Best goalie in NHL history.

[Rygu]

No Carey Price option?

Is there even one person on Earth besides his parents who would pick Carey Price as the best goalie in NHL history?

 

[Daximus]

It's just kind of laughable that there are no modern goalies on the list. How is it that all the best goalies in NHL history were all pre lockout 2005?

The goalies now are the best they have ever been.

Tough to be put into the convo if you are still playing, unless of course you have dominated the opposition at this point in your career. Broduer and Hasek played post lockout. Bobrovsky, Brodeur and Thomas all have resume's I'd consider to be at worst as good as Price's in the post lockout era. Price has essentially one really solid season and the rest where he is just really really good. That isn't enough to warrant him being in this conversation.

 

[Rygu]

It's just kind of laughable that there are no modern goalies on the list. How is it that all the best goalies in NHL history were all pre lockout 2005?

The goalies now are the best they have ever been.

The only goalie currently playing with more than one Vezina is Bobrovsky with 2. I don't have him above any of the listed goalies in career accomplishments.

The goalies now have massive padding, are an average of 6'3 and play under strict defensive systems. I would say they are not currently the best they have ever been.

 

[ole ole]

For me it's Hasek, then Roy, then Plante.

Hasek's accomplishments on a mediocre team for the majority of his career speak for themselves.

Roy won 4 cups with 2 different teams.

Plante has a winning % that will most likely go unmatched.

On winning %
Dryden 397 GP 258 W
Plante 837 GP 437 W

Hell Dryden had almost as many shutouts 46 as he had losses 57.

 

[ck26]

To me it’s Marty. Not only was he a great goalie but he was able to play the puck with so much skill it allowed NJ to create that trap game which won them two cups.

Marty Turco, Mike Smith ... plenty of guys have handled the puck as well as Brodeur.

Nobody has come close to matching what Dominik Hasek did with that unorthodox style. Nobody has come close to matching his six post-change Vezinas. Those late 90's Sabres were scary, and it wasn't because they had a deep roster full of talented goal scorers and Hall of Fame-worthy defensemen.

 

[Rygu]

On winning %
Dryden 397 GP 258 W
Plante 837 GP 437 W

Hell Dryden had almost as many shutouts 46 as he had losses 57.

Dammit I mean to put Dryden and not Plante. My mistake.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Hasek for me, but I would listen to arguments for Roy as well. Man those guys were fun to watch. Too bad the position has gone towards the Brodeur prototype. Be big and let it hit you.

 

[joe dirte]

No Carey Price option?

lol wut?

he doesn't break top 10. probably not top 20. maybe not top 30.

 

[joe dirte]

It's just kind of laughable that there are no modern goalies on the list. How is it that all the best goalies in NHL history were all pre lockout 2005?

The goalies now are the best they have ever been.

Lumdqvist easily makes the list ahead of him.

 

[Cotton]

It’s Roy/

 

[Ducks in a row]

It's just kind of laughable that there are no modern goalies on the list. How is it that all the best goalies in NHL history were all pre lockout 2005?

The goalies now are the best they have ever been.

On average goalies you can say are better now but best of the best of the best I don't think so.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Love the Dominator, but Roy's performances in 86 and 93 are the best from a goalie ever. 3 Conn Smythe's gonna have to go Roy.

 

[quoipourquoi]

It comes down to Roy was beating out mediocre talent for his Vezina trophies in an era that is basically a desert for good goaltenders outside of Roy, while Hasek was beating out guys *like* Roy, but also Brodeur, Belfour, and CuJo.

One of those things that came up recently:

Ranked Save Percentage Finishes (Before 1994)
Belfour: 1, 3
Hasek: 7
Joseph: 1, 2, 6
Roy: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 5, 8

Ranked Save Percentage Finishes (1994-1999)
Belfour: 8, 10
Brodeur: 3, 4, 5, 7
Hasek: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
Joseph: 6
Roy: 3, 4, 7, 8, 10

Belfour, Joseph, and Roy took every save percentage title from 1988-1993, but between the three of them, they had just two top-5 finishes from 1994-1999, so it isn't as though Hasek was beating these HOF-level players when they were having their HOF-level seasons.

They were still marquee names from 1994-1999 largely due to playoff performances in that era and the reputation they earned in the early-1990s, but they didn't necessarily make for consistently excellent Vezina competition.

Hasek's top competition for his save percentage titles were John Vanbiesbrouck, Chris Osgood, Daren Puppa (a title Hasek earned while sitting out with an injury while Puppa's numbers dipped during a restless playoff push), Jeff Hackett, Tom Barrasso and Trevor Kidd, and Byron Dafoe.

He wasn't beating the best of Belfour, Joseph, and Roy from 1994-1999 any more than Roy was beating the best of Hasek and Brodeur in 1991-92; they just happened to be in the same league.

That Patrick Roy - for stretches - could play at a similar statistical level to Hasek after his 1988-1992 peak (notably the 1993-1997 and 2000-2001 playoffs, much of 1997-98, 2001-02 and the final half of 2002-03) suggests that he was capable of playing like the best goaltender in the world, but couldn't consistently do so in the same manner he could from 1988-1992. And I think the only alternative to this theory would be to assert that Patrick Roy was a better goaltender in the final three months of his career than he was in 1988-89 when he went 25-0-4 in the Montreal Forum.


Hasek's statistical record is largely protected by a focus on averaging statistics that ignore a consistent streak of injury - first in 1992-93 when he became a starting goaltender, necessitating a trade for Grant Fuhr; next in the 1997 playoffs, leaving Buffalo's fate in Steve Shields' hands for both playoff rounds; again in 1998-99, missing over a month at the end of the season and parts of the Conference Finals; a multiple-month stretch in 1999-00 that gave Martin Biron the reins; a forfeited 2003-04 that Yzerman described as "very strange" following Hasek's 2002-03 retirement; and finally a 2005-06 season that saw his Senators teammates and coaching staff beg for him to play.

More than half of Hasek's eleven seasons where he finished top-10 in save percentage (second most in the official era behind Patrick Roy's 15) resulted in either a month-long+ injury in the regular season (the sort of thing that would knock a skater out of a top-10 scoring race) or missing his team's playoff run. It's the sort of thing for which great skaters like Malkin and Forsberg get dragged over the coals, but since save percentage is an averaging statistic, Hasek largely receives a free pass.

Hasek could stop a puck like nobody's business, but there's a reason the same media that consistently voted him the best goaltender in individual seasons also consistently rates Patrick Roy or Terry Sawchuk or Martin Brodeur as better all-time.

If given the choice of a 6x 1st Team All-Star (1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001) with 5x top-3 Hart balloting or a 4x 1st Team All-Star (1989, 1990, 1992, 2002) and 2x 2nd Team All-Star (1988, 1991) with 5x top-5 Hart balloting, they both are amazing, but the first guy sure sounds better in those six years.

...but when the second guy also has two additional seasons with Vezina nominations (1994, 1997), and three additional seasons with Conn Smythe Trophies (1986, 1993, 2001), you end up with that second player getting invited to twice as many NHL Awards ceremonies. Patrick Roy won trophies 8 years before Hasek's first NHL nomination, and he won trophies the year after Hasek's final NHL nomination. And I don't know that any 1980s/1990s what-ifs about a goaltender that couldn't capitalize on opportunities for a starting job in 1990-91 (lost to rookie Belfour), 1991-92 (during Belfour's holdout), or 1992-93 (another injury) bridge that kind of gap.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

If Im starting a team I want Brodeur

After him it’d be Lundqvist

 

[joe dirte]

The higher the save % creeps up, the harder it is to separate. I think Hasek maintaining that type of gap on the competition when goaltending in general was better is more impressive. The equivalent increase today would be a goalie putting up low .940s consistently over 5/6 years, when the reality is that there are a handful of goalies that can challenge for the Vezina each year, and in great years will do so with a save % around .930 (which, funnily enough, was the number Hasek put up consistently on his stretch of 6 seasons). It starts to approach the impossible the more the average goes up.

Hasek's 6 seasons:

NHL.com - Stats

Roy's 5 seasons:

NHL.com - Stats

Hasek's numbers are something that hit you like a ton of bricks no matter what kind of games requirement you put on it. Hell, here's a minimum requirement of 3 games (Roberto Romano's 53 saves on 56 shots in 2 games is just too damning to not cherry-pick around):

NHL.com - Stats

And then obviously there's the other point on who the competition itself was.

hasek at the top of his career, it really is quite astounding. he would lead the league, and do it by unprecedented margins. the next closest goalie a good 10 to 15 save% points back. look at the stats today, and you'll see that vtakes you from the very best of the league, down to borderline backup goalies. imagine taking the best goalie in the league, and making him better by the same margin as the worst starting goalie to him. it's unbelievable.

he really did lap the field by similar margins as gretzky did in the scoring race. he just didnt do it for many years.

 

[garyturner3]

Pleasantly surprised by these poll results. I came in expecting Roy for sure. Roy and Brodeur were obviously amazing, but until Hasek (and not since) have I ever in my life watched hockey games with the mindset that there's just no way my team can score on the opposing goalie. It was ridiculous how unbeatable he was at times. You see these crazy hot streaks from goalies every now and then where they single handedly win games for their teams, but Hasek played at that level for years without taking a break.

 

[Cup or Bust]

Hasek is the best goalie I have ever seen. The most talented and most dominating. The only goalie I have seen that has been one of the best players in the world in his prime. I can only compare him to Roy and Brodeur as I never watched the rest of the goalies on the list play.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

Sawchuk, not only the best goalie, but probably one of the toughest players to ever play the game.

 

[JoeSakic13]

Delete

 

[Yuri35]

Hasek.
Just those 98 Olympics or how he single-handedly carried a very mediocre Sabres team to NHL SC finals would alone be worth of giving him the GOAT goalie title.
And then there is all the rest...

 

[Yuri35]

Roy. Better playoff performer and comparable peak once you adjust numbers compared to his peers. Can't deny his 3 smythes and legendary stretch in MTL. Wouldn't be mad at Hasek though, a matter of taste pretty much.

Better play offs performer?
Lol just that legendary run he single-handedly orchestrated for a very very mediocre Sabres teams or those Olympics in 98 (which are almost the equivalent of 6/7 seven consecutive game 7 of a SC serie) were worth 2/3 Conn Smythe.

 

[blundluntman]

Better play offs performer?
Lol just that legendary run he single-handedly orchestrated for a very very mediocre Sabres teams or those Olympics in 98 (which are almost the equivalent of 6/7 seven consecutive game 7 of a SC serie) were worth 2/3 Conn Smythe.

By that logic he’s still a worse playoff performer so where do we stand now

 

[Golden_Jet]

This is Hasek.