The NHL’s winningest goaltender, Patrick Roy was inducted Monday into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Roy was elected in on his first year of eligibility after amassing 551 regular-season wins and 151 playoff victories — both NHL records. He may be one of the most decorated NHL goalies of all time, amassing three Conn Smythe Trophies (1986, ‘93, ‘96) as playoff MVP and three Vezina Trophies as the NHL’s top goalie (1989, ‘90, ‘92). He also found himself on the winning team of the Stanley Cub 4 times during his 19 year career in the NHL. No one deserves to be in the Hall of Fame more than Roy whose day to day play showed up regularly on Sports Center Highlights and Great Hockey Compilations with heart thumping music added in the background.

So, who do you view as the greatest goalkeeper of all time?

I have never been a proponent of age limits in professional sports. I disagreed with the NBA’s recent age limit of 19.

Why does the NFL limit player’s ability to be drafted unless their high school class graduated 3 or more years ago. So, no age limit, but in reality, you must be at least 20.

In MLB, certain groups of players are ineligible for selection, generally because they are still in school. The basic categories of players eligible to be drafted are:

• High school players, if they have graduated from high school and have not yet attended college or junior college;

• College players, from four-year colleges who have either completed their junior or senior years or are at least 21 years old; Junior college players, regardless of how many years of school they have completed; and

• 21-year-old players.

What brings me to this is the recent report that the NY Mets have signed the 16 year old son of former major-league catcher Tony Pena.

Francisco Pena, from the Dominican Republic, was paid a bonus of $750,000, but the Mets are not planning to make the move public until next week.

Besides the bonus, Pena would receive schooling expenses in case he decides to take up his studies again, and he could be invited to the Mets’ training camp next spring.

“After intense negotiations with the most interested teams — around 10 — the Pena family decided to accept the Mets’ offer,” the source said.

Now, how can a baseball team feel right in signing a kid who is not legally permitted to sign a contract? I am sure that he has a great desire to play Major League Baseball and he is an outstanding prospect, but still, he is only 16 and is not legal, at least in the US, to sign contracts and make decisions for himself.

I think all players of any major league sport, should be required to be 18 before signing on a contract that commits them to play/work for a professional team.

Now in tennis and golf, this is a very common practice. Children as young as 13 have participated in both sports at the top levels. In these sports there is an approved method for kids to maintain their amateur status while playing in the professional divisions. While I feel that most of this is the choice and drive of the parent, the child is more protected by their amateur status.

In the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL a person should be a minimum of 18 before signing a professional contract.