Barrasso, Lundqvist, Vernon voted to Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2023

Henrik Lundqvist had posters of Tom Barrasso and Mike Vernon on his wall.

Now he's entering the Hockey Hall of Fame with them.

The goalies were elected by the 18-member selection committee Wednesday with Pierre Turgeon and Caroline Ouellette. Ken Hitchcock and Pierre Lacroix were elected in the Builders category.

The Class of 2023 will be inducted in Toronto on Nov. 13.

"It's really cool," Lundqvist said. "… As a kid when you grow up, you look at the goalies that are playing well and how they play the game and how they compete. That's how you get inspired."

Lundqvist was elected in his first year of eligibility.

Selected in the seventh round (No. 205) of the 2000 NHL Draft by the New York Rangers, Lundqvist played for the Rangers from 2005-20, helping them advance as far as the Stanley Cup Final in 2014.

He was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy five times and won it in 2012 when he was voted the NHL's best goalie. The native of Are, Sweden, won 459 games, sixth in NHL history and most among goalies born in Europe. He had a .918 save percentage, tied for eighth among goalies who have played at least 300 games (Cory Schneider, Corey Crawford).

Lundqvist also won a gold medal with Sweden at the 2006 Torino Olympics and a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"I just want to say thank you to the committee for voting me in," Lundqvist said. "I mean, growing up as a kid, thinking about players in the Hall of Fame … It's such a big inspiration to me why I started playing hockey."

Barrasso and Vernon were elected after long waits.

Selected in the first round (No. 5) in the 1983 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres, Barrasso went from high school to the NHL. The Boston native won the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year and the Vezina.

He said fear was a driving factor, because he wanted to succeed so badly to stay with the Sabres.

"It was an amazing year, as an 18-year-old turning 19," Barrasso said. "I never achieved that level of success again in my career, which is crazy to say -- individually, anyway. It was just an amazing run."

Barrasso, who was a Vezina finalist four more times, helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992.

He won 369 games for the Sabres, Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues from 1983-2003. At the time of his retirement, he ranked 12th in NHL history. Today he's tied for 20th with Pekka Rinne.

"I was definitely not waiting by the phone," Barrasso said with a laugh. "In fact, they had a hard time getting ahold of me even after they had made the decision. I think as a player, you're competitive, and you hold yourself in certain regard as how you think your career was.

"And then this obviously the ultimate honor, and do you make that grade or not? It's not for you to decide. It's for others to decide. So as time goes by, you think, 'Well, it's not going to happen.'"

He said he had grown to accept that and was OK with his career whether or not he made the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"It's a tremendous honor to have been selected by the committee, and it puts a bit of a validation on … what I thought along the way of my career," he said.

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Selected in the third round (No. 56) of the 1981 NHL Draft by his hometown Calgary Flames, Vernon was the runner-up to Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens for the Vezina in 1989, when he helped the Flames win the Cup.

His captain was Lanny McDonald, who is now the chairman of the board of directors of the Hockey Hall of Fame. McDonald and Mike Gartner, the chairman of the selection committee, called each person selected Wednesday.

"Well, I thought Lanny was calling me for a golf game," Vernon said with a laugh. "It was great to hear his voice."

Vernon also won the Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy voted as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Detroit Red Wings in 1997.

He won 385 games for the Flames, Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers from 1982-2002. At the time of his retirement, he ranked seventh in NHL history. He ranks 16th today.

"Yeah, it is an emotional time for me," Vernon said. "Might be a long time coming, but it's still worth it."

Vernon thought back to his roots in a hockey family -- roots to which many goalies can relate.

"Hockey was instilled in me at a very young age, and I had older brothers that used to shoot pucks on me, so I was obviously the guy that was stuck in net, and it was fun," Vernon said. "I just enjoyed the game, and the game means a lot to me. It still means a lot to me, and I loved it."

Ouellette is one of three female players who has won at least four Olympic gold medals, joining Canada women's national team teammates Hayley Wickenheiser (five) and Jayna Hefford (four). Wickenheiser and Hefford are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Ouellette won gold at the Olympics in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014, totaling 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 20 games. She won the gold six times at the IIHF Women's World Championship and earned silver at the other six tournaments she played in from 1999-2015. Ouellette also won the Clarkson Cup playing for the Canadiennes de Montreal in the Canadian Women's Hockey League four times and an NCAA Division I title at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Turgeon has the most points of any eligible player not in the Hall of Fame with 1,327 (515 goals, 812 assists) in 1,294 games with the Sabres, New York Islanders, Canadiens, Blues, Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche. He also had 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) in 109 playoff games.

Hitchcock is the fourth-winningest coach in NHL history, with a record of 849-534-127 with 88 ties in 22 seasons with the Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Blues and Edmonton Oilers. He guided Dallas to the Stanley Cup in 1999.

Lacroix was GM of the Quebec Nordiques and Avalanche from 1994-2006. He built Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1996 and 2001.

NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report