effective, whether making only occasional starts or playing regularly because Barrasso was injured, and came through with several memorable performances. That included a four-overtime victory in Washington during which he stopped a Joe Juneau penalty shot in the second overtime after replacing Barrasso, who'd left the game with back spasms. While it would have been easy to name the loser of the Fleury-Barrasso competition to serve as backup, the premise of this exercise is to build a team the way a real-life club would be put together. Consequently, that approach wouldn't work, because neither Fleury nor Barrasso would be content as a No. 2. One can only imagine how Barrasso would have protested if put into such a role, and while Fleury did not make a public issue of backing up Murray during his final couple of postseasons here, he was not at all pleased about serving in that capacity. Indeed, the desire to be a No. 1 goalie again is part of the reason he agreed to go to Vegas in the 2017 expansion draft.
Who missed out? No one, really. Selecting Wregget was as easy as choosing between Fleury and Barrasso was difficult.
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