Tom Barrasso

Thomas Patrick Barrasso (born March 31, 1965) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey goaltender.

He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 18 seasons.

He began his time in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres, who selected him fifth overall in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft out of high school.

He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres with the fifth overall pick in 1983.

Skipping a college career, he went straight from high school to the NHL.

At the time of his debut with the Sabres on October 5, 1983, less than six months after graduating from high school, Barrasso was the youngest goaltender to play and win a game in the NHL since Harry Lumley nearly forty years prior.

He won the Calder Memorial Trophy and Vezina Trophy in his first season, becoming the third player to win both awards in the same year.

He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1988, where he would best be remembered and spend the majority of his career.

On November 12, 1988, the Sabres traded Barrasso, with a third round draft pick in the 1990 draft (Joe Dziedzic) to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Doug Bodger and Darrin Shannon.

He spent parts of 12 seasons with the Penguins, and was a Stanley Cup champion in 1991 and 1992.

Barrasso won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1991 and 1992.

It was his play in these Cup runs that established him as a "money goalie".

In the following years, Barrasso almost entirely missed two seasons, the 1994–95 NHL season and the 1996–97 NHL season with injuries but came back with good performances in the next years.

In 1997, he became the first American goaltender to record 300 NHL wins.

A fiercely proud competitor, in his later seasons in Pittsburgh he developed a strained relationship with the local media, who he felt were disrespectful of him and his family.

This probably factors into why his #35 was not retired by the Penguins (current starting goaltender Tristan Jarry currently wears #35), as only Mario Lemieux's, Michel Brière's, and Jaromír Jágr's jerseys are retired.

After being traded to the Ottawa Senators in March 2000 and sitting out the 2000–01 season, his final two seasons were split playing for the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and St. Louis Blues.

In March 2000, Barrasso was traded to the Ottawa Senators for Ron Tugnutt and Janne Laukkanen in a deal that was seen as a risk for both teams.

He was uneven in Ottawa, going 3–4 in seven starts and losing the first two games of Ottawa's first round series with rivals Toronto before bouncing back and winning the next two games to even the series.

After evening the series, Barrasso caused a furor during the CBC's broadcast when he said during an on-air interview on April 20 that he "really couldn't give a shit what you people have to say".

Barrasso would apologize the next day for using vulgar language, although he stood by his sentiments in the interview, stating the year had been very stressful for him.

The Senators would go on to lose the next two games and the series to the Maple Leafs in six games.

After his playoff run with Ottawa, Barrasso's contract expired and he did not to re-sign with the Senators.

He then spent the entire 2000–01 season out of hockey to be with his family, following the cancer diagnosis of his daughter and death of his father from cancer.

Following a favourable prognosis of his daughter's condition and regaining mental clarity following what Barasso described as a difficult year in his personal life, Barasso returned to hockey signing a one-year contract with the Carolina Hurricanes on July 17, 2001, for the 2001–02 season.

Barasso expressed interest in playing with the Hurricanes following a June 2001 dinner with former Pittsburgh teammate Ron Francis, who had since joined Carolina.

Barasso also enjoyed some international success this season, winning a Silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics playing for Team USA.

Although Barasso had strong play in Carolina splitting the net with Artūrs Irbe, on March 14, 2002, he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Toronto's fourth round pick in the 2003 NHL draft.

He made his Toronto debut on March 21, in a 4–3 loss to the Washington Capitals.

Ultimately, Barrasso would only appear in four games with Toronto, and not make a single post-season appearance, before Toronto was eliminated in the third round of the playoffs to the Hurricanes.

Barrasso was not signed to a new contract following the Maple Leafs' elimination, becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Unsigned to a new deal in the NHL offseason, Barrasso began the season a free agent before later signing a contract with the St. Louis Blues on November 4, 2002.

He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009 and has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023.

After retiring as a player, Barrasso served on the coaching staff of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes.

In 2012, Barrasso was hired by Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) as a member of its coaching staff.

In 2016 he joined Asiago Hockey of the Alps Hockey League as their head coach, winning the 2017–18 league championship.

In October 2018, Barrasso was hired as head coach of the EIHL's Sheffield Steelers.

Barrasso grew up in the town of Stow, Massachusetts, playing ice hockey on an outdoor rink.

He started playing goaltender at the age of five years and by the time he was a teenager, was playing in net for Acton-Boxborough with fellow NHL players Bob Sweeney and Jeff Norton, as well as fellow goalie Kelly Dyer, to whom he refused to speak.

Barrasso was considered one of the most promising American goaltending prospects of all time.