So those 6 series he won, the other goalie was better than him every time?
Come on.
Problem was when he blew up, he blew up masterfully.
He was great his first year in the playoffs, you wouldn't hear anyone say otherwise. Fantastic against Dallas and even better against Anaheim despite losing. He was a game changer, even though the team wasn't much.
He then collapsed down the stretch and Van missed the playoffs. Not much was said at this point, but I think people started souring a little. The shine was still on though, so he was fine.
Then Van actually had a decent team in 2009, a team that could have made noise with Sundin starting to really find his game and the Sedins doing well. But he choked hard in game 6. He had rocky moments before that against Chicago too, but that game when he got 5 goals and the offence continually bailing him out, he let the team down badly. As a massive fan of his, at this point even I had questions.
Next year he was rock solid against St Louis (who I believe was hot going in) so it seemed like he was back. And then he had more collapses against the Hawks.
2011 again he was fantastic. Huge in game 7 against the Hawks. Exorcised the demons. Was good against Nashville and San Jose, and probably the front runner for Conn Smythe. Started out well vs Boston. Injuries hit the team, and he completely blew up in game 3. The again in game 4. Game 5 he is again great, then proceeds to choke hard in game 6 and was bad in game 7. The team was horrible in front of him, so this isn't me putting the blame on him (it was injuries, the outstanding play of Thomas and reffing that did them in) but along with the team his play was poor. Again I've never blamed the finals on him. He helped them get there and was ok at times in the finals.
The biggest issue I have with him was when he asked to be traded and his declining play afterwards.
But, you can see how this wasn't some one time thing where he didn't exactly perform up to par. When he was bad, he was spectacularly bad and at times prevented the team from having a chance (not 2011, but I'd say 2008, 2009. 2010). It all accumulated.