Bill Ranford in his prime

[Stephen]

Interesting how much hate Ranford gets here. I'm by no means a fan of his, but... how come Vernon, who is basically a carbon copy of Ranford in career regular season and playoff save% and season by season performance, gets constantly mentioned as HoF candidate while Ranford gets trashed? Absurd.

Ranford was absurdly overrated in the mid 90s, one of the reasons why I am not a fan. When the Oilers acquired Curtis Joseph around 1995, the widely held belief was that Joseph would be pawned off in a trade because he was the inferior goalie. This despite the fact that Cujo had consistently outplayed Ranford for at least 3 years. History shows Sather made the right choice even though it was a shock at the time to send Ranford back to Boston. Where he sucked.

 

[Stephen]

Ranford may not have reached the heights of 1990 again, but he was very decent goalie until the wheels fell of after he left Edmonton. Those mid-90's Oiler teams were bloody awful. The odd time they won a game, Ranford was the main reason. From 1990-96, I don't think there's a coach in the league that would have complained if his GM gave him Ranford in net.

I think the wheels fell off way before he left Edmonton. He played behind a crap team by the end, made saves standing on his head and let in softies on the same play consistently. Don't think there was a point after 1992 where you didn't think you had a good chance lighting him up on any given night. His bad team just masked his sloppy play.

 

[Starchild74]

Ranford was absurdly overrated in the mid 90s, one of the reasons why I am not a fan. When the Oilers acquired Curtis Joseph around 1995, the widely held belief was that Joseph would be pawned off in a trade because he was the inferior goalie. This despite the fact that Cujo had consistently outplayed Ranford for at least 3 years. History shows Sather made the right choice even though it was a shock at the time to send Ranford back to Boston. Where he sucked.

I totally disagree about the Cujo statement being better then Ranford int the last 3 years before the trade. as I assume that is what you were saying

Even though Ranford was injured at times in those 3 years. Ranford was still a leader as far as goalies were concerned. At this time Cujo was considered what many on here say about Ranford and for the rest of Cujo's career I tend to think of him the same way. Cujo was great if he faced 30- 40 shots a night but if it was in the 20 range he might not win you a game. Plus Cujo's confidence had been shattered by Keanen.

When the Oilers acquired Cujo it was a tough choice on who to keep. I think what made Sather's choice was that Ranford was starting to be injury prone and the older of the two. Plus as far as trades went knew he could get more for Ranford

It turned out right for Sather and the Oilers as Cujo became a fan favourite but just like Ranford there were many games where I saw Cujo give up some really soft goals, just like Ranford.

 

[Starchild74]

Say what you want about Ranford bur he is the only goalie to win a Stanley Cup. Win a gold medal at the 1994 world championships for Canada for the first time in I think it was 40 years. He won a Canada Cup in 1991 and also won a gold medal for the U.S in the olympics. Has he appeared in quite a few scenes playing Jim Craig in the movie Miracle

 

[McRpro]

I totally disagree about the Cujo statement being better then Ranford int the last 3 years before the trade. as I assume that is what you were saying

Even though Ranford was injured at times in those 3 years. Ranford was still a leader as far as goalies were concerned. At this time Cujo was considered what many on here say about Ranford and for the rest of Cujo's career I tend to think of him the same way. Cujo was great if he faced 30- 40 shots a night but if it was in the 20 range he might not win you a game. Plus Cujo's confidence had been shattered by Keanen.

When the Oilers acquired Cujo it was a tough choice on who to keep. I think what made Sather's choice was that Ranford was starting to be injury prone and the older of the two. Plus as far as trades went knew he could get more for Ranford

It turned out right for Sather and the Oilers as Cujo became a fan favourite but just like Ranford there were many games where I saw Cujo give up some really soft goals, just like Ranford.

IIRC, and I do, Sather said that the reason why he traded Ranford and not Cujo(who he had always said he was going to trade) was because "I couldn't get a long term deal done with Billy". Cujo signed a 3 year contract the same day Ranford was traded.

Ranford is still my favorite goalie ever. He was so exciting to watch. I was torn when he was traded and had low expectations for Cujo. But his god-like first round performance the following season when the Oilers finally returned to the playoffs sure made me forget about Ranford.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Say what you want about Ranford bur he is the only goalie to win a Stanley Cup.

Can you elaborate? Other goaltenders have won the Stanley Cup, and other goaltenders have won the Stanley Cup for the Oilers even.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Sequence

Can you elaborate? Other goaltenders have won the Stanley Cup, and other goaltenders have won the Stanley Cup for the Oilers even.

Poster was referring to the sequence of SC, CC and WC wins but at the same time summarized the paradox of Bill Ranford. He was a short term goalie, the longer he played against an opponent the easier it became to play against him.

 

[Ogopogo*]

Saw bits of him but not a lot. How good was he in his prime with the Oilers? All I know is, he had a ridiculously quick glove hand. An odd stance as he always kept both his blocker and glove very low and had a gaping five hole but was extremely quick to close it.

From 1990 - 1992 he was one of the very best in the game.

 

[McGuillicuddy]

Can you elaborate? Other goaltenders have won the Stanley Cup, and other goaltenders have won the Stanley Cup for the Oilers even.

Hehe. Even other goaltenders named 'Bill' have won the Stanley Cup .

 

[McGuillicuddy]

This actually comes up a surprisingly often. I think it's because he was around for so long but truly elite for only about 2 years.

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=894849

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=854826

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=619400

 

[JT Dutch*]

From 1990 - 1992 he was one of the very best in the game.

... There were at least a dozen goalies superior to him during this time. That doesn't make him one of "the very best".

As many people have already noted, aside from the '90 Cup run and the '91 Canada Cup, Ranford was average at best.

 

[Stephen]

From 1990 - 1992 he was one of the very best in the game.

He was elite for specific time frames like April 1990-June 1990 and Summer 1991.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

I think the wheels fell off way before he left Edmonton. He played behind a crap team by the end, made saves standing on his head and let in softies on the same play consistently. Don't think there was a point after 1992 where you didn't think you had a good chance lighting him up on any given night. His bad team just masked his sloppy play.

Agreed, but that's because his team was garbage. I'm not saying he was amongst the game's elite in these years, but he was a more than capable starter.

 

[MS]

Ranford may not have reached the heights of 1990 again, but he was very decent goalie until the wheels fell of after he left Edmonton. Those mid-90's Oiler teams were bloody awful. The odd time they won a game, Ranford was the main reason. From 1990-96, I don't think there's a coach in the league that would have complained if his GM gave him Ranford in net.

Agreed, but that's because his team was garbage. I'm not saying he was amongst the game's elite in these years, but he was a more than capable starter.

This is the standard line, but as a Canuck fan who watched him play on a regular basis, he was utter trash from about 1993 onward. Total sieve. Flopped/guessed all over the place, was completely out of position, got a ton of credit for making easy saves look hard. Played a Mike Palmateer-type style that was 15 years out of date.

As soon as he was traded from Edmonton, he was exposed as a guy who had crap numbers because he sucked, not because he was behind a bad team. And Curtis Joseph walked into the same team and put up numbers miles superior.