Sorry to bump and old thread. Been thinking a lot lately about Ed Belfour's career, and how his Blackhawk years compare with Lundqvist's career to date. There are a good number of similarities - both goalies were consistently at the top of the league during those respective stretches, both goalies had "reputations" of not performing as well as expected in the playoffs, and neither goalie was able to separate themselves from their fellow elite contemporaries (Roy and Hasek for Belfour, and Brodeur/Luongo/Thomas/Quick for Lundqivst) to become the undisputed best goalie in the world.
I know the Belfour-Lundqvist comparison has been made a few times, but I thought it would be interesting to bring it up again since the years now match up pretty well: Belfour was traded when he was 31, and Lundqvist is soon to turn 32...and both goalies started in the NHL when they were 23.
Belfour in Chicago:
2 Vezinas (1991, 1993)
2 1st AST (1991, 1993)
1 2nd AST (1995)
3 Jennings (1991, 1993, 1995)
1 SC Finals appearance, 1 WCF appearance
Lundqvist:
1 Vezina (2012)
1 1st AST (2012)
1 2nd AST (2013)
1 WCF appearance
At the time of Belfour's trade, what was his reputation? And how similar was it to Lundqvist's reputation now?