Best player of All-Time At Each Number - #34

[Mitch nylander]

As mentioned in a past thread, there was some obvious miscommunication between, me and the rest of yous.

The purpose of this thread to find the player who was the most successful while wearing the specific number. They must have played with that number for 3 or more years.(Changed the criteria as some numbers are less worn)

Ranking are top 3s. They are based on votes, players without votes are not added.

Strong candidates. Went Matthews.

Options for #34
Brian Berard
Mikka Kipprusoff
Jamie Macoun
Auston Matthews
John Vanbiesbrouck

#0 and #00 were skipped, we can do them last if it is in demand.
#1 - (final ) 1. Jacques Plante 2. Terry Sawchuk 3. Bernie Parent
#2 - (will redo forgot Shore) 1. Doug Harvey 2. Brian Leetch 3. Al Macinnis/Vyacheslav Fetisov
#3 - (final) 1. Pierre Pilote 2. Scott Stevens 3. Harry Howell
#4 - (final) 1. Bobby Orr
#5 - (final) 1. Nick Lidstrom
#6 - (final) 1. Toe Blake 2. Phil Housley 3. Shea Weber
#7 - (final) 1. Phil Esposito 2. Ray Bourque 3. Howie Morenz
#8 - (final) 1. Alex Ovechkin
#9 - (final) 1. Gordie Howe 2. Maurice "Rocket" Richard 3. Bobby Hull
#10 - (final) 1. Guy Lafleur 2. Pavel Bure 3. Ron Francis
#11 - (final) 1. Mark Messier 2. Gilbert Perreault
#12 - (Final) 1. Jerome Iginla 2. Dickie Moore 3. Adam Oates
#13 - (Final) 1. Pavel Datsyuk 2. Mats Sundin
#14 - (Final) 1. Brendan Shanahan 2. Dave Keon 3. Theo Fleury.
#15 - (Final) 1. Milt Schmidt 2. Ryan Getzlaf 3. Dany Heatley
#16 - (Final) 1. Bobby Clarke 2. Marcel Dionne 3. Brett Hull.
#17 - (Final) 1. Jarri Kurri 2. Ilya Kovalchuk 3. Rod Brind'Amour
#18 - (Final) 1. Denis Savard 2. Serge Savard 3. Marian Hossa
#19 - (Final) 1. Joe Sakic 2. Steve Yzerman 3. Larry Robinson
#20 - (Final) 1. Luc Robitaille 2. Ed Belfour 3 Pete Mahovlich
#21 - (Final) 1. Stan Mikita 2. Peter Forsberg 3. Borje Salming
#22 - (Final) 1. Mike Bossy 2. Brad Park 3. Daniel Sedin
#23 - (Final) 1. Bob Gainey 2. Eddie Shack/Milan Hejduk
#24 - (Final) 1. Chris Chelios 2. Terry O'reilly
#25 - (Final) 1. Jacques Lemaire 2. Joe Nieuwendyk 3. Vincent Damphousse
#26 - (Final) 1. Peter Stastny 2. Martin St.Louis 3. Patrick Elias
#27 - (Final) 1. Scott Niedermayer 2. Frank Mahovlich 3. Alex Kovalev
#28 - (Final) 1. Claude Giroux 2. Steve Larmer 3. Steve Duchesne
#29 - (in progress) 1. Ken Dryden 2. Nathan Mackinnon 3. Leon Draisatl
#30 - (in progress) 1. Martin Brodeur 2. Henrik Lundqvist
#31 - (in progress) 1. Grant Fuhr 2. Carey Price 3. Billy Smith
#32 - (in progress) 1. Jonathan Quick/Claude Lemieux 3. Dale Hunter
#33 - (in progress) 1. Patrick Roy 2. Henrik Sedin
#34 - (in progress) 1. Mikka Kiprusoff 2. John Vanbiesbrouck 3. Auston Matthews

EDIT: Poll should say Jamie Macoun.​

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[Golden_Jet]

Vanbiesbouk here,
17 th all time in wins

Why does OP take Matthews, criteria is most successful while wearing that number. How does he outweigh a player with a 20 year career, and 17th in goalie wins.

 

[hockeyisgud]

Vanbiesbouk here,
17 th all time in wins

Why does OP take Matthews, criteria is most successful while wearing that number. How does he outweigh a player with a 20 year career, and 17th in goalie wins.

guess

 

[ThatsSoSlavin]

Kipper now, Matthews could take over eventually

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

Matthews eventually. Beezer currently.

 

[amnesiac]

Kipper over Beezer

 

[Voight]

Beezer > Kipper

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

Beezer > Kipper

Definitely imo. Surprised at results

 

[amnesiac]

Definitely imo. Surprised at results

Beezer 374-346-119, Vezina voting 1,2,4,5,6,6,7,7
Kipper 319-213-71, Vezina voting 1,2,3,5,7,8,8

W-L tilts it towards Kipper imo. and was also a top 8 goalie (voting) every year he played except one. Beezer played 16 full seasons.

 

[bobholly39]

I voted Matthews, but changed it to Kipprusoff. I think Matthews will have the better career, but it's obviously too early.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Beezer > Kipper

I also think Beezer is the right answer.

Kipper had a great peak (2nd, 1st, 3rd, 5th in Vezina voting is a huge accomplishment). But Beezer nearly matches that (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th) - just that Kiprusoff had all his best seasons in a row (more of a "traditional" peak) whereas Vanbiesbrouck had his spread throughout his career. Kiprusoff was 3rd and 4th in Hart voting, Vanbiesbrouck 3rd and 5th (3rd if you exclude Gretzky and Lemieux).

In terms of longevity - it's not close. As great as his peak was, Kipper had only five seasons where he stopped the puck at/above the league average rate (using a 35 game threshold - I'm fiddling with the threshold to make sure he gets credit for 2004). Beezer had 14 seasons like (13 in a row). That's a massive advantage in Beezer's favour, especially given that their peaks are close.

Both have similar playoff resumes in the sense that they had one huge run (taking a Cinderella team to the Cup finals). But I prefer Beezer for two reasons. First, he was without question the most valuable player on the 1996 Panthers - it was their 3rd year of existence and absoluetely nobody was close to his levle of contribution to the team (in 2004, Kipper was arguably less valuable than Iginla). Second, Beezer also had another deep run - taking the 1986 New York Rangers, a team with a losing regular season record, to the conference finals. Neither goalie ever made it out of the first round again.

(One point in Kipper's favour is he was a workhorse - seven straight years of 70+ games is ridiculous. But Beezer was very good as well - and goalies played fewer games in his era. From 1986 to 1995, he was 3rd in games played, behind only Roy and Hrudey).

 

[amnesiac]

I also think Beezer is the right answer.

Kipper had a great peak (2nd, 1st, 3rd, 5th in Vezina voting is a huge accomplishment). But Beezer nearly matches that (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th) - just that Kiprusoff had all his best seasons in a row (more of a "traditional" peak) whereas Vanbiesbrouck had his spread throughout his career. Kiprusoff was 3rd and 4th in Hart voting, Vanbiesbrouck 3rd and 5th (3rd if you exclude Gretzky and Lemieux).

In terms of longevity - it's not close. As great as his peak was, Kipper had only five seasons where he stopped the puck at/above the league average rate (using a 35 game threshold - I'm fiddling with the threshold to make sure he gets credit for 2004). Beezer had 14 seasons like (13 in a row). That's a massive advantage in Beezer's favour, especially given that their peaks are close.

Both have similar playoff resumes in the sense that they had one huge run (taking a Cinderella team to the Cup finals). But I prefer Beezer for two reasons. First, he was without question the most valuable player on the 1996 Panthers - it was their 3rd year of existence and absoluetely nobody was close to his levle of contribution to the team (in 2004, Kipper was arguably less valuable than Iginla). Second, Beezer also had another deep run - taking the 1986 New York Rangers, a team with a losing regular season record, to the conference finals. Neither goalie ever made it out of the first round again.

I agree with everything you say, I just feel that Kipper was more significant to the Flames' success for all the years he was there. I know he only played 8 seasons, but to finish 1,2,3,5,7,8,8 in Vezina voting of those 8 years is quite impressive if you ask me.

Another big stat is that Kipper played 70-76GP in 7 straight seasons. Beezer never played more than 62, and only played in more than 57GP five times in his career.

 

[SotasicA]

Using the most important attribute, the moustache, to decide a tight poll, and it's got to be Macoun.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I agree with everything you say, I just feel that Kipper was more significant to the Flames' success for all the years he was there. I know he only played 8 seasons, but to finish 1,2,3,5,7,8,8 in Vezina voting of those 8 years is quite impressive if you ask me.

Another big stat is that Kipper played 70-76GP in 7 straight seasons. Beezer never played more than 62, and only played in more than 57GP five times in his career.

I edited my post before I saw your comment - you're right, Kipper was really durable, and that's a legit argument in his favour. But goalies, in general, played fewer games during the first half of Beezer's career. He was very durable too (not as much as Kipper of course, but it's not a huge difference taking the eras into account).

 

[MXD]

Beezer, Kipper. Then it's one of Auston Matthews, Byron Dafoe, Al Iafrate or Jamie Macoun, depending on your criteria. I guess Al Iafrate could have been a decent choice had he been #34 for his whole career, but he was only for 3 seasons (and a partial 4th season).

.... Come to think of it, I don't really see a case for Dafoe.

 

[BlueBaron]

LOL. Let's call this a place holder poll.

 

[Paul4587]

Toss up between Kipper and Beezer for me.