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Nikishin turning heads.
how would he have ended up being ranked with all the great goalies of the 80's? How about all time?
Minnesota Norse Star said:how would he have ended up being ranked with all the great goalies of the 80's? How about all time?
I am a Devils fan, and I agree with the Flyers fans on that. In his only full season as a starting goaltender, Lindbergh won the Vezina Trophy and led his team to a Wales Conference Championship as he turned 26 years of age. A few months later, after going 6-2-0 with a shutout to start the next season, Lindbergh crashed his Porsche and died after being taken off of life-support.acr said:I've read from people on here that he may have been the best goalie in the league at the time of his death, but that's from Flyer fans, so take it as you will. I never saw the guy play, but it's a shame he had to go out drunk driving that night.
Probably had the best single season of any goalie I saw in the 80's. IMO he was the best in the world at the time of his death. He was still pretty young at the time and IMO he was headed for a Martin Brodeuresque type of career.acr said:I've read from people on here that he may have been the best goalie in the league at the time of his death, but that's from Flyer fans, so take it as you will. I never saw the guy play, but it's a shame he had to go out drunk driving that night.
MS said:Those Keenan-coached mid-1980s Philly teams were awesome, though, so it's difficult to gauge Lindbergh. Everyone who played goal for them from 1984-88 or so looked great. Lindbergh was average until Keenan takes over, then immediately wins a Vezina. Career backup Bob Froese takes over after Lindbergh is killed, and proceeds to win a Jennings and almost a Vezina. Then Ron Hextall comes out of nowhere to win the Vezina as a rookie, and never looks nearly as good ever again. Even an ancient Chico Resch posted his best numbers in ages at the end of his career in Philly.
When you have three goaltenders posting three successive Vezina-calibre seasons, and none of the three really did anything close to that before or after, how much is the team and how much is the player?
I'm not saying Lindbergh wasn't an excellent goaltender, but it's exceptionally difficult to figure how his career might have turned out. Goaltenders are difficult enough to figure at the best of times, and without ever really playing on anything other than excellent teams, Lindbergh is doubly difficult. If he'd performed admirably for a poor team, or if his successors had struggled to match his performance it would be much easier.