COLLECTION OF POSTS FROM HOH TOP GOALTENDERS PROJECT:
Frank Brimsek was likely cheated out of 2-3 1st Team All Star Teams by the tradition that the 1st Team always went to the Vezina winner. And remember that the Vezina was simply awarded to the goalie of the team with the lowest GAA, like the modern Jennings Trophy.
I believe credit has to go to TheContrarianGoaltender for being the first to notice that the First Team All Star went to the clearcut starting goalie (>75% of the games played) with the lowest GAA 100% of the time from 1935-1956. It's highly unlikely that the goalie with the lowest GAA was the best goalie in the league year-in, year-out. Also note that the 2nd Team All Star was not attached to GAA like the 1st Team All Star was.
Credit goes to Sturminator for doing all the original research here on Brimsek.
1942-43: Brimsek widely considered the best goalie, despite Johnny Mowers' being awarded the 1st Team
Brimsek lost a close vote to Johnny Mowers for the 1st Team All Star: 12-14, despite placing 5th in Hart voting (Mowers didn't place). It appears that Brimsek was widely considered the best goalie in the league that year, however.
By the NHL players:
Returning NHL performers who have been turning up in various prairie rinks there last few weeks, concede that they have little quarrel with the all-star band of puckists collected in the Canadian Press vote this spring. They put up a stout argument on Frankie Brimsek's behalf for the goaltending assignment, but nod assent to all other choices from then on as they sum up the dream team this way:
Johnny Mowers: A fine goalkeeper playing behind the strongest team in the big-league. Worthy of all-star recognition, but the hockey players' goaltender is Frank Brimsek. They unanimously point to Brimsek as the king of custodians. "Frankie is our man, " they chorus."
The Leader Post, April 8, 1943
By NHL coaches and managers, including Mowers' own GM:
Detroit's Johnny Mowers can't miss winning the Vezina goal-tending award but he appears far back in the running for a National Hockey league All-Star berth...Judging by the talk of the visiting hockey masterminds, the Bruins' Frankie Brimsek still is the greatest goalie in pro hockey.
Mowers can not depend upon the vote of his own boss, Jack Adams. The latter rates Mowers as a very good goaltender, "But when I am called upon to name the best one, I must pick Brimsek," Adams explained. "If there ever has been a better goalie anywhere at any time than Brimsek, I've never seen him."
Adams sadly confessed that Brimsek gives the Bruins a goal and a half start before they even take to the ice..."The only reason why Mowers has had fewer goals scored against him is because our Red Wing defensemen give him much better support than the Bruins provide Brimsek," Jolly Jack points out....Adam's high opinion of Brimsek has been loudly seconded by Chicago's Paul Thompson, Ranger's Frank Boucher, and Canadiens' Dick Irvin...that group is almost as enthusiastic about Brimsek as Art Ross, who predicted that Frankie would be the greatest goalie in history long before he ever appeared in a major league net.
The Day, Feb 3, 1943
By Johnny Mowers and Turk Broda:
Johnny Mowers is about as safe a bet as you can get to win the George Vezina Trophy this season, but he is going to be slightly embarrassed if he does. All the glowing notices so far have been reserved for frigid Frank Brimsek and Turk Broda of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
...
But everybody who ever saw enough hockey to venture a prediction will tell you that Mowers is less efficient between the pipes than either Brimsek or Broda. Mowers himself hands the palm ungrudgingly to Brimsek and Broda was recently quoted as saying that Mr. Zero was tops in his book too, even though 126 pucks have been filtered in past the man Bun Cook discovered.
On the other hand, Broda is no slouch either. In a clutch, he is probably as smooth a worker as Brimsek although he moves his bulky form less quickly and is hardly as sharp on rebounds.
The Sunday Sun, Feb 2, 1943
1947-48: Brimsek loses the First Team on Tiebreak to Turk Broda, the Vezina Winner, while easily beating him in Hart voting
In the late 40s, the All Star teams were voted on by NHL coaches. Coaches couldn't vote for their own players, so the most votes a player could get was 5.
GOALTENDER: (54, 6-6-6) Turk Broda, Tor 19 (3-1-1); Frank Brimsek, Bos 19 (2-3-0); Bill Durnan, Mtl 9 (1-1-1); Harry Lumley, Det 7 (0-1-4)
Brimsek, however, was 2nd in Hart voting, while Broda didn't receive a single vote.
Here's an article from a game during the season. The writer heard rumors that Brimsek was starting to show his age so he kept a close eye on him, and concluded that he was still brilliant. It ends with this interesting tidbit:
All and all, Mr. Brimsek performed in a manner which should keep him nip and tuck with William Durnan of Montreal in the race for the Vezina Trophy and the top goaler's rating of the year. He certainly outfaced Mr. Broda, who is mentioned in some circles as a strong rival to these two greatest gate keeper's in the league's history.
Broda would go on to win his second Vezina and the 1st Team that almost seemed to automatically come with it. But note that he was quite clearly considered the third best to Brimsek and Durnan as late as 1948
The Lewiston Daily Sun, Nov 26, 1946
1940-41: Brimsek loses the First Team by a single point to Turk Broda, the Vezina Winner
As of now, there is no supporting evidence that this one is questionable, other than the 100% correlation between the 1st Team and the Vezina at the time.
GOALTENDER: FIRST TEAM: Turk Broda, Tor 14; Frank Brimsek, Bos 13; Johnny Mowers, Det 2
We do, however, have reports of praise that was heaped on Brimsek in only his 3rd season:
Then, just in case you think the Boston rearguard isn't so good, let us consider the last line of the Bruin defence - Frankie Brimsek. As successor to the peerless Tiny Thompson, Brimsek was sensational as a rookie. Today Brimsek, all reports to the contrary, is a better goalie than he was then.
As the Boston club was held to a 2-2 tie by an inspired band Red Wings at Olympia last Sunday evening, Brimsek gave the best display of puck fending for two periods that this observer has seen all season. Right now we'd rate him as the best goalie in the league with Johnny Mowers of the Wings second and Turk Broda of the Maple Leafs third - and we are not just judging on the basis of their goals against records.
The Windsor Daily Star, Feb 11, 1941
In conclusion
I'll just quote Sturminator here:
Sturminator said:
I wouldn't normally make too much of the Vezina / 1st team all-star phenomenon, but the newspaper articles make it so obvious who the better goalie was and that for whatever reason the voters stuck with the Vezina winner, anyway, that it sort of calls the entire all-star system for goalies into question for that era. But once you see the papers and realize the obvious distortion, then a lot of results start to look strange. I mean...Turk Broda was only a 1st team all-star twice in his long career, the exact same years he won the Vezina, both times beating Brimsek by the thinnest of margins.
This is all very suspicious stuff. I think Brimsek is rightfully probably a 4 time 1st team / 4 time 2nd team all-star and one can quibble about another of the 2nd teams maybe being really a 1st. He also lost two prime years to the war, and if there is ever a scenario where we should count lost war years, it is for Brimsek, who was an all-star in the five years preceding the war, and in the three years after the war.
Sturminator said:
The thing about Brimsek is that if you think about it, all those 2nd team all-star selections in an era when the first-team selection almost always went to the Vezina winner is really impressive - moreso than it appears at first glance. What it means is that in a year where the Vezina winner wasn't one of the two best goalies, Brimsek had to be the best goalie in the league just to make the second team, because the second-best goalie was not represented, at all, on the all-star team. Brimsek made eight consecutive all-star teams, with a two year break for the war almost directly in the middle of his career.
Sturminator said:
I think people have undervalued Brimsek around here because of all the 2nd team appearances, which are deceptively good given the circumstances of his era. During Frank Brimsek's career, the winner of the Vezina trophy was the first team all-star every single season. That fact, alone, is extremely dubious, but when we combine it with multiple pieces of clear evidence that Brimsek was at times better than the Vezina winners...well, I think he starts to look more like a superstar and less like "that guy with a bunch of 2nd team all-star nods".