Pat Burns is in a league of his own

SamPWoo.com – Pat Burns.

Out of all of the coaches that have coached in the NHL, he was my most favorite one and for good reason.

As I write this blog, I’ll admit that I am biased, but either way, Pat Burns deserves to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He has all of the traits that previous inductees had: courage, determination, and leadership.

When the HHOF selection committee announced the 2010 HHOF inductees, it was shocking to believe that Pat Burns would not be joining this class. His resume included winning the Jack Adams Award three times and winning one Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils. And it could have easily been three or four cups if luck was on his side.

“Pat’s record is wonderful,” said Bill Torrey, a longtime Hall of Fame selection committee member in a phone interview with NHL FanHouse. “Everyone knows what he means to the game of hockey.”

That is an understatement.

I tell this story all the time and it still gives me chills. During the final ten minutes of the 2003 Stanley Cup finals, I’ll never forget sitting in Section 217 at the old CAA and the “PAT BURNS! (Clap clap)” chants came raining down from the nosebleed section. That was the respect that Pat Burns commanded amongst the Devils fans. It goes deeper than winning a Stanley Cup. How many first year coaches do you know that would get this type of ovation during a hockey game? Burns was everything anyone could ask for in a coach and as a human being.

“For anyone to think that our thoughts were not with Pat Burns is unfair,” said Torrey. “Committee members are not allowed to speak about the process and give specific details on the voting, but I want to make clear that Pat was certainly on our minds.”

What more could you ask for?

This is not to discredit Jim Devellano and Darryl “Doc” Seaman. Absolutely, they deserve to be inducted. But so does Pat Burns. His record stood on its own, without any pity and his coaching career was cut short. God only knows how many more Stanley Cups and Jack Adams he would have won.

We all love Pat Burns for his loyalty and his contributions to the game. With all due respect to the selection committee, they should have given more thought about Pat Burns and what he meant to his fans. His character and integrity made Lou Lamoriello teary eyed when speaking about him. I mean, the guy beat two different types of cancers for crying out loud. Whatever the reason, I’ll take the committee word that they gave him every consideration, but it still does not sit well in my stomach.

But you know what? Who really cares what this HHOF committee thinks and their reasoning. The most important thing is we, hockey fans around the world, know Pat Burns belongs in the HHOF and he will one day. Think about the Facebook group page urging Pat Burns be inducted. Last I checked, it was over 70,000 people united for this movement. A few years back, I even remembered a Devils message board raising a few thousand dollars in Burns’ name for Hockey Fights Cancer. Again, how many coaches in the modern era do we know that would command this much respect from the fans?

Only Pat Burns and he is in a league of his own.

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E-mail: sampwoo@hockeyprimetime.com