Why do you think it took them so long to induct Rogie Vachon?

Crosby2010

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Mar 4, 2023
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With all of the Hall of Fame talk on different threads we often talk about who is in there that shouldn't be. And there has been some questionable choices over the last 20 years alone. But what do you think was the reason for keeping Vachon out as long as they did? He gets inducted in 2016, which is about 30 years after he is eligible.

As far as goalies in the era of Vachon you have Dryden, Parent, Cheevers, Esposito and Giacomin. All in the Hall of Fame, and deservingly I think. Vachon definitely belongs there.

You can say he won three Cups, and he did, but there is some context to it. In 1967 he is the starter in a losing cause in the Cup final. In 1968 he plays two playoff games but Gump Worsley plays the most in a Cup win. In 1969 he plays more games and is the starter including the latter games against Boston and all 4 games in the Cup final. In 1971 he plays 47 games for the Habs all year and is the clear starter but gets bounced for Dryden and doesn't play a playoff game. Also shares a Vezina with Worsley in 1968 (awarded to both for lowest GAA). So he's part of three teams that won the Cup despite being the starter just one of them in the playoffs.

But it gets better for him. Traded to the Kings after 1971, he has a good string of seasons, I would say from 1972-'78. Two 2nd team all-stars, Hart finishes of 2nd and 4th and a Canada Cup win in 1976 and played every minute of it as well despite having a Hall of Fame goalie on the roster as well.

Finishes his career with 353 wins. At the time of his retirement that was good for 5th all-time. Behind Sawchuk, Plante, Hall and Esposito. And it isn't as if 300 wins was common place. Worsley, Lumley and Broda were the only other 300 winners at that time behind him.

Here is my theory. Pat Quinn was coach of the Kings in the mid 1980s when Vachon was the Kings GM. Quinn was actually banned from coaching in 1987 in the NHL because he signed a backdoor deal with the Canucks to become their GM despite still being under contract with the Kings. I have no idea if Quinn felt Vachon played a part in this or how he felt. All I know is that Vachon was the GM at this time and probably didn't like the idea of his coach going behind his back. I assume this brought a lot of bad blood. Now, why does this matter? It is because Quinn for a long time was on the HHOF committee. From 1998 to 2014 he was part of the committee and was Chairman of the Board the last couple of years. He died in November of 2014. Vachon is inducted in 2016. 2015 was top heavy with Pronger, Lidstrom and Fedorov going in, although Housley sticks out in that class. But in 2016 he gets in, ironically Quinn got in as a builder that year too.

My theory is that Quinn may have been a vocal critic of Vachon and that tilted things to keeping him out. It doesn't explain why Vachon didn't get in from 1985 to 1997 when he was still eligible before Quinn joined the committee, but it could have been that his career was one where you appreciated it long after he retired. Vachon's wife Nicole died 4 months before it was announced he was getting into the HHOF. Might have been nice for his wife of 45 years to see it, but she didn't.

Why do you think they took so long to induct him?
 

JackSlater

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Apr 27, 2010
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Montreal got rid of him and had a lot of success with Dryden, and his peak was in Los Angeles when no one was watching Los Angeles. I have no issue with Vachon but he's clearly a very marginal candidate. I think it's more of a mystery why they eventually did decide to induct him.
 

Crosby2010

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Montreal got rid of him and had a lot of success with Dryden, and his peak was in Los Angeles when no one was watching Los Angeles. I have no issue with Vachon but he's clearly a very marginal candidate. I think it's more of a mystery why they eventually did decide to induct him.

Could it be the Pat Quinn factor? They inducted him pretty much right after Quinn died. Does that mean there were those in the room that disagreed with Quinn but didn't show it until they felt comfortable? This isn't bizarre like something such as Dale Hawerchuk not getting in for his first year of eligibility in 2000 (when there was room for more players to get in) but then getting in the following year (in other words, what exactly made Hawerchuk - a shoo in - not good enough in 2000 but good enough in 2001?). But to me Vachon clearly checks off all of the boxes needed.
 

Michael Farkas

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He wasn't anything special. He had "MVP goalie" stuff more than he had "elite goalie" stuff. He can keep you in games because he fights and dives around. But he wasn't a great goaltender, per se. Sort of the Roy Worters of the 70s. I think they waited a similar amount of time to get in...
 

Crosby2010

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He wasn't anything special. He had "MVP goalie" stuff more than he had "elite goalie" stuff. He can keep you in games because he fights and dives around. But he wasn't a great goaltender, per se. Sort of the Roy Worters of the 70s. I think they waited a similar amount of time to get in...

They did wait a similar time. Worters had been dead for 12 years when he got in back in 1969. Worters had a regular season record too good to ignore. It isn't just his Hart trophy win, but several other years of elite play. Those were just bad teams he was on, they weren't winning the Cup with Superman in net. Vachon is similar there with the Kings. That was a sad sack of a franchise before Vachon showed up there. Didn't do a thing the first 5 years of their existence. One of the worst seasons in NHL history in 1970 for example. Vachon comes in and they start doing well. Still mediocre-ish, but they were just woeful before he got there. They cracked 105 points in 1975, and this was before Dionne showed up. Vachon was rightly so a huge part of this success. Honestly, he was a no-brainer and they didn't need 30 years to figure it out. There is no goalie with a better resume outside of the HHOF. He was the guy for a long time before he got in.
 

Crosby2010

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I mean, I understand...but your question is "why not sooner?"...I offered some scant advice.

Sometimes I wish we could be flies on the wall when the committee is talking to each other. I am almost certain that the players that the media didn't like because they weren't interesting (Oates) to the players that were clearly HHOFers but were intentionally forced to wait several years because of some off-ice stuff (Anderson, Gilmour). I am convinced they did this to Belfour. He was clearly a first ballot in 2010, but instead all they did was induct Dino and no one else. He gets in by 2011 but maybe his off-ice tussle with the security guard or his relationships with his back up played a role, because Belfour was as good of a HHOFer as any. So I wonder if any of this logic spilled over to Vachon for whatever reason. Or like you said they were never overly impressed with his resume.
 
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Michael Farkas

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Sometimes I wish we could be flies on the wall when the committee is talking to each other.
If it's anything like some of the other conversations I have heard or even been a part of, it's about a 3 out of 4 chance that you'll be underwhelmed.

I have never heard a HOF committee conversation before or anything categorically similar, I'll concede that. Maybe they're the best haha
 

The Panther

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Yeah, maybe Quinn had something to do with it. And, as noted, playing in total obscurity in L.A . (in those days) didn't help.

There's also the fact that "Rogatien" is really hard for English speakers to pronounce.
 

rmartin65

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One of the things I looked at during the top goalies project was HoF entry years in comparison to when their career ended. For the goalies who have been voted in by the project, I've used the career end year listed in the summary thread. For those who haven't been voted in by the project, I just used the last year listed on their Wikipedia page. For goalies who retired prior to the HoF inducting still-living members, I've used 1946 for when the "clock" started, since they weren't eligible before then. For Gardiner and Vezina, who had passed prior to the HoF and were thus inducted in 1945, I used 1945 as the "clock" start year. Everything was done in good faith; please point out any errors.

NameBirth YearHoF YearLast YearWait Time
Rogie Vachon19452016198234
Hap Holmes18881972192826
Roy Worters19001969193723
Tom Barrasso19652023200221
Mike Vernon19632023200221
Chuck Rayner19201973195320
Clint Benedict18921965193019
Harry Lumley19261980196119
Bouse Hutton18771963190917
Riley Hern18781963191117
Frank Brimsek19131966195016
Turk Broda19141967195116
Percy LeSueur18811961191615
George Hainsworth18931961193615
Bill Durnan19161964195014
Tiny Thompson19031959194013
Paddy Moran18771958191712
Hugh Lehman18851958192712
Alec Connell19021958193712
Eddie Giacomin1939198719789
Johnny Bower1924197619697
Gump Worsley1929198019746
Bernie Parent1945198419795
Gerry Cheevers1940198519805
Vladislav Tretiak1952198919845
Glenn Hall1931197519714
Ken Dryden1947198319794
Tony Esposito1943198819844
Billy Smith1950199319894
Jacques Plante1929197819753
Grant Fuhr1962200320003
Patrick Roy1965200620033
Ed Belfour1965201120083
Dominik Hasek1965201420113
Martin Brodeur1972201820153
Roberto Luongo1979202220193
Henrik Lundqvist1982202320203
Terry Sawchuk1929197119701
Georges Vezina1887194519260
Charlie Gardiner1904194519340

Vachon really is in a class of his own in terms of how long he had to wait, and I think this table provides a pretty simple explanation- Vachon was simply not one for the very best guys of his age cohort. Vachon was the 6th goalie born in the 1940-1950 bracket to be inducted, behind Gerry Cheevers, Tony Esposito, Bernie Parent, Ken Dryden, and Billy Smith. Outside of Gerry Cheevers (who, somehow, only waited 5 years before being admitted), all those guys are pretty easily ahead of Vachon, right? I don't think the HoF was exactly tripping over itself to admit the 5th or 6th best goalie of his age bracket, and that's ignoring guys who fall just outside that group (like Eddie Giacomin, a 1939 birth, and Vladislav Tretiak, a 1952 birth).

Honestly, the big surprise to me isn't that he waited that long, it is that he got in at all. Of the guys in and around those birth years (I'll include Giacomo and Tretiak), these guys were all inducted relatively shortly after their career ended, with the exception of Vachon- Giacomo waited 9 years, Cheevers 5, Esposito 4, Parent 5, Dryden 4, Smith 4, and Tretiak 5. It certainly "feels" like those who saw him (and to a lesser extent, Giacomo) didn't think he was worth putting in the Hall.

Of course there are several reasons why this shouldn't be looked at as the only data point, not least of which being that it assumes the HoF is largely accurate in who it decides to induct. It is simply meant as a quick reference.
 
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