On Monday night in downtown Toronto the Hockey Hall of Fame officially welcomes the Class of 2014 - players Mike Modano, Dominik Hasek, Peter Forsberg and Rob Blake, coach Pat Burns and referee Bill McCreary.
Globe and Mail hockey columnist Eric Duhatschek spoke to players and coaches who crossed paths with the members of the 2014 class during their storied careers to get a perspective on what made them great.
Pat Burns
From Montreal. Convinced by Hull Olympiques owner Wayne Gretzky to leave his 17 year job as a policeman to become a junior hockey coach; Began his NHL coaching career with the Montreal Canadiens in 1988; Named the NHL’s coach of the year in his first seasons with Montreal, Toronto and Boston; In 1993, led the Maple Leafs on their longest Stanley Cup playoff run since 1967, losing in the third round to Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings; Won a Stanley Cup with New Jersey Devils in 2003; Died Nov. 19, 2010 after a long battle with cancer.
Former Leafs captain Doug Gilmour on Burns:
"Pat was a unique man. The first time I really met him was when he signed to coach the Leafs and I was downtown and he said, ‘look we’re going to meet up.’ So we drank some beer and told some stories and he told me what he expected – that for us to succeed, certain guys had to be our best players in practice and our best players in games. He said, ‘That means I’ve got to push you and you’ve got to overachieve’. He had that police-officer mentality and he was almost like a dad-figure too – he could scare the crap out of you. His look and demeanor was intimidating.
The biggest thing about Pat is how well he was respected. They say of certain coaches, he’s a three-year guy or a four-year guy or whatever. But you know what? Every year, he developed as a coach. I know when he went to Boston and Dave Ellett was there with him, I said, ‘how’s Burnsy been?’ and he said, ‘night and day compared to Toronto – not as hard on us.’ From there, he went to Jersey and he wasn’t as hard on the players there either – but he still was a commanding figure that wanted the best out of his players and wanted to win. That’s the most I can say about him – that he wanted to win. And he figured out finally after many, many years, how to win the Cup in Jersey. I was excited for him. We were friends. He did a lot for me in my development."
Mike Modano
From Livonia, MI. Chosen first overall by Minnesota in 1988; Played 21 of his 22 seasons with the North Stars/Dallas Stars club; An Olympic silver medalist, he also led the Stars to the Stanley Cup in 1999; Holds the NHL record for most goals (561) and points (1,374) by an American-born player.
Basil McRae, former Minnesota North Stars’ captain on Modano:
"After he finished playing his final year in Prince Albert, Mike joined us in the playoffs in St. Louis. He was coming off a broken wrist, so he had a cast on his hand and he had braces on his teeth. Skating around in practice, he was this tall skinny kid who looked about 14 and had this huge Al MacInnis-style left-handed curve on his stick blade. It was crazy. But even with a cast on his hand, he was saucering the puck and I thought, ‘if he can do that now, how good is he going to be when he gets the cast off and the braces off?’
When they came to town to film the first Mighty Ducks movie, they wanted the two most popular North Stars player to be in it. They did a fan poll in the Minneapolis papers and there’s no doubt who was No. 1 – Mike Modano. Whether I was No. 2 or not I got included as the second guy.
The filming took place during the 1991 player strike – not a lockout, but an actual strike – and Mike and I had to go to the Met Centre, because Disney had leased the building and they referred to us as North Star 1 and North Star 2. North Star 1 – Mike - had three or four lines and North Star 2 – me - had one line. About 15 minutes into the filming, the director said, ‘whoa. Switch. North Star 1, you’re now North Star 2 and North Star 2, you’re now North Star 1.’ I’m not a particularly articulate guy, but at the time, I could handle the lines better than Mike could. So many people have asked me since, ‘how come you got all the lines and not Mike Modano?’ But if you knew Mike then, he was a pretty quiet guy. His smile, his grin, how he rolled his eyes, that’s how he communicated.
Mike was a guy, when the puck dropped, he could really turn it on, and then when the game was over, he had a smile on his face – and a lot of people took that the wrong way, that he wasn’t competitive or he didn’t care. Well, he did. He wasn’t into the rah-rah. He just did it on the ice."
Peter Forsberg
From Ornskoldsvik, Sweden. Philadelphia’s first choice in the 1991 Entry Draft, traded to Quebec in 1992 as part of the Eric Lindros saga; NHL Rookie of the Year in 1995 with Quebec and a two-time Stanley Cup champion in 1996 and 2001 with Colorado; His 1994 winning goal against Canada at the Winter Olympics was commemorated on a stamp issued by Swedish Post, an honour normally reserved for the monarchy
Former Colorado Avalanche coach Bob Hartley on Forsberg:
"My highlight of Peter Forsberg’s career came when we were playing the Panthers in Florida right after we made the trade for Theo Fleury (March of 1999). We were down 5-1 after two and Pavel Bure did the Tiger Williams, riding his stick, in front of our bench, in the last minute of the second period. In the third period, it was the Peter Forsberg Show. He must have played 12 minutes in that third period and scored about five points.
He was a lion. That game, I could still draw up a few of his goals. Every time he had the puck, whoever was on the ice against him, they didn’t touch the puck. I remember he went around their defencemen, it was not even fair.
Such a talented player, a franchise player. I still question myself over the years over how we handled him. I didn’t get Peter as a kid. When I got him, the ankles were starting to be a problem. Then he had the (lost) spleen during our Stanley Cup run. You wonder, where’s the balance? He played so hard that I’m sure it took lots of awards and points away from him and probably a few years off his career. Nashville and Philly at the end, they didn’t have a chance to see the real Peter Forsberg – because he was not old when he retired.
I would see his ankle bones after games and they were as red as our jerseys. We were in that conference, we were playing against (Derian) Hatcher and (Richard) Matvichuk in Dallas and they were trying to take his head off every game. In St. Louis, there was (Al) MacInnis and (Chris) Pronger. In Detroit, they were not tough, but they had (Nicklas) Lidstrom and a lot of other good players.
He would love those challenges. They wouldn’t even have to go after him. He was always going after them. It seemed that was his way of doing things. Talent-wise, when you blend in talent and competitiveness, he was probably the hardest competitor I’ve ever coached."
Rob Blake
From Simcoe, Ont. A Hobey Baker finalist in his final season with Bowling Green before turning pro with the Los Angeles Kings; One of four players drafted in the fourth round of the 1988 draft (70th overall) to play more than 800 games in the NHL; He is a member of the IIHF’s Triple Gold Club winning a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal and the IIHF World Championship.
Former Los Angeles Kings’ forward Luc Robitaille on Blake:
"Rob was known for his hip check. He was the first big guy I would say that was quick. A lot of big guys, in those days, weren’t quick at stopping and going in the other direction, so we weren’t used to that as players. Sometimes, you’d see a forward coming up the ice and he’d take a peek and put his head down to control the puck, and the next thing you knew, Rob was there, on top of them and he would connect with those guys. Rob was a lot like Scott Niedermayer – everywhere he went, he was a difference-maker in winning. He found a way to fit with the team he was playing for at the time, and be a leader on that team.
We went to the 1994 world championships which Canada hadn’t won in 32 years. We had Rob as our top defenceman and I clearly remember playing Sweden in the semi-finals. We needed a big bang at the start and so we said, ‘Rob, if you get a chance to get a guy at centre ice, just do it, because they’ve never seen anything like that.’ I can’t remember who he hit, but he connected with a guy and laid him out in the first five minutes and we ended up winning, I think 5-0. It was incredible, the impact that had as a player. He was a special player, a game-breaker in his own way, because he could turn a game with a big hit.
Rob is our assistant GM and last year, in the series against Chicago, our Kings’ plane only has 54 seats. In the playoffs, there isn’t enough room for everybody to fly on the charter. So we needed three people to fly commercial. We’re in a meeting, with a couple of younger guys that work under me and didn’t know Rob Blake, and he says, ‘I’ve got to take three guys out, so it’ll be me and he says two other names.’ I said, ‘you can’t take yourself out’ and he says, ‘no, if I’m going to take two guys out, I gotta take myself out too.’ And the kids I work with on the business side, they were floored by that. He wasn’t trying to make a statement, it was just a matter of fact.’ But that’s why he was one of the greatest leaders ever – because he always put the team ahead of himself."
Dominik Hasek
From Pardubice, Czechoslovakia. Drafted 199th overall and did not make his NHL debut until nine years later; A six-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s best goaltender, he also won the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP in 1997 and 1998 – the first time since Jacques Plante in 1962; Was named Czech Hockey Player of the 20th Century in 1998
Former Buffalo Sabres’ coach Lindy Ruff on Hasek:
"I always said this about Dom, he was ahead of the curve. He was inventing ways of stopping the puck that now are pretty common. He played deeper in the net and he read the game so well. He was one of the most incredible athletes I’ve ever been around.
He started dropping pucks and hitting them with his paddle . He would roll over and do that barrel-roll Dom save. Plays, saves, moves - they all come from somewhere; somebody invents them; and Dom invented a different way to play the game. Goalies that came after him wanted to play like him. People couldn’t wrap their arms around some of those things. They’d say, ‘that’s crazy, that’s not how a goalie plays.’
He was way ahead of the curve. He’d be yelling at the defencemen, ‘must see, must see, get out of my way, I want to see the puck.’ He could come back to the bench and tell me, ‘he not have his man, he not have his man.’ He was just so aware of where everybody was.
I can tell you this: Dom made me a better coach and he made all his teammates better players – because he helped clean up the mistakes. We could hold on and give up two or three chances and then go the other way, and they didn’t have what we had in goal when we got down to the other end."
These interviews have been edited and condensed.