Drawing The (Goaltending) Line

The most controversial aspect about the Hockey Hall of Fame is the imaginary line drawn between a true Hall of Famer vs. a very good hockey player.

Many people believe the Hall of Fame has set that line far too low. Especially given recent inductions of Bernie Federko, Clark Gillies and Dick Duff. Some even include Cam Neely in this category.

The truth of the matter is this is no recent trend. In his autobiography a few years back, Phil Esposito commented on his induction in 1980 as being "not that big a deal to me because I feel there are some players in the Hall who shouldn't be there, and as a result it sort of cheapens it for everyone."

Bottom line is wherever the line is set there will always be controversy.

Perhaps one area where the line is drawn just about right is with the goaltenders. If anything, perhaps that line is drawn a little bit too high.

Here's a list of some very good goalies of our life time that continue to wait for a phone call from the Hall of Fame: Mike Vernon, Ed Belfour, Tom Barrasso, Mike Richter, Bill Ranford, Andy Moog, Curtis Joseph, Ron Hextall and John Vanbiesbrouck. We might as well add Chris Osgood and Olaf Kolzig to this list right now, too.

And for years people have been campaigning for Lorne Chabot and Rogie Vachon, and they are likely to never get in.

I think I am generally fine with that cutoff right where it is. While I think Vernon, Belfour, Barrasso and even Ranford and Richter probably deserve more consideration, I do no think any of the other names should be considered. And of the modern goalies already inducted, I don't think there is a lot of controversial inclusions.

This may be one line the Hockey Hall of Fame has drawn perfectly.