Greatest Goaltender of All-Time? (merged)

[NYIsles1*]

Only statistic I know is winning at playoff time in this case. No goaltender won nineteen playoff series in a row like Billy Smith, many consider him the greatest money goaltender in NHL history. Someone recently put up a graph of all-time playoff save percentage or who has the biggest disparity between regular season and playoffs to who elevated his game most, Smith was first or right at the top.

He was also the first goaltender credit with a goal and changed the position with his physical play.

 

[Brett38]

I voted for Brodeur!

Stanley Cups, Olympic Gold and tons of wins. I think he has a chance to surpass Roy as all-time winningest goaltender.

 

[Alpine]

The best, what's that? Sometimes depends on the skaters in front of 'em. Rogie Vachon only won one Vezina but he was entertaining and Giacomin was steady Eddie? Hard to pick really Gumper won 2 Vezinas. Dryden, Sawchuck , Hall, Parent, all the modern guys. My head is spinning all a pleasure to watch. Hey noboby brought up Bower? The last Leaf 'tender to win a ......well you know the over the hill gang the last team to reach the summit before the league doubled.
Rambling, I know.
But I'll have to go with the unknowns OR the could've beens of Pelle Lindbergh. Five short years with the Flyers one Vezina and one of the first if not the first that showed NHL that Europeans can make it in the NHL as a goalie.

 

[Wisent]

I voted Tretiak because he was the best I saw play. My number two would be Sawchuk simply because his incredible shutout record (never saw him play though).

 

[PurpleShamrock]

(Smith) was also the first goaltender credit with a goal and changed the position with his physical play.

I thought Ron Hextall was the first goaltender to score a goal (against my Bruins, much to my chagrin). No?

 

[John Flyers Fan]

I thought Ron Hextall was the first goaltender to score a goal (against my Bruins, much to my chagrin). No?

Hextall was the first to actually shoot the puck and score. Others had been credited with goals before.

 

[PurpleShamrock]

Hextall was the first to actually shoot the puck and score. Others had been credited with goals before.

Ah, I see. Now that you've piqued my curiosity, I just have to ask: How did Smith come to be credited with a goal without actually shooting the puck?

 

[John Flyers Fan]

Ah, I see. Now that you've piqued my curiosity, I just have to ask: How did Smith come to be credited with a goal without actually shooting the puck?

Smith made a save, and th epuck went to a Rockies (if memory serves) forward who sent a pass back to the point, where he missed connection. The puck goes the length of the ice and into the empty net. Since Smith was the last Isle to touch the puck he was credited with the goal.

 

[PurpleShamrock]

Smith made a save, and th epuck went to a Rockies (if memory serves) forward who sent a pass back to the point, where he missed connection. The puck goes the length of the ice and into the empty net. Since Smith was the last Isle to touch the puck he was credited with the goal.

Makes sense. Actually, it sounds similar to a play I saw during a Bruins game on a delayed penalty call, in which an attempted backhand pass by Michael Thelven (at least I think it was Thelven, anyway) slid the length of the ice and into the Bruins' net, which of course had been vacated in the interim for the extra attacker. I can look back upon it and laugh now, of course, but it elicited a few disgruntled four-letter words from me at the time.

 

[Snap Wilson]

Except for his problem stopping the puck from going in the net, I'd have to say it's Corrado Micalef.

 

[Snap Wilson]

Hey noboby brought up Bower? The last Leaf 'tender to win a ......well you know the over the hill gang the last team to reach the summit before the league doubled.
Rambling, I know.

Rambling man, it was Sawchuk who backstopped the Leafs most of the way that postseason. Bower had some injuries.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Trophies awarded based on voting vs. those based on stats and results are difficult to measure across the generations. Would you take Roy's four Vezinas in a 25-30-team league over those won by Plante, Hall or Sawchuk when there were far fewer other starting goalies? I'm thinking I might. Wow I hate to come across like I'm diminishing those other guys, 'cause I'm for sure not. Just something to consider.

I did not vote.

EDIT: I love that the poll includes Broda.

 

[Alpine]

Rambling man, it was Sawchuk who backstopped the Leafs most of the way that postseason. Bower had some injuries.

Yeah you're right. I always associate Bower with the Leafs and Sawchuk with the Winged Wheels. As a 12 year old I cried for a month that my beloved Habs lost.
Goalie matchups in the 1966-67 finals:
Game 1,Montreal Vachon-Toronto Sawchuk/Bower
Game 2, Montreal Vachon-Toronto Bower
Game 3, Montreal Vachon-Toronto Bower
Game 4, Montreal Worsley-Toronto Sawchuk
Game 5, Montreal Vachon/Worsley-Toronto Sawchuk
Game 6, Montreal Worsley-Toronto Sawchuk
But the Stanley Cup was awarded on May 12th.........wow

 

[Dropkick Alex]

I voted Roy.

 

[Darth Milbury]

I tend to avoid voting for players I didn't get to watch. So, I'll stick with guys who played in the 70s and forward (starting watching the game in 1972, when I was a tiny child).

Among those names, I'd pick Dryden. Dryden played for some awesome teams so he did not get the credit he deserved. But, he could absolutely dominate a game.

 

[Big Phil]

Roy, Sawchuk and Hasek are at the top of my list and for the life of me I cant pick one. Roy obviously won three Conn Smythes, four Cups, three Vezinas and has 551 wins.

Sawchuk may have had the greatest prime as any goalie from '50-55. Can you imagine what he did in 1952 getting four shutouts in eight games on route the the cup. His GAA was 0.63 in the '52 playoffs. Theres at least one Conn Smythe Trophy right there.

Hasek won the Hart in back to back years. He also won 6 Vezinas, one Cup, one Olympic Gold and lets face it, he has something the other two dont. he can say he was consdiered by many to be the best player in the game. Roy never was. But no one would throw you out of their house if back in 1998 you said he was the best in the game. Plus like no other goalie in history he gave the other team a mental disadvantage right off the bat. The Sabres were not a good team, but no one wanted to play them in the playoffs because and only because of Hasek.

Still I cant decide though.

 

[MAF]

The interesting thing is: Hasek won his 6 Vezinas when Roy was also in the league. After Hasek became Buffalo's starter in 93/94, Roy neither won a Vezina or a Hart or so directly against Hasek.

 

[Hendler2]

Marty all the way.

 

[jiggs 10]

I'd say Patrick Roy.

It is a homer pick, but the guy won 4 stanley cups, he won Memorial Cup as a coach, he won many times the Vezina trophy, he won the Conn Smythe.

This guy is a winner, he won everywhere he went to. He opened the way to a plenty of Quebec goaltenders of the modern NHL (Theodore, Giguere, Luongo, Cloutier, Fernandez, Garon, Biron, Denis, Fleury, etc..)

He didn't win in Grandby! And his so-called "opening" the way for the Quebec (read: butterfly) goalies was opened 20 years before by Glenn Hall, who invented the butterfly style.

Sawchuk is the easy winner. Won Cups, Calder, had the most shutouts, had a higher winning percentage than Waahhhh, it isn't his fault teams only played 60 games when he started. If he had played his entire career in 82 games seasons, Patty would STILL be chasing his records!

 

[VanIslander]

I always say this about Roy: He intimidated the opposition like no other goaltender in NHL history

Uh, depends on what you mean by 'intimidated'. Hasek so much dominated shooters in the latter half of the nineties that they were intimidated.

And Hasek was a leading candidate for the Hart and Vezina at the midpoint of this NHL season, at the ripe old age of... 41?

 

[wildone26*]

I voted Sawchuk, although I would have voted for Hasek before this year. It is a toss up between Sawchuk and Roy for me now.

 

[VanIslander]

I voted Sawchuk, although I would have voted for Hasek before this year.

this makes no sense... why the sudden change?

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Roy, Sawchuk and Hasek are at the top of my list and for the life of me I cant pick one. Roy obviously won three Conn Smythes, four Cups, three Vezinas and has 551 wins.

Sawchuk may have had the greatest prime as any goalie from '50-55. Can you imagine what he did in 1952 getting four shutouts in eight games on route the the cup. His GAA was 0.63 in the '52 playoffs. Theres at least one Conn Smythe Trophy right there.

Hasek won the Hart in back to back years. He also won 6 Vezinas, one Cup, one Olympic Gold and lets face it, he has something the other two dont. he can say he was consdiered by many to be the best player in the game. Roy never was. But no one would throw you out of their house if back in 1998 you said he was the best in the game. Plus like no other goalie in history he gave the other team a mental disadvantage right off the bat. The Sabres were not a good team, but no one wanted to play them in the playoffs because and only because of Hasek.

Still I cant decide though.

That's why I voted Hasek. Hasek was the primary reason the late 90's were the era of the goalie and Hasek was the only goalie ever to be the leagues greatest talent over a prolonged period.

 

[XploD]

Tretiak.

 

[doublejack]

I always say this about Roy: He intimidated the opposition like no other goaltender in NHL history, and quite possibly was the most "clutch" goalie in NHL history as well.

I need one game to win, my life depends on it, I take Patrick Roy. That may be because I really don't know all that much about the older generation of Plante, Sawchuk, etc.

Head to head, Hasek came out more clutch than Roy. 2002 Conference finals, Detroit vs. Colorado. Hasek stole game 6 in Colorado thanks in part to Roy's "Statue of Liberty" pose that led to the game winning goal. Then back in Detroit, Roy was chased in a 7 - 0 game 7 blowout.

I'm not old enough to have seen some of the greats from earlier eras play, but from the 80's on I have not seen a goalie that could shut it down when it mattered like Hasek.

That said, I voted for Brodeur in this poll. He's going to retire owning just about every goaltending record that counts. One could almost consider him the Wayne Gretzky of goaltending. Of the modern Roy - Hasek - Brodeur trifecta I rank them:
1. Brodeur
2. Hasek
3. Roy