He could've transformed Molsons into Moet, ridden the rankest bull at the Stampede for the full eight seconds and single-handedly found a way to ressurrect the moribund Canadian dollar and still Mike Vernon could never have done enough to satisfy the finicky hockey fans in Calgary. But has he accomplished enough to win over the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee?

	Mike Vernon finished his career with 385 wins and two Stanley Cups.

At 39, Vernon called it a career Friday, after 19 seasons shared between four teams (the Flames, Wings, Sharks and Panthers), two Stanley Cup triumphs, four trips to the final, a Conn Smythe trophy in 1997 and five All-Star Game appearances. His achievements are many, and undeniable.

"I'm getting old," he admitted ruefully. "I've had pucks shot at me since I was four years old. How is anyone supposed to miss that?

"Good thing they improved the equipment, too, because those things hurt. I've got the battle scars to prove it."

Love him or loathe him, Vernon was undoubtedly a warrior, a man of small stature with an oversized competitive nature. Among his contemporaries, he wasn't as flamboyant as, say, Grant Fuhr; as prolific as Patrick Roy, as amoeba-like as the Dominator, as antagonistic as Ed Belfour. He didn't seem as icy-cool as Curtis Joseph or as totally unflappable as Martin Brodeur. He didn't talk to posts or promise the constabulary a billion bucks to forget the whole thing or go into trance-like Marcel Marceau silences the day of his starts.

He just made a habit of winning.

The hometown boy who earned $80,000 Canadian with his first pro contract and topped out at $3.5 million U.S., has invested wisely and judiciously. He is, by all accounts, a wealthy man. All these years later, he and partner Len Barrie, a former NHLer, have invested in Bear Mountian Golf & Country Club, a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course/community out on Victoria Island, worth millions and millions.

"Thirty-six holes, a housing development, spas, the works," says Vernon enthusiastically.

"Hockey is what I've cared about all my life. I had a passion for the game. Still do. But I've been around a while; done about all you can in a career."

One thing excepting, of course. There is a small matter of the Hall of Fame and whether he belongs there or not. His critics in Calgary, the ones who belittled his physical stature and penchant for goals through the five-hole, will turn purple and be all agahast at the very idea, of course, "It would be an honour," he conceded. "But that's not my train of thought right now. It would be an unbelievable scenario for me but we'll let them decide that."

	Mike Vernon Goaltender Calgary (1982-94) Detroit (1994-97) San Jose (1997-99) Florida (1999-00) Calgary (2000-02) Profile
	REGULAR-SEASON STATISTICS GM W L T SV% GAA 781 385 273 92 .890 2.98

There are certainly exhibits the defense can introduce into evidence to prove the case for their client:

• Fifth in all-time goaltending playoff victories (77).

• Fourth in all-time goaltending playoff appearances (138).

• Seventh in all-time regular-season wins (385).

• Calgary's franchise leader in games played (526) and wins (262).

• In 14 of the 18 seasons as a full-time NHLer, he posted a winning record.

• He had a losing record against only two NHL teams (one of those, oddly enough, being the Columbus Blue Jackets).

"The bigger the game," once said former Flames' general manager Cliff Fletcher, "the better Vernie plays."

The man who sold Vernon to Scotty Bowman when the Red Wings were looking for a tag-team partner for Chris Osgood, the legendary Glenn Hall, Mr. Goalie himself, rates his former protege highly.

"I think he deserves consideration (for the Hall of Fame)," says a man on anybody's list of the top three or four goaltenders ever. "He's had a great career.

"People are always talking about stats. Well, goals-against average, for instance, depends highly on the era a goalkeeper played in. For a guy like Vernie, who started out in the mid-80s when the game was basically a series of line rushes, anything under 5.00 was okay. A 5.00 back then would be equivalent of 2.00 today.

"It's difficult to compare eras, obviously. But goalies are can be categorized at any time into two groups -- those who win, who come through in the clutch, and those who don't. Vernie was a winner."

In assessing Hall of Fame credentials, however, Vernon remains a problematic figure. He falls between cracks when assessing those above and below him; charts out as sort of a borderline great. His 385 career regular-season wins ranks a more-than-credible seventh all-time. Yet the man occupying eighth, a mere 13 Ws in arrears of Vernon, is Andy Moog and no one has been overheard to mention his name and the Hall of Fame in the same sentence. Confusing the issue even more is that directly in front of Vernon, only 18 wins ahead, is Grant Fuhr, a shoo-in selection for the Hall. Moog, like Vernon, was part of two Stanley Cup teams. Fuhr, by contrast, has five championship rings on his dresser.

Vernon, in his defense, never played for a team as gifted as that constellation of stars that lit up the nights in Edmonton during the '80s.

"I thought Mike and Grant Fuhr were the best goalies of that time," says Hall. "I remember watching them both play junior and believing it then. And then, of course, along came Patrick Roy. Any good goalkeeper, though, has to have a good team in front of him. That's one. You can't be successful on your own."

It used to be that sports Halls of Fame were pantheons for the immortals, reserved not merely for the very good, but the legends, the myths. Ruth. DiMaggio. Koufax. Lombardi. Brown. Halas. Sawchuk. Orr. Howe. Chamberlain. Russell. Cousy. The names carry an impact, an image, even today, long after these men have retired, or passed on.

Mike Vernon is not an immortal. Not a legend or a myth. Only the passage of time can annoint those very few. Of his era, the irrepressible Roy is the most likely to achieve such status; Fuhr, a possibility. Vernon was, however, a very successful goaltender, an underrated one, a dependable one. These days, Halls of Fame inductions are based on numbers more than any sense of an individual's lasting place in the history of his or her respective sport. And there's no arguing that Vernon leaves his game with solid numbers.

And is often the case, during his peak years he received more appreciation from afar than in his hometown, even though he was playing there. It's a common, all-too human affliction that we want our own to succeed, but only within moderation. Here was a kid from southwest Calgary who suddenly had it all. Fame. Money. Attitude. The impertinence! Who the hell did he think he was, anyway?

Who he was, was a front-line goalkeeper. Among the very best of his generation. A viable candidate for enshrinement in the Hall, whether anyone in Calgary cares to think so or not.

George Johnson of the Calgary Herald is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.