Worst NHL goalie ever

[HHHH]

I have not read through the entire thread, but it has to be Jim Stewart...

Called up for a game for the Bruins in January of 1980 due to their two goalies being injured...and he gave up 5 goals on 9 shots in one period for a 15.00 .444 save %.

He went on to have a good career as a goalie coach for a number of NCAA teams

 

[Doctor No]

Stewart's a fun example because that was a game where the Bruins played two goaltenders (Marco Baron) both making their NHL debuts.

 

[Sanf]

If I had to pick an answer to the stated question, my best guess would be Jorge Alves.

Not that I wouldn't love to have had the opportunity that he had.

Alves would my selection too. Most likely the worst goalie chosen to play in NHL. There might be weaker ones in history, but teams were forced to use them.

I have bit of mixed feelings about this. Nice story. Probably good guy. Nice that he got that chance. And a guess if you realy stretch you can find some sort of tactical "team spirit lifting" side in this.

Still I feel bad for those guys who has been years and years in organization. Sometimes even backup goalie in several games never making ice. Teams really avoiding to use them. Also slightly afraid that it becomes this often used PR-stunt. Didn´t Flyers (or was it some other team) try to do this also?

 

[Doctor No]

Agreed with this - and to be quite honest, someone has to be the "worst NHL goalie ever". I'd be ecstatic to have that opportunity (and Alves surely loved it).

I'd probably even add it to my resume: "worst NHL goalie ever".

What do they call the person who graduates last in their class at medical school? "Doctor".

Maybe I could parlay it into a motivational speaker thing.

 

[Killion]

Agreed with this - and to be quite honest, someone has to be the "worst NHL goalie ever". I'd be ecstatic to have that opportunity (and Alves surely loved it).

I'd probably even add it to my resume: "worst NHL goalie ever".

... heres the deal on that, the way I look at it..... Al Pacino once said "there are no really good actors, just good, well written parts". Obviously if one has the fundamentals & finds himself in an excellent situation with a great script & part, Producer, Director & Crew, co-stars including character actors & bit players, makes a huge difference. Attitude is everything in life, and if you have the right attitude, work hard & blessed with even the most rudimentary amount of talents, good luck & fortune will follow. You work hard you create, manufacture good luck.

There arent any "bad goalies" but there are lousy situations & confidence once eroded, like a Man who loses everything, his marriage, job, home and all of his posessions, his faith in himself, well, long long long road back. With sport, goaltending, that window of opportunity only open for so long. Age. Catches up with everyone. One of the most admirable traits of a guy like Hasek was his persistance, his strength of character & "fight". Amazing what he managed given the obstacles he faced early, largely derided as an unorthodox sieve.... yeah. Eat me. Sure shocked the **** out of the supposed "experts" huh? You hang around this game long enough just some amazing stories. So no. No "bad goalies". Bad situations, yes. You dont get past House League, certainly not Single A if your a "bad goalie" let alone play AA, AAA, Junior or pro.

 

[Doctor No]

There arent any "bad goalies"

If I send you my regular Wednesday/Friday group's e-mail addresses, would you mind speaking to them on my behalf?

 

[Killion]

If I send you my regular Wednesday/Friday group's e-mail addresses, would you mind speaking to them on my behalf?

... what is it, a Therapy Group Doc?. Or we talkin "pickup, beer league"?... Sort of a combination of both huh?... Finestkind... Happy to oblige.

 

[decma]

What are the worst goaltending seasons of all times as measured by, e.g., GAA or save percentage standard deviations worse than league average GAA or save percentage, with a certain minimum number of minutes or shots?

Doctor No, I believe you have an extensive database of goalie stats. Does it include save percentage and GAA by season? Have you ever calculated best or worst seasons of all time using such a methodology?

 

[Canadiens1958]

Len Broderick

October 30, 1957 Len Broderick of the Toronto Marlies OHL Jr A team replaced Jacques Plante who suffered a pre game asthma attack, in the Canadiens net.

Had a shutout going well into the third period of a 6 - 2 Canadiens win:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=u0wwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fqgFAAAAIBAJ&hl=fr&pg=7146,6444036

December 6, 1957 Len Broderick and four other Marlies were lent to the Junior Canadiens for an exhibition game against the touring Soviets Selects in Ottawa.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uE8vAAAAIBAJ&sjid=e6gFAAAAIBAJ&hl=fr&pg=7304,1352900

Very different result.

 

[Moose Head]

What are the worst goaltending seasons of all times as measured by, e.g., GAA or save percentage standard deviations worse than league average GAA or save percentage, with a certain minimum number of minutes or shots?

Doctor No, I believe you have an extensive database of goalie stats. Does it include save percentage and GAA by season? Have you ever calculated best or worst seasons of all time using such a methodology?

Has to be Ron Low's first two years in Washington, has to.

 

[AvroArrow]

Glenn Healy ainec.

 

[decma]

Has to be Ron Low's first two years in Washington, has to.

I think you might be right. Other possibilities might be late career Ed Mio (with Detroit) or John Garrett (with Vancouver), if they played enough to qualify.

 

[Doctor No]

Doctor No, I believe you have an extensive database of goalie stats. Does it include save percentage and GAA by season? Have you ever calculated best or worst seasons of all time using such a methodology?

Here are the eleven worst single-regular season NHL save percentages since 1952-53 (as far back as I have save percentage).

They're ranked by "z score" (the number of standard deviations worse than league average), since that gives some sample size consideration (having an 80% save percentage in two games can happen randomly to a normal goalie - having an 80% save percentage in 20 games usually can not). And I cut things off at 10 GP arbitrarily.

Not: these are not yet corrected for any updates to the official NHL stats as released earlier this week.

Good guess with Low!

Goaltender|Season|Team|SV%|Z-Score
Craig Billington|1993-94|Ottawa Senators|0.859|-5.2
Ron Low|1974-75|Washington Capitals|0.855|-4.8
Scott Gordon|1990-91|Quebec Nordiques|0.787|-4.7
Ron Low|1975-76|Washington Capitals|0.853|-4.5
Bob Champoux|1973-74|California Golden Seals|0.843|-4.0
Don Head|1961-62|Boston Bruins|0.877|-4.0
Gerry Desjardins|1972-73|New York Islanders|0.866|-3.9
Peter Sidorkiewicz|1992-93|Ottawa Senators|0.856|-3.9
Dan Cloutier|2006-07|Los Angeles Kings|0.860|-3.8
Grant Fuhr|1999-00|Calgary Flames|0.856|-3.8
Al Smith|1980-81|Colorado Rockies|0.836|-3.8

Standard caveat that save percentage is a flawed metric for a number of reasons. Use at your own risk.

 

[Doctor No]

Glenn Healy ainec.

How does a statement like this move the conversation forward?

It's not even true, let alone "AINEC" (which is frequently a substitution used when an actual argument isn't available).

 

[IComeInPeace]

Don Edwards is not only not a candidate for worst goalie ever, he's quite simply a very average NHL goalie.
WTF?

It's not 'What Goalie Did You See Play Bad More Than Once?'.

 

[Hobnobs]

Don Edwards is not only not a candidate for worst goalie ever, he's quite simply a very average NHL goalie.
WTF?

It's not 'What Goalie Did You See Play Bad More Than Once?'.

I was only counting goalies that was bad while playing with Flames. I did not state anywhere that he was a candidate for worst goalie ever.

 

[IComeInPeace]

Trying to take into account only goalies that were regulars at the NHL level, from a Canuck perspective, John Garrett was horrible.

He was our representative in an All-Star game, and destined to win player of the game until Gretzky decided that would be inappropriate for NHL history logs, but he was absolutely horrible. He sucked. No athleticism.

As a matter of fact, John Garrett is where I learned to not read too much into a goalies performance when they get down by 2-3 goals early.
Much like a soft, skilled player, who puts up numbers when it's an easy game, or an easy part of a game, goalies can look all World when there's no pressure. But when a save actually matters, they can't get it done.

Likewise, the hardest job to give a goalie is large stretches with no shots, and then having to make a clutch save. Ken Dryden was a prime example of the latter,

Lots of Canucks fans will undoubtedly point the finger at Cloutier as our worst goalie. Cloutier was a scapegoat for a team that placed no emphasis on defense during the very height of the dead puck era.

He was not without his faults though; but far from the worst Canucks goalie of all time. From that era, Felix Potvin, in his Canucks days was far worse. But not much was expected from the Potvin era Canucks teams.

Canucks fans, in denial though thought that was the difference between a serious Cup contender (or even Cup champion) and a choker.
The Canucks choked because they were a pure one line team that refused to play defense in the dead puck era.
Somehow that is Dan Cloutier fault.