Your Top5 Goalies list

[Big Phil]

What is your list of the top 5 goalies of all time? keep in mind each one of the five on my list are considered favourites by somebody. Its very hard with goalies since its different eras and different styles of play but I tried to take everything into account. The first three especially could ALL be considered as #1 of all time. But this is why I went this way.

#1 Terry Sawchuk - Well no matter what this guy's name always pops into my head when I think of the alltime best. Why? Well for the first five years of his career he was invincible. After that he was still good and was a big reason the Leafs won the Cup in '67. First off he was a post season team all-star 7 times, not bad. He won 4 Cups and had 447 wins. Sawchuk had the sweet glove and could move very fast across the crease. His trade in '55 to Boston wasn't the best thing in his career but he came back wiht Detroit and was still very good. The main thing was his shutouts. 103. You can say that he played in a more defensive era. Okay fine but then why didnt Hall or Plante get more career shutouts than him? Well Terry was just the best.

#2 Dominik Hasek - Yeah I have him rated ahead of Roy. This is why. Six Vezinas to Roy's three. Plus look at his career. Most of his career has been on Buffalo. Those were not very good teams at all. They were below average teams. Geez Satan and Peca were their stars! But with Hasek he made them contenders every year just by his presence. And the psychological edge he gets even before the game starts compare to no other goalie. He led Buffalo deep in the playoffs in '97, '98, '99 and even '01. By '02 he had won a Cup with the Wings. Throw in a Gold Medal in Nagano in '98 and he's a proven champion. I dont like Hasek myself, but think about it, all those years he won the Vezina did anyone ever question it? Nope. And even Sawchuk never won a Hart Trophy, Hasek did it twice.

#3 Patrick Roy - First off he's not the greatest goalie to ever live. This is why. Roy was never on a bad team. From '85-95 Montreal was good. From '95-03 Colorado was even better. I like the fact that he won three Vezinas, and also four Cups. Plus holding the record of three Conn Smythe Trophies is pretty impressive too. But Roy could look mediocre at times too. He excelled in the playoffs but he didnt strike the fear into players the way Hasek did. I say put Roy on the 90s Sabres and they dont do as good as Hasek made them do. And to me that's got to be a knock against Roy.

#4 Glenn Hall - The most impressive stat? 11 post season all-star selections. Most ever by a goalie. 7 of them were the first team all-stars. Plus doing all this while playing in 502 straight games. That was durable. The knock I have against Hall is his lack of Cups. yeah it might be petty but in the Original six its hard to believe he only won one Cup with Chicago in '61. Yes he was in a lot of Cup finals as well and he helped St.Louis to three straight final appearances in '68-70 but two or three more Cups and he might be at the top of the list. Still, Glenn Hall could play for me anyday.

#5 Jacques Plante - You have to have Plante on this list. He won six Cups. 7 post season all-star selections. He lacked in the shutout department where Sawchuk excelled but he won a Hart Trophy in '62 which is rare for a goalie, from '50 to the present day on him, Hasek and Chuck Rayner have ever won one I believe. Now he did play on the greatest dynasty ever in the 50s Habs, so he wasnt the only star there thats for sure so you have to take that into account. But his numbers and hardware dont lie so he's #5.


Other guys who didnt crack my list but could have were Bernie Parent (didnt play long enough), Ken Dryden ( hard to say how good he was) Tony Esposito, who is top ten and eventually you'd have to say Brodeur will be mentioned among these guys too.

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[Little Wing]

What? You forgot Chico Resch

 

[EagleBelfour]

Jacques Plante
Patrick Roy
Terry Sawchuk
Dominik Hasek
Viacheslav Tretiak

 

[Stiffler]

#3 Patrick Roy - First off he's not the greatest goalie to ever live. This is why. Roy was never on a bad team. From '85-95 Montreal was good. From '95-03 Colorado was even better. I like the fact that he won three Vezinas, and also four Cups. Plus holding the record of three Conn Smythe Trophies is pretty impressive too. But Roy could look mediocre at times too. He excelled in the playoffs but he didnt strike the fear into players the way Hasek did. I say put Roy on the 90s Sabres and they dont do as good as Hasek made them do. And to me that's got to be a knock against Roy.

too.

I would just like to point out something. Roy made the Canadiens look good more than you give him credit for. As soon as Roy left, the Canadiens crumbled. He almost single-handledly brought the cup to Montreal on two occasions, something Hasek couldn't do. He brought the Canadiens to the finals in 1989. As soon as he left the Avs, even with an elite top-6, Colorado was gone in the first round. Roy doesn't deserve those knocks in my opinion, he is and should be in such a top 5, but minus the knocks.

For the record, here's my top 5...

1) Sawchuck / Roy
3) Hasek
4) Tretiak
5) Plante / Hall and soon to be Brodeur

Honorable mention to Pat Jablonski and André Racicot

 

[Bear of Bad News]

He excelled in the playoffs but he didnt strike the fear into players the way Hasek did.

He certainly did.

 

[arrbez]

Of the "great" goalies I've seen:

Hasek
-
Roy
Brodeur
Belfour

 

[arrbez]

He certainly did.

no way, it wasn't the same

As an opposing fan, I was terrified of Hasek. I never felt the same about Roy. He was a great goalie, but he never had the intimidation factor that Hasek had/has

 

[Little Wing]

no way, it wasn't the same

As an opposing fan, I was terrified of Hasek. I never felt the same about Roy. He was a great goalie, but he never had the intimidation factor that Hasek had/has

Roy's accomplishments speak for themselves.
Hasek is great, but he has walked away from the game twice, left clubs in dire straits, and could only win a cup with a powerhouse Detriot team.

Roy can be likened to John Elway, a one man team on plenty of occassions. As can Hasek.
Roy would have won maybe 2 more cups in Colorado. One year against Dallas in the conference finals game 7 he let in a soft goal and in the same game, a shot went in on him that was fluttering above his shoulder and it dropped to the ice behind him and bounced into the net. It practically happened in slow motion.

In a conference finals series against Detroit, game 6 or 7, Roy made a nice save after 5 or 6 seconds ticked off the clock Roy had the puck in his glove and it fell out and rolled in the goal ( once again this was after he made the save, had it in his glove and was skating out of the crease, the whistle should have blown 3 seconds earlier, but it didn't and the puck fell out of his glove and rolled in the net)

 

[arrbez]

Roy can be likened to John Elway, a one man team on plenty of occassions. As can Hasek.
Roy would have won maybe 2 more cups in Colorado. One year against Dallas in the conference finals game 7 he let in a soft goal and in the same game, a shot went in on him that was fluttering above his shoulder and it dropped to the ice behind him and bounced into the net. It practically happened in slow motion.

Ah, so Roy would have won two more cups, had he not totally screwed up and cost his team crucial games? lol, I don't even know what to say about that argument...

Do you honestly believe Patrick Roy could have taken those mediocre Sabres teams all the way to the Cup? That season Hasek had a 1.87 GAA and still won less that half the games he started. Those Sabres teams had no business getting past the first round without Hasek

Judging an individual by the number of team accomplishments they have just doesn't make sense.

 

[canucksfan]

1.Sawchuk
2.Roy
3.Hall
4.Hasek
5.Plante

 

[BuppY]

Brodeur!!!!!!

 

[Big Phil]

I dont know why everyone says the Habs should never have won the Cup in '93. Roy won the Conn Smythe deservingly but he didnt lead a "weak" team to the Cup. Montreal had 102 points that year. Once Pittsburgh got knocked off the Cup was up for grabs. You could argue that in that year after Pittsburgh and Boston Montreal may have been the best teasm in the league. So it wasnt a weak team by any means.

I'll stick to it that Roy wasnt as good as Hasek. The main reason is the Hart Trophies, Vezinas and the fact that Buffalo wasnt even a playoff team without him. No offense to Roy but you never got to see how he'd do with an average team or even below average. Hasek just scared you even before you hit the ice.

 

[Jacques Plante]

I tried to form a top 5 list and I just couldn't. There's too many varialbles and it's too subjective. You have to look through different era's, take into acout their teams and so much more.

I will make one judgement, however. I truly beliveve that Patrick Roy was the greatest goalie of all time.

He's number one because he revolutionized the game. His impact is still being felt today, and probably will for a long time to come. This guy single handedly help shift the ballance of power from being a shooters league to a goalies league. Other goalies moldeled themselves and it's now become a hockey wide phenomenon. And the 4 Stanley Cups, 3 Conn Smythe's, 3 Vezina's, being the all time league leader in Wins and numerous all star appearance's don't hurt his case either.

There's another aspect of his carrer that convinces me he's the greatest. It's the 'Legendary' things that he did. Some of the things that he did are the type of things you hear about hockey in the days of the original 6 not modern times. Coming back from appendicitis to lead his team to victory. Telling his teammates, twice, on 2 different teams, in overtime, that he would stop the pucks all night and that his team mates just needed to score one goal. This is stuff you only hear from Legends. I'm certain that as time goes on, these stories will grow to become mythical. Much like the Babe's called shot, Rocket Richard scoring an OT winner while completely concussed or Bobby Baun's one-legged goal.

I count myself as a very fortunate person to have seen Patrick Roy, live in person, more than once.

 

[chooch*]

I tried to form a top 5 list and I just couldn't. There's too many varialbles and it's too subjective. You have to look through different era's, take into acout their teams and so much more.

I will make one judgement, however. I truly beliveve that Patrick Roy was the greatest goalie of all time.

He's number one because he revolutionized the game. His impact is still being felt today, and probably will for a long time to come. This guy single handedly help shift the ballance of power from being a shooters league to a goalies league. Other goalies moldeled themselves and it's now become a hockey wide phenomenon. And the 4 Stanley Cups, 3 Conn Smythe's, 3 Vezina's, being the all time league leader in Wins and numerous all star appearance's don't hurt his case either.

There's another aspect of his carrer that convinces me he's the greatest. It's the 'Legendary' things that he did. Some of the things that he did are the type of things you hear about hockey in the days of the original 6 not modern times. Coming back from appendicitis to lead his team to victory. Telling his teammates, twice, on 2 different teams, in overtime, that he would stop the pucks all night and that his team mates just needed to score one goal. This is stuff you only hear from Legends. I'm certain that as time goes on, these stories will grow to become mythical. Much like the Babe's called shot, Rocket Richard scoring an OT winner while completely concussed or Bobby Baun's one-legged goal.

I count myself as a very fortunate person to have seen Patrick Roy, live in person, more than once.

True but he did have some real stinkers, even entire playoffs were poor. After his rookie triumph in 86 where he singlehandedly led them to the Cup, he was basically no better than Hayward for the next few years and shared the nets with him even through the playoffs. His attitude was a destructive force and partially cost him international spots.

From the goalies I saw:

1) Dryden - he started every single Habs playoff game from 71-79 and every game of any significance. After playing 6 regular season games, he stole the Cup in 71 from Orr in the most legendary goalie feat in NHL history.

Dryden's play declined in 78/79 when he knew he would retire but still won a Cup, Vezina and 1st team all star. His stats speak for themselves (6 Cups, 5 Vezinas in 7 complete years) but to watch him you knew that he would never give up a bad goal, nor a big goal. He had the number of the top players like Espo. Ask Bowman who was the best from 70 on.

2) Tretiak
3) Hasek
4) Roy/Fuhr
5) Brodeur/Herron

I was never impressed with Tony O. I dont see him on many all time lists.

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

I try to never rate guys I didn't see, so here are the ten best NHL goalies I've seen:

Roy
Hasek
Brodeur
Parent
Dryden
Fhur
Billy Smith
Tony Esposito
Belfour
Cheevers

 

[reckoning]

Roy's accomplishments speak for themselves.
Hasek is great, but he has walked away from the game twice, left clubs in dire straits, and could only win a cup with a powerhouse Detriot team.

If you consider Hasek`s retirement walking away from the game, then Mario Lemieux is guilty of the same thing; as far as leaving a team in dire straits goes, Roy`s walkout in Montreal is the very definition of that. In any case, I don`t see how that would have any relevance on which one was a better goalie.

It`s amazing, when Hasek was in Buffalo the knock on him was always that he never won a Cup, people would say "It doesn`t matter how bad the team is, great goalies find a way to win the Cup." Then when he finally wins a Cup, people said it was only because he was on a strong team. Similar comments were made about Ray Bourque when he won the Cup in Colorado after all those years in Boston. It`s a weak argument; if winning a Cup with a strong team isn`t considered a positive, then not winning with a weak team can`t be considered a negative.

Roy would have won maybe 2 more cups in Colorado.

Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn`t. The fact is he didn`t. Maybe Bernie Parent would`ve won a few more Cups if not for back injuries, maybe Ken Dryden would`ve won a few more Cups if he didn`t retire so young, maybe Hasek would`ve won the Cup in `99 if the Hull goal was disallowed. The "maybe" argument can be used for anybody.

In a conference finals series against Detroit, game 6 or 7, Roy made a nice save after 5 or 6 seconds ticked off the clock Roy had the puck in his glove and it fell out and rolled in the goal ( once again this was after he made the save, had it in his glove and was skating out of the crease, the whistle should have blown 3 seconds earlier, but it didn't and the puck fell out of his glove and rolled in the net)

If we`re thinking of the same goal (the Statue of Liberty save/goal in Game 7), 5 or 6 seconds is a huge exaggeration, but if you`re saying the goal shouldn`t have counted, every goalie has been a victim of that at some time. Once LeClair scored a goal against Hasek in the playoffs that replays showed went through the side of the net. Once again, it`s an argument that can be used for anybody.

 

[reckoning]

From the goalies I saw:

1) Dryden - he started every single Habs playoff game from 71-79 and every game of any significance. After playing 6 regular season games, he stole the Cup in 71 from Orr in the most legendary goalie feat in NHL history.

Dryden's play declined in 78/79 when he knew he would retire but still won a Cup, Vezina and 1st team all star. His stats speak for themselves (6 Cups, 5 Vezinas in 7 complete years) but to watch him you knew that he would never give up a bad goal, nor a big goal. He had the number of the top players like Espo. Ask Bowman who was the best from 70 on.

2) Tretiak
3) Hasek
4) Roy/Fuhr
5) Brodeur/Herron

I was never impressed with Tony O. I dont see him on many all time lists.

So you`re saying Denis Herron was better than Billy Smith or Bernie Parent?

 

[Jacques Plante]

True but he did have some real stinkers, even entire playoffs were poor. After his rookie triumph in 86 where he singlehandedly led them to the Cup, he was basically no better than Hayward for the next few years and shared the nets with him even through the playoffs.

Jean Perron (Habs coach that lead the team to the '86 cup) said that his biggest mistake as a coach was not rolling with Roy in the 87 playoffs. He thinks that had he gone with Roy in 87, the Canadiens would have repeated.

Also Roy was still an all-star goalie in 88. In 89 his team returned to the Cup Finals. He also picked up the Vezina that year.

 

[Pantokrator]

1) Hasek

2) Sawchuk

3) Dryden

4) Glenn Hall

5) Plante

 

[jiggs 10]

1.) Sawchuk
2.) Hall
3.) Plante
4.) Hasek
5.) Roy/Brodeur

If Marty doesn't lose any more games for his team (like Patty Roy did-5 Game 7 losses in his carrer are the most ever!), he will move ahead of Patty on my list.

Honorable mention: Ken Dryden, Bill Durnan, Tony Espo, Gerry Cheevers

 

[Bear of Bad News]

(like Patty Roy did-5 Game 7 losses in his carrer are the most ever!)

Your personal feelings against Roy aside...

The reason that Roy has more Game Seven losses in his career is because he's played more Game Sevens than any goaltender in history. He also has far more Game Seven wins than any goaltender in history, by a decent margin.

(Why? Because teams play four rounds in the playoffs these days, giving goaltenders more chances to play in Game Sevens).

 

[jiggs 10]

I have no problem with Patrick Roy, as you suggest. I'm just showing that he lost more important games than anyone in history!

BTW, he does NOT have more Game 7 wins than anyone. At least not according to the NHL record book. But, whatever. I was very happy when Colorado won both of their Cups. Joe Sakic and Ray Bourque deserved to win those Cups. The fact that Roy was in net is beside the fact. He stole the 1986 Cup, and he was responsible for the Habs winning the 1993 Cup. He was also responsible for the Habs' bad season of 1995-96, when he got traded the Avs.

But like I said, whatever. It's an objective question.

 

[Marcus-74]

From the goalies I saw:

1) Dryden - he started every single Habs playoff game from 71-79 and every game of any significance. After playing 6 regular season games, he stole the Cup in 71 from Orr in the most legendary goalie feat in NHL history.

Dryden's play declined in 78/79 when he knew he would retire but still won a Cup, Vezina and 1st team all star. His stats speak for themselves (6 Cups, 5 Vezinas in 7 complete years) but to watch him you knew that he would never give up a bad goal, nor a big goal. He had the number of the top players like Espo. Ask Bowman who was the best from 70 on.

But let´s face it; Dryden usually sucked against the Soviets! (maybe with the exception of the Challenge Cup & 6th game of ´72 Series). He could have "redeemed" himself (in international games) in the first Canada Cup, but was injured and Vachon got the job.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

BTW, he does NOT have more Game 7 wins than anyone. At least not according to the NHL record book.

My apologies - when you said "anyone", I was mistakenly under the impression that you were referring to just goaltenders.

 

[Jyroe Habs Fan]

1. Jacques Plante
2. Terry Shawchuk
3. Glenn Hall
4. Patrick Roy
5. Ken Dryden 6 Cups boys
Honourable Mention goes to Bower, Cheevers, Brodeur, Smith, Tony O, Tretiak, Parent, & Hasek.

Habs Only
1. Jacques Plante
2. Paddy Roy
3. Ken Dryden
4. Bill Durham
5. Georges Vezina
Absolutely Sick