Were the 90's the greatest era of Goaltenders?

[Channelcat]

Roy was the class of the era. Head and shoulders above those other guys.

 

[tarheelhockey]

yay more 90's nostalgia, everything was great back then and everything sucks today...

What can you say, a lot of things get better with time, but not everything does.

 

[GordieHowsUrBreath]

What can you say, a lot of things get better with time, but not everything does.

when you put chris osgood and mike richter above the goalies of today that says it all

i would put 90's sitcoms and movies above today, everything else is the same or better

 

[Poulin 0n My St1ck]

A more fun list is obscure 90's goalies lol like Pat Jablonski, Darren Puppa, Rick Tabaracci, Trevor Kidd and a whole lot more...

Don't forget Jason Muzzatti, Wade Flaherty, Stephane Fiset, and Craig Billington.

 

[Connor McConnor]

Olaf Kolzig > Osgood

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

when you put chris osgood and mike richter above the goalies of today that says it all

i would put 90's sitcoms and movies above today, everything else is the same or better

Osgood was a bad example, but don't underrate Richter. But judging by your 'nostalgia' post, you didn't actually come here to talk hockey.

 

[Goose]

I’ll take the era with Andre “Red Light” Racicot.

How about Reece or Knickle?

 

[PatrikBerglund]

Goalies today are much MUCH better than those having their peaks in the 90s.

 

[tarheelhockey]

when you put chris osgood and mike richter above the goalies of today that says it all

i would put 90's sitcoms and movies above today, everything else is the same or better

I doubt anyone thinks Osgood or Richter were better than today’s best goalies. They weren’t even the best goalies of the mid 90s.

That being said, Osgood had a .914 regular season with a .930 in the playoffs and narrowly missed a Conn Smythe... in 2008. He beat the Crosby/Malkin Pens (same guys who are two-time repeat champions and leading their playoff series as we speak) to post those numbers. I wouldn’t pretend that he couldn’t play in today’s league.

 

[Seanaconda]

One of these is not like the other

Is it hasek cuz hes so much better than the rest of them and just invented his own style

Roy gets credit for mainstreaming butterfly but that was actually around for a long time. Marty did both but his key was stickhandling. Hasek just reinvented the position

 

[Legionnaire11]

They were awesome goalies, but it was also the nature of the game at the time. For example, forwards from ~80-95 were great because they game evolved in that direction and the training/skill/strategy for forwards at the time had outpaced the other positions. While from ~90-2005 or so, the goaltending position was benefiting from a revolution. So it's a combination of the right players at the right time, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be considered the best of all-time, that status should just be considered in context with the evolution of the NHL.

Right now we're seeing the same thing, since 2005, except this era isn't a specific position rather it's a leap forward in speed and team tactics.

 

[DaveG]

I think you're under-rating Belfour Joseph and Richter while also forgetting guys like Potvin, Fuhr, Vanbriesbrook, Ranford etc.

Not at all, it's the era I grew up watching the game in the most. The goalies from that era are certainly more memorable. But better? No. Even switching those guys out, we're still talking about an era where a guy in Cam Ward that for the most part is considered to be a disappointment right now would firmly be in place as one of the top 10 of that era, and in the conversation for #5 behind Roy, Hasek, Brodeur, and Belfour.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Not at all, it's the era I grew up watching the game in the most. The goalies from that era are certainly more memorable. But better? No. Even switching those guys out, we're still talking about an era where a guy in Cam Ward that for the most part is considered to be a disappointment right now would firmly be in place as one of the top 10 of that era, and in the conversation for #5 behind Roy, Hasek, Brodeur, and Belfour.

Yikes. No...

 

[The Macho King]

Best for top end.

Certainly not better depth wise then this current era. The fact that you name Osgood is testament enough to that.

So, with prime Brodeur in both eras it's basically:

Roy, Hasek, Belfour, Joseph, Richter, Osgood, Hebert, Barrasso, Hextall

vs

Lundqvist, Price, Thomas, Luongo, Vokoun, Rask, Quick, Rinne, Crawford

top 2 is decidedly 90s, but after that is so far decidedly post-lockout that it's not even funny.

Underrating Belfour and Joseph a bit. I think they compare favorably to say Lundquist and Luongo.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Not at all, it's the era I grew up watching the game in the most. The goalies from that era are certainly more memorable. But better? No. Even switching those guys out, we're still talking about an era where a guy in Cam Ward that for the most part is considered to be a disappointment right now would firmly be in place as one of the top 10 of that era, and in the conversation for #5 behind Roy, Hasek, Brodeur, and Belfour.

I would add that Ward is probably going to end up rated higher than a lot of people expect in THIS era. People might be shocked at where he finishes for his generation in terms of GP and wins.

 

[GordieHowsUrBreath]

I doubt anyone thinks Osgood or Richter were better than today’s best goalies. They weren’t even the best goalies of the mid 90s.

That being said, Osgood had a .914 regular season with a .930 in the playoffs and narrowly missed a Conn Smythe... in 2008. He beat the Crosby/Malkin Pens (same guys who are two-time repeat champions and leading their playoff series as we speak) to post those numbers. I wouldn’t pretend that he couldn’t play in today’s league.

he only "beat" them because the whole team got out shot almost 2:1, he was clearly their weak link in 2008 but was better in 09

i'm not saying he couldn't play today, i'm saying there are tons of goalies today that are better

 

[Sergei DRW]

Mid 70s.
Dryden, Cheevers, Esposito, Parent, Vachon

cough....Tretiak...cough

Seriously speaking, all those tenders were peppered by USSR teams with goals because they didn't know "the butterfly" and simply stood in the net.

 

[Captain Bowie]

I would add that Ward is probably going to end up rated higher than a lot of people expect in THIS era. People might be shocked at where he finishes for his generation in terms of GP and wins.

In this century, he's 5th & 6th, about where I would figure. His biggest problem is his career stats are a bit lower than everyone around him on the list. Only one in the top 15 wins list since 2005 with below .910 career sv%.

 

[Price is Wright]

The 90s had three of the greatest goalies of the modern era, with Hasek being the greatest player of the 90s.

I think today there's better goalies on average than any other era, especially with so many backups walking in and temporarily stealing jobs, but I don't think the top goalies today are as good as the top goalies in the 90s were compared to their contemporaries.

 

[b in vancouver]

cough....Tretiak...cough

Seriously speaking, all those tenders were peppered by USSR teams with goals because they didn't know "the butterfly" and simply stood in the net.

It's funny. Wrote Tertiak second but had to retype and somehow forgot to include.

If memory serves Tony O would drop down into the butterfly. Didn't he? I can barely remember what I had for breakfast so ... ?

If were talking Golden Age of goaltending I'd think the mid 70s would edge out the 90s. But that's just my opinion. And not one I'm locked into. The advent of goalie masks and helmets coupled with some amazing players really changed things. (cough: can't believe at one time The Boston Bruins had the rights to Cheevers, Dryden and Parent.

 

[b in vancouver]

Like all other positions, goalies who entered the league circa 1985 were born the in the later stages of the Baby Boom era when the birth rate roughly doubled over what it was before and after. You had A LOT more Canadian boys playing hockey during the 1970s than you do today, not to mention that it was also the golden era of hockey in the USSR, and those boys played during an era when their respective govern

ments had just finished massive investments in both recreational sports and in national athletic teams. They enjoyed an environment in which pretty much any kid with athletic talent could play hockey to his heart's content at a relatively low price, and specifically goalies could learn the game at a far more reasonable price-point than young goalies today.

They were also coincidentally positioned to learn the position as young children in a stand-up heavy environment that emphasized reflexes and skating, and then as teenagers to experience the transition to a butterfly environment that emphasized positioning and flexibility.

No huge surprise that this environment consistently produced all-time great talents (Roy, Hasek, Belfour, Joseph, Fuhr and Barrasso on the early side, Brodeur on the late side)

But do you put all-time greats 'Roy, Hasek, Belfour, Joseph, Fuhr and Barrasso' over 'Trektiak, Dryden, Parent, Cheevers, Esposito'?

Vernon and Moog were pretty excellent back in the day also.

 

[SladeWilson23]

Best for top end.

Certainly not better depth wise then this current era. The fact that you name Osgood is testament enough to that.

So, with prime Brodeur in both eras it's basically:

Roy, Hasek, Belfour, Joseph, Richter, Osgood, Hebert, Barrasso, Hextall

vs

Lundqvist, Price, Thomas, Luongo, Vokoun, Rask, Quick, Rinne, Crawford

top 2 is decidedly 90s, but after that is so far decidedly post-lockout that it's not even funny.

I can't think of a single goalie in the salary cap era who can really compare to Brodeur, Roy, or Hasek. The big 3 really stand out from their peers, while there is nobody from today's game that stands out. I think that just means that depth is better today than the 90's.

 

[Newsworthy]

Yes. And the early 1990's were my favorite era

 

[tarheelhockey]

he only "beat" them because the whole team got out shot almost 2:1, he was clearly their weak link in 2008 but was better in 09

i'm not saying he couldn't play today, i'm saying there are tons of goalies today that are better

That’s my point, though. Osgood was always somewhere near league average. In 1994 and in 2009. Kind of like how Jagr and Lidstrom were exceptional at both ends of that time frame. People talk about the evolution of hockey as though it just keeps getting better... but you see the same guys playing at about the same level 15 years apart. Clearly the bar didn’t get so much higher in those 15 years, if a mediocre goalie like Chris Osgood could still show up those New and Improved goalies.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

Is it hasek cuz hes so much better than the rest of them and just invented his own style

Roy gets credit for mainstreaming butterfly but that was actually around for a long time. Marty did both but his key was stickhandling. Hasek just reinvented the position

Ah no its osgood. Dude couldn't hold a candle to any of those guys listed. And someone rolled out ozzys stats...uh this is where metrics fail, anyone can see with the eye test osgood isn't even in the same stratosphere as those guys