Starting Goalie Hattrick

FerrisRox

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Sep 17, 2003
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Starting in the 1990-91 season, Ron Hextall was the starting goaltender for three different teams in a three year span.

He played the 1991-92 season with his original club, the Philadelphia Flyers and was their starting goaltender with 45 games. He was then dealt to the Quebec Nordiques in the Eric Lindros trade and started 54 games for them.

With the 1992 Expansion draft looming, and the Nordiques opting to protect Stephane Fiset, Quebec shipped Hextall to Long Island in a swap for Mark Fitzpatrick and the flipping of first round draft picks that landed Todd Bertuzzi with the Islanders and Adam Deadmarsh with the soon-to-be Colorado Avalanche.

It's pretty unique to be the starting goaltender for three teams in three consecutive years. Any other examples of this that anyone can think of?
 
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Doctor No

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Lorne Chabot did it between 1933 and 1936 (Toronto, Montreal, Chicago).

Brian Elliott did it the past three years (St. Louis, Calgary, Philadelphia).
 

FerrisRox

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Lorne Chabot did it between 1933 and 1936 (Toronto, Montreal, Chicago).

Brian Elliott did it the past three years (St. Louis, Calgary, Philadelphia).

Thanks!

I actually dismissed Elliott because I thought Chad Johnson had played more games than Elliott for Calgary that year, but it's not even close. Good call.
 
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Hoser

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Hell, Sean Burke started for three different teams in a single year. Well, arguably anyway...

He started the 1997-98 season playing for the newly-relocated Carolina Hurricanes, with him and Trevor Kidd splitting the starts perfectly evenly in October, the first 14 games of the year. Kidd started the following four games, but Burke started 16 of the following 23 (Kidd started four and Pat Jablonski started the other three) before he was traded to the Canucks with Geoff Sanderson and Enrico Ciccone for Marty Gelinas and Kirk McLean.

(So out of 41 GP by the Hurricanes overall at that point, exactly half the season, he started 23 of them, Kidd started 15, and Jablonski three.)

After the trade to Vancouver he started that very same night and the next eleven games after that. Arturs Irbe then started the next eight straight (although Burke appeared in relief in the last two, played most of the games and got the decisions). Burke started in the following game, their last before the trade deadline, whereupon he was traded to the Flyers for Garth Snow.

(Burke was on the Canucks' roster for 21 GP, and he started 13 of them to Irbe's eight.)

In the Flyers' last 24 regular season games Hextall started 13 and Burke started 11, but Burke started all the playoff games. In total Burke appeared in 52 out of his teams' 86 games, having started 47 of them. (57/91 incl. playoffs, w/ 52 starts)

The next year he signed with the Florida Panthers and started 58/82 games. His backup was... the guy he got traded to Vancouver for: Kirk McLean! Four teams in two years!
 
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ShelbyZ

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Chris Osgood sorta fits the bill.

He was the Red Wings starter in 00-01, the Islanders starter 01-02, then started 02-03 as the Islanders starter before finishing the season as the Blues starter.

Starting with 02-03 (Islanders to Blues, and then Blues for 03-04) and ending with 05-06 (was supposed to be the #1 for Detroit) almost works, but he lost the starting job in 05-06 when he began the year hurt.

-Belfour was the starter for the Hawks, Sharks and Stars in 2 seasons.
-Dwayne Roloson from 08-09 to 10-11 was the starter for the Oilers, Islanders and then Lightning.
-Ryan Miller went from starting for the Sabres, to the Blues and then to the Canucks in 2 years

I also found a guy that was a starter for 4 different teams in 4 seasons:

-Felix Potvin went from being Toronto's starter in 97-98, to then finishing 98-99 as the Islanders starter, finishing 99-00 as the Canucks starter and then finally finished 00-01 as the Kings starter.
 
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FerrisRox

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Hell, Sean Burke started for three different teams in a single year. Well, arguably anyway...

He started the 1997-98 season playing for the newly-relocated Carolina Hurricanes, with him and Trevor Kidd splitting the starts perfectly evenly in October, the first 14 games of the year. Kidd started the following four games, but Burke started 16 of the following 23 (Kidd started four and Pat Jablonski started the other three) before he was traded to the Canucks with Geoff Sanderson and Enrico Ciccone for Marty Gelinas and Kirk McLean.

(So out of 41 GP by the Hurricanes overall at that point, exactly half the season, he started 23 of them, Kidd started 15, and Jablonski three.)

After the trade to Vancouver he started that very same night and the next eleven games after that. Arturs Irbe then started the next eight straight (although Burke appeared in relief in the last two, played most of the games and got the decisions). Burke started in the following game, their last before the trade deadline, whereupon he was traded to the Flyers for Garth Snow.

(Burke was on the Canucks' roster for 21 GP, and he started 13 of them to Irbe's eight.)

In the Flyers' last 24 regular season games Hextall started 13 and Burke started 11, but Burke started all the playoff games. In total Burke appeared in 52 out of his teams' 86 games, having started 47 of them.

The next year he signed with the Florida Panthers and started 58/82 games. His backup was... the guy he got traded to Vancouver for: Kirk McLean! Four teams in two years!

Burke and Mike Vernon were the first two guys I looked up when I posted this.

While you are right, technically it could be argued he was the starting goalie for three teams in one year, it was a bit sketchy because he was the starting goalie for the time he was with them (and Carolina was debatable) but not really the starting goalie for those teams that season (other guys played more games.)
 
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FerrisRox

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I also found a guy that was a starter for 4 different teams in 4 seasons:

-Felix Potvin went from being Toronto's starter in 97-98, to then finishing 98-99 as the Islanders starter, finishing 99-00 as the Canucks starter and then finally finished 00-01 as the Kings starter.

It's hard to call Felix Potvin the Islanders starter in 1998-99, even if he was, for a window of time.

Tommy Salo played five times as many games for the Isles that year and had a goals against average that was a full goal lower than Potvin's. That being said, you are right, a pretty good case could be made, nonetheless, that he was the starting goalie for four different teams in four seasons.

Good find!
 
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ShelbyZ

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It's hard to call Felix Potvin the Islanders starter in 1998-99, even if he was, for a window of time.

Tommy Salo played five times as many games for the Isles that year and had a goals against average that was a full goal lower than Potvin's. That being said, you are right, a pretty good case could be made, nonetheless, that he was the starting goalie for four different teams in four seasons.

Good find!

I just closed the articles, but I had to do some research to figure out what the deal was with Potvin/Salo and the Isles in 98-99, before calling Potvin the "starter".

Basically, after the Islanders got Potvin, Salo was made the lame duck and put on the market with a bidding war between the Oilers, Predators and another team. In fact, Salo didn't even dress for Potvins first game as an Islander. They started Marcel Cousineau, dressed Potvin as the #2 and had Salo stay back at the hotel. The Isles #2 was supposed to be Wade Flaherty, who was out from December until mid March. After that initial game as back up, Potvin got 4 straight starts (all losses, 3 of them pretty brutal) and Salo went two weeks between starts. Then Salo got 3 straight starts, where he was much better than Potvin. Potvin got the next start and got pulled after allowing 7 in 2 periods. The Isles then had 6 games in 11 days with 2 sets of back two backs where each goalie got 3 starts. Then Potvin suffered what was expected to be a season ending groin injury.

In the little over a month overlap where both Salo and Potvin were healthy, Potvin got 8 starts and Salo had 6.

With Potvin and Flaherty out, Salo started 13 games in a row until Flahery returned. Shortly after that, Salo was finally traded to the Oilers. After returning, Flaherty got 11 straight starts. Potvin returned to back up Flaherty during that 11th start and ended up going in in relief. Potvin then started 2 games, before Flaherty started the Isles last game of the season.

TLDR: When healthy, Potvin was pretty much the #1 guy for the Islanders in 98-99.
 
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ShelbyZ

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Found another one:

Ron Tugnutt: Sens starter to begin 99-00, then finishes the year as the Pens starter. Then becomes the Blue Jackets starter for 00-01.
 

ShelbyZ

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Here's a picture of what you were researching:

1998-1999 New York Islanders Goaltender Game-by-Game Performance

I think it's a stretch to call Potvin "the" starter for the Islanders, although he was the #1 for a short period of time.

Wow. I literally had 4 different H-R game logs open and had no idea that site existed. Thank you.

I guess I'm looking at Potvin more from a "#1" perspective rather than a "starter". He was acquired to be their #1 goalie and was declared as such. His numbers likely would've illustrated it had he not missed almost 2 of the 3 months he was with the Islanders that season.

I guess in the same way that if you were to ask someone "who was the Blackhawks and Habs #1 goalie last season?", you'd get Crawford and Price as the answers, despite them not starting a majority of the games.
 
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FerrisRox

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Wow. I literally had 4 different H-R game logs open and had no idea that site existed. Thank you.

I guess I'm looking at Potvin more from a "#1" perspective rather than a "starter". He was acquired to be their #1 goalie and was declared as such. His numbers likely would've illustrated it had he not missed almost 2 of the 3 months he was with the Islanders that season.

I guess in the same way that if you were to ask someone "who was the Blackhawks and Habs #1 goalie last season?", you'd get Crawford and Price as the answers, despite them not starting a majority of the games.

Carey Price started thirty more games than the next closest on the list for Montreal.

The Blackhawks situation last year is an interesting one because they didn't have *any* goalie that started more than fifty percent of their games. Anton Forsberg, wth 35 starts, led the way for them. It's like they didn't even have a starter last season.
 

BigBadBruins7708

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Felix Potvin managed to 3 in 3 with a year as a back up in the middle

98 - Toronto
99 - Toronto and Islanders (backup)
00 - Islanders and Vancouver

He also did the even rarer starter for 4 teams in 4 years when you add 2001 - Kings

edit @ShelbyZ beat me to it
 

ShelbyZ

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Carey Price started thirty more games than the next closest on the list for Montreal.

The Blackhawks situation last year is an interesting one because they didn't have *any* goalie that started more than fifty percent of their games. Anton Forsberg, wth 35 starts, led the way for them. It's like they didn't even have a starter last season.

Oops I got last season mixed up with 15-16 in regards to Price... :huh:
 

Doctor No

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Wow. I literally had 4 different H-R game logs open and had no idea that site existed. Thank you.

Happy to help! These are based on my research and not the recently-released "official" NHL totals; I'm in the process of reconciling and to be honest with you, I've been "right" about as often as the league so far.

Here's a direct link which may be useful:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE GOALTENDER GAME LOGS

Seasons (and teams) fall under that header structure. Only back to 1967-68 so far.

This thread may be useful given your interests (which appear to align with mine to some degree):
https://hfboards.mandatory.com/thre...68-to-present-and-research-questions.1610265/
 

Sanf

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Paul Bibeault I guess just got it. Beats Harvey Bennett 26-25 in games at 1944-1945. Slightly victim of being Montreal property. First starter in Montreal. Then loaned to Toronto. Being too good in there Montreal refused to sell him to there and during next season loaned to Boston because Bruins wasn´t threat.

Other old school goalie fitting with bit of stretching the rules would be Bill Beveridge. But technically Eagles were Senators so don´t know if we can count that.
 
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