Goalies that were brought in to be the "man" and failed

[quoipourquoi]

I seem to recall Owen nolan scored from the nuereal zone against turek in the playoffs.

Yeah, in Game 7 just seconds before an intermission. In his last game as a Blue, he gave up 3 goals in roughly 80 seconds, including one in which Bourque just blasted it from the blue line because why not?

Oddly enough, he had a pretty good rest of that game, but it wasn’t too shocking that he wasn’t in net for Game 5. Turek later revealed that they wanted to trade him even before the playoffs.

 

[Primary Assist]

Ed Belfour in San Jose.

Numerous contract disputes among star players (and Eddie's inability to get along with his backup goalies, like Hackett and Hasek) led the Blackhawks from dissembling their nearly-great team and shipping the Eagle off to San Jose for three players and a pick. Expectations were high for Belfour, who already had a Calder, Vezina, and was a finalist for the Hart a few years prior, but Eddie simply could not live up to expectations and was run out of town during the summer when he signed with Dallas. This is the biggest black mark in the Hall of Fame goalie's career, at least as far as on-ice performance is considered.

Jonas Gustavsson in Toronto.

In hindsight, it's pretty clear "The Monster" - who is just about average size for a goalie these days - was little more than fool's gold prior to his acquisition by the Leafs. Noted showman and occasional general manager Brian Burke worked hard to make the media and fans optimistic about Gustavsson, who never found his game in the NHL and was relegated to backup/platoon status for the majority of his career. Although he was able to steal the starting job from Toskala, which is about as easy as stealing a first-round pick from the Coyotes, he was just another horse on the Leaf-goalie carousel before losing his job to James Reimer.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Eddie simply could not live up to expectations and was run out of town during the summer when he signed with Dallas.

I wouldn’t say he was “run out of town.” San Jose offered Belfour more money than Dallas did, but Belfour didn’t bite.

 

[Brodeur]

Ed Belfour in San Jose.

Expectations were high for Belfour, who already had a Calder, Vezina, and was a finalist for the Hart a few years prior, but Eddie simply could not live up to expectations and was run out of town during the summer when he signed with Dallas. This is the biggest black mark in the Hall of Fame goalie's career, at least as far as on-ice performance is considered.

Belfour Turns Down Sharks for Chance to Be a Star

Belfour signed a three-year contract. The club didn’t disclose details, but the Dallas Morning News reported that Belfour agreed to play for $2.5 million this year with a deferred bonus of $750,000. He will earn $3.25 million and $3.5 million the following seasons.

Last season with the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks, Belfour was the NHL’s fourth highest-paid goaltender with a base salary of $2.75 million. He rejected a better offer from San Jose to join the Stars.

My old college roommate (Sharks fan) always held a grudge against Belfour. Not so much for leaving per se, but Belfour apparently kept telling the local press how excited he was to be a part of an up and coming team like San Jose and made it seem like he would re-sign. Belfour had a rough stretch in San Jose but they wanted to keep him.

 

[DocPG]

ron hextall in quebec? i actually don't remember why he was traded away that offseason. part of me wonders whether it was a money thing? or because they could only protect one of him or fiset in the expansion draft? not sure whether fiset had played enough to be up for grabs yet.

hextalll was decent in the regular season, exceptional in the first three games of the playoffs, but terrible in the last two. but on performance alone, i don't know that it justifies handing the net over to fiset and rookie thibault.

As I recall, it was primarily about the expansion draft. The Nords wanted to protect Fiset, so they traded Hexy to the Isles for Mark Fitzpatrick so they could expose Fitzpatrick in the draft (who was taken by the Panthers).

 

[DaveG]

First one I thought of was Scott Darling who was signed by the Hurricanes to a four-year contract a few years ago and given the reigns the first season there. Did horribly and barely looked like an NHL goaltender, seems like he really let up on his standards after that contract was signed because he hasn't done anything of note since then.

He came in to camp that first year exceptionally overweight to the point that it seemed like he spent the entire off-season at Bojangles rather than training. Honestly stunning that any pro athlete could attempt to play in that poor of shape. Seems like every time the Canes brought in a goalie to compete with Cam it ended absolutely horribly with the exception of one year of Khudobin.

 

[Brodeur]

This seems to be a common theme for the Blues. Halak, Brodeur, and Miller were all supposed to be what put them over the top when they came in, and they all fell pretty flat.

Blues Sign Brodeur to One-Year Deal

I don't think Brodeur was necessarily brought in to be the man. Brian Elliott got hurt and they weren't sure if Jake Allen (technically still Calder eligible that year) was ready to shoulder the work load. At the time, St. Louis' AHL goalies were Jordan Binnington and Matt Climie. Elliott wasn't expected to be out long term, but they thought it might be a few weeks. So rather than trade for a temporary goalie, they plucked Brodeur off the scrap heap since most goalies are already signed by early December.

Elliott was healthy again by late December and it didn't take long for St. Louis to determine that a 42 year old Brodeur wasn't an upgrade over Jake Allen. Ironically, I attended Brodeur's final NHL game on January 2nd, 2015 at Anaheim. I remember making it a priority to drive up knowing that not only would that be my last chance to watch Brodeur but it could in fact be his last game. Brodeur served his purpose (played 7 games, went 3-3) to play some games that they weren't comfortable with giving to an unproven AHL goalie. St. Louis had lost the division by a single point the previous year, so they probably figured every point mattered (ie, that was the difference between playing Chicago or Minnesota in the opening round).

 

[MXD]

How about Jocelyn Thibault? Poor guy was looked at as the next great French Canadian goaltender to follow in the footsteps of Patrick Roy, and he lasted less than four seasons before he was dealt to Chicago for Jeff Hackett.

He was selected 10th overall and was viewed as a future franchise goaltender who never really established himself as a dependable starting goalie on any of the five teams he played with.

Well, on his first two seasons with Montreal, Thibault was ... actually kinda pretty good, especially his first (which was more like a 2/3rd of season). But was awful during the 1997 playoffs, then the Habs signed Andy Moog in order not to end up with a really young pairing, and it's like he never quite recovered mentally.

 

[JianYang]

Yeah, in Game 7 just seconds before an intermission. In his last game as a Blue, he gave up 3 goals in roughly 80 seconds, including one in which Bourque just blasted it from the blue line because why not?

Oddly enough, he had a pretty good rest of that game, but it wasn’t too shocking that he wasn’t in net for Game 5. Turek later revealed that they wanted to trade him even before the playoffs.

I remember he started off real hot one year in Calgary before the wheels came off.

He was a goalie that I could never trust. It's kind of like cechmanek in the sense that he could put up some numbers in the regular season, but when push comes to shove, he's not the guy who is going to instill confidence in you.

 

[JianYang]

Well, on his first two seasons with Montreal, Thibault was ... actually kinda pretty good, especially his first (which was more like a 2/3rd of season). But was awful during the 1997 playoffs, then the Habs signed Andy Moog in order not to end up with a really young pairing, and it's like he never quite recovered mentally.

I don't think any young goalie would have been prepared for following Patrick roy.

What i remember about him was that he was small, certainly by today's standards, and he had a unique way of playing the net when the puck was behind the net. He would immediately crouch down with one knee on the ice with the paddle down.

It never really caught on, I guess.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I remember he started off real hot one year in Calgary before the wheels came off.

He was a goalie that I could never trust. It's kind of like cechmanek in the sense that he could put up some numbers in the regular season, but when push comes to shove, he's not the guy who is going to instill confidence in you.

he was dynamite until he got his contract extension, then the wheels fell off immediately and forever. i think you're exactly right. this, plus his playoff struggles in st louis, suggests that his problems were mental and he was never going to take you anywhere.

 

[CHIMO]

I remember he started off real hot one year in Calgary before the wheels came off.

He was a goalie that I could never trust. It's kind of like cechmanek in the sense that he could put up some numbers in the regular season, but when push comes to shove, he's not the guy who is going to instill confidence in you.

I’m a Flames and Flyers fan. Can you even imagine the horrifying experience of my fandom from around 2001-2003? I just typed about 5 different sentences to describe the era...none did it justice.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

I seem to recall Owen nolan scored from the nuereal zone against turek in the playoffs.

I seem to recall him losing a game of handball to Marc Bergevin.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

I remember he started off real hot one year in Calgary before the wheels came off.

He was a goalie that I could never trust. It's kind of like cechmanek in the sense that he could put up some numbers in the regular season, but when push comes to shove, he's not the guy who is going to instill confidence in you.

Ive seen him in the 2001 series with Colorado where he got yanked and he looked completely out of his element. Style wise looked like what youd get if you took Ken Dryden through a time machine from 1979 to 2001 with no adjustment for the era

 

[pbgoalie]

As a Rangers fan
I spent a lot of time worrying about the Flyers ever finding a great number 1. It always seems that one piece that let them down eventually

I was a goalie as a kid and loved Pelle. It just seemed his tragic loss was too much for a long time

 

[Bluesguru]

He went to St. Louis, played 67 games, posted a 1.95 goals against and won 42 games and was nominated for the Vezina.

What the hell are you talking about?

He was a failure in the playoffs when it counted. Ask Owen Nolan who scored from center ice in Game 7. President Trophy winning Blues go out in rd 1 to Sharks. Was also a train wreck against Avs in Conf Finals where Blues had the edge in play but as Pronger would say “Roman couldn’t stop a puck”