Henrik Lundqvist headlines Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2023

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Henrik Lundqvist had posters of Mike Vernon and Tom Barrasso on a wall in his bedroom when he was growing up in Sweden hoping to play in the NHL.

Decades later, they are going into the Hockey Hall of Fame together this November as part of a goaltender-heavy class of 2023.

Lundqvist was elected Wednesday in his first year of eligibility and Vernon and Barrasso after lengthy waits to get the call, making nearly half the inductees guys who keep the puck out of the net for a living.

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New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, of Sweden, gloves the puck while playing against the Los Angeles Kings during the second period in Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final series in Los Angeles, June 13, 2014. Henrik Lundqvist is expected to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.  (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

"Of course 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 and that’s how you get inspired," Lundqvist said. "Thinking about players in the Hall of Fame, it’s such a big inspiration to me, why I started playing hockey."

Former NHL forward Pierre Turgeon and Canadian women’s hockey star Caroline Ouellette were the other players chosen by the 18-person selection committee. Stanley Cup-winning coach Ken Hitchcock and late executive Pierre Lacroix were picked to be inducted in the builder category.

Lundqvist, elected in his first year of eligibility, backstopped Sweden to an Olympic gold medal in 2006 and led the New York Rangers to the playoffs in 11 of 12 years. That included a trip to the