Pat Burns finally gets in the Hall of Fame, voting committee still jerks

It took far too long, but former Bruins head coach Pat Burns has finally been announced as an inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Burns will be inducted alongside referee Bill McCreary, and players Peter Forsberg, Rob Blake, Mike Modano and "The Dominator" Dominik Hasek.

Burns got the well-deserved nod after career that had him bringing home three Jack Adams awards. He coached 1,019 career games, leading his teams to an overall .573 winning percentage with a 501-353-151-14 record. Burns was at the helm of the Montreal Canadiens, leading them to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first year as a coach. He would go on to coach both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins, unless finally hoisting the Cup in his first year with the New Jersey Devils 12 years later.

Burns sadly passed back in fall of 2010 after a long battle with cancer. He was 58. [Ed. Note: he was eligible to be inducted before he passed but the voting committee just fucking hated the guy.]

The official NHL press release is as follows:

Burns was elected in the builder category. He spent parts of 14 seasons as a coach in the NHL, winning the Jack Adams Award with three teams and capturing the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2003. He also reached the Cup Final in 1989 with the Montreal Canadiens and got the Toronto Maple Leafs to back-to-back conference finals in 1993 and 1994. Burns died Nov. 19, 2010.

"It's a great day for me and my family," Lynn Burns, Pat's widow, told the Hockey Hall website). "I'm speechless and tremendously happy. Pat would be proud and this is well-deserved."

The official induction will take place November 17, 2014 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.