Hasek's 1993-1994 season

[DickSmehlik]

I always thought was Hasek's best season.

1993-94 58GP 30W 20L 6T 7SH 1.95GAA .930%

Now he had better seasons statistically, most notably in '98-'99:

64GP 30W 18L 4T 9SH 1.87GAA .937%

but the '98-'99 season was in heart of the dead-puck era and the '93-'94 season, though scoring was down significantly from the previous season, was much more offensive.

Could anyone tell me what the total goals per game averages were for the 2 seasons? I want to see if I am off base on this one.

Click to read more...

 

[blogofmike]

Total goals per game:

93-94: 6.48
98-99: 5.27

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Google "NHL goals per season average" and this site with a nifty graph comes up near the top:

http://www.dropyourgloves.com/Stat/LeagueGoals.aspx

 

[Infinite Vision*]

You just may be correct.

 

[seventieslord]

I agree, this was possibly even more impressive than his 1998 or 1999 season.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

in terms of adjusted statistics and difference-making/dominance, the '94 season may be the better season. but a lot of guys have one year where they catch fire, steal someone's starting job, and put up numbers that they never match again. i've always been more impressed by the years where a goalie has dominated consistently for a few years and, instead of slumping or falling back to the pack a little, actually peaks again. hasek in his hart years, roy in '93, etc.

e.g., kiprusoff had his '04 year where he replaced turek and blew everyone away. then he fell back to earth a little, though he was of course still elite and won a vezina. but how impressive would it have been if five years later and after a string of vezinas, he was still playing at the same or a similar level?

 

[quoipourquoi]

He had an insanely hot one month stretch shortly after he took the reins to collect all those shutouts, but I don't think he did nearly enough in the game-to-game sense to separate himself from John Vanbiesbrouck to warrant this type of praise. The Panthers choked their way out of the playoffs in late-March and early-April, and if not for that stretch of top-to-bottom bad play (think of it like the way the Blue Jackets played for Pascal Leclaire after the 2008 trade deadline), Beezer would have been sitting in the driver's seat for a Hart and Vezina with what was then a .930 of his own.

It was a good season, and he was probably the best goaltender of the year in a cumulative evaluation, but unless we're really going to re-evaluate Hasek's peak relative to his peers, I wouldn't be so quick to crown this as his best work.

 

[Big Phil]

His 1993-'94 season really put him on the NHL map but I'll always conclude that his 1997-'98 season was otherworldly.

First off, another Vezina. Secondly, a Hart trophy (2nd in a row). He won Olympic Gold and he took a really mediocre team to the semi final. Not to mention he had 13 shutouts including 6 alone in the month of December. Sure I know its the dead puck era, but Buffalo wasn't exactly a team that played the trap either. Hasek was left to fend for himself a lot

 

[BraveCanadian]

It was a very good season but the thing about NHL goalies (and other players to less extent because they can be hidden somewhat) is that once the "book" is out on you.. can you keep doing it?

Hasek did and was maybe even better after making everyone take notice with this season and that really says something.

Mostly it says that Hasek's style was so unorthodox you couldn't really make a book of tactics to give your shooters about him cause who knew what the hell he would try next.

 

[Sinter Klaas]

From what I remember, the 1993-1994 season for Hasek was indeed spectacular. The injury to Grant Fuhr and team superstar Pat LaFontaine meant that the team rested on his shoulders. It was that year that he started to turn heads in the NHL. His best series in the playoffs may have been the NJ series that playoff year, albeit in a losing effort (I know statistically he had better).

However, that burden never changed from then on in and what makes the 1998-1999 season more worthwhile was the team in front of him.

Hasek's first seasons in Buffalo as a starter saw his team players like all-stars Pat LaFontaine, Dale Hawerchuk, Alexander Mogilny, Donald Audette, Craig Simpson as well as Derek Plante (team leading scorer in 97') and Doug Bodger.

By 1998-1999, all of those players were gone and replaced with more grittier type of characters who lacked goal scoring ability. So Hasek had little goal support that year (I can't remember the statistics, but scoring for Buffalo that year was low).