Ranking goaltenders throughout the history of the NHL is an arduous task. Multiple factors is to be regarded: sheer preeminence, longevity, impact on the play, etc. For some, fresh earn and echoing totals are more important than how those totals been accomplished. With all of these factors in memory, let’s take a crack at grading the 5 best goaltenders in NHL history 😛 TAGEND
5. Jacques Plante
November 1, 1959: perhaps the most fateful night in goaltending biography. Most hockey supporters know the story, but it bears repeating: strike in the face by an Andy Bathgate slapshot, Plante told Canadiens head coach Toe Blake that he refused to go back out on the sparkler without his rudimentary fiberglass mask on. Blake relented, as there was no backup goaltender on hand, and the rest is history.
Goaltenders at all levels, whether it be beer league or the National Hockey League, “re saying” a speedy “thank you” to Plante every time they receive a puck to the head, as he was the first to push the wearing of a mask into common practice.
MONTREAL, CANADA- CIRCA 1972: Jacques Plante constitutes for a photo with Vladislav Tretiak of the Soviet Union prior to the start of the Summit Series circa the 1972 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.( Photo by Denis Brodeur/ NHLI via Getty Images)
Plante was an innovator in other lanes though, as he was among the first goaltenders to come out and patronize his defensemen by playing the puck. A student of video games, Plante would also make his own memoes on the opponents he faced, and would bark fiats to his participates during tournaments. He was more than really an trailblazer though. He owned the Vezina Trophy during the 1950′ s, prevailing five in a row and two more later on. With five straight Stanley Cups in that same decade, Plante was at the heart of one of the most dominant teams in NHL history.
4. Terry Sawchuk
Ben Bishop was praised in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final for playing through a rush groin. While that sounds horribly unpleasant, the directory of hurts Sawchuk suffered and at times represented through during his career is impressive: a permanently marred elbow that left his left arm shorter than his right, chips and traumata that produced over 400 sews to his face, a crumbled lung, a broken instep, and severed hand tendons. The wear and tear that the position foisted on his back left him with a condition known a lordosis, which prevented him from sleeping for more than two hours at a time.
Murray Balfour and Terry Sawchuk in the 1963 playoffs.
Sawchuk lived a perturbed life, struggling with physical ailments as well as alcoholism and a depression that was never treated. Yet through horrible drawbacks, Sawchuk shone as one of the greatest goaltenders to ever play the game, compiling four Vezina awards, four Stanley Cups, and a record of 103 vocation shutouts that stood for nearly four decades. Though his life was filled with hardship and eventually objective tragically, his hockey profession was nothing but mythical, always considered as one of the very best goaltenders to ever play the game.
Related: How the Maple Leafs Acquired Terry Sawchuk
3. Martin Brodeur
Let’s begins with the equipment: a Calder Trophy, four Vezina’s, two Olympic gold medals, and three Stanley Cups. Now let’s go to the numbers: 691 busines earns, 125 profession shutouts, 24 playoff shutouts, 28, 508 busines saves, and three job aims. Guess what? Those are all NHL records, and a smart-alecky gambler would say that at least a few of those will stand for a long, long time.
( Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE)
Brodeur was a member of one of the most stifling squads in NHL history, as the New Jersey Devils suffocated their resists of the 1990′ s and early 2000′ s with a neutral zone trap that they are able to essentially change how the game was played. Brodeur was the perfect gentleman for the job in a method that boasted famous defensemen such as Scott Niedermayer and a genius team-builder such as Lou Lamoriello. With a cool and appease demeanor, Brodeur could remain intensely focused even when regularly facing only 15 to 20 shoots video games. He often foreclosed crews from coming in any sort of rhythm thanks to his dominant puck-handling, which was so good that the NHL actually had to meet conventions to limit its effectiveness. Brodeur is one of the most successful athletes of all time, and his records will surely stand for decades to come.
2. Dominik Hasek
At a young age, doctors to be recognised that Hasek possessed above-average flexibility, a characteristic that would go on to define much of his job. Although he became known for his extraordinary saves that wrung his mas in unimaginable directions, what acquired Hasek huge was his freakish comprehend for the fundamentals of the position, his razor-like concentration, and his refusal to give up on any devoted play.
Goaltender Dominik Hasek( Photo by Denis Brodeur/ NHLI via Getty Images)
Fun fact: Hasek is the only goaltender to ever face the most fires per sixty minutes while also guiding the conference in save percentage. If that isn’t impressive enough already, he actually did it twice. Then there are the accolades: six Vezina accolades, two consecutive Hart trophies, two Stanley Cups, and an improbable gold honour at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. The Sabres’ units that Hasek dallied on in the 1990′ s weren’t precisely defensive juggernauts, more “hes come to” painstakingly close to carrying them all the way to the promised land. To boot, Hasek facilitated pave the way for other European goaltenders, forcing NHL units to place more endeavour into finding knack in Europe.
1. Patrick Roy
Brodeur was a winner. Hasek was dominant. Roy was both of those, prevailing and dominating in every road possible when the suns reflect the brightest. Michael Jordan is worshiped for his fiery resolve to win at all costs, yet Roy was every bit his equal in that regard. A feisty contestant, he carried two offensively challenged Montreal Canadiens units to two Stanley Cups. In the 1993 playoffs, Roy cured the Canadiens win a record ten consecutive sudden-death overtime tournaments. If there is any indicator of how clutch Roy could be, that ought to have it.
Patrick Roy sporting his 33( Photo by Steve Babineau/ NHLI via Getty Images)
Roy’s trophy case is stocked with four Stanley Cups, three Conn Smythe trophies, and three Vezina trophies. That stimulates him the only goaltender on this list to have any Conn Smythe trophies( awarded to the MVP of the playoffs ), let alone three. He essentially mold such courses of modern goaltending by being the first goaltender to popularise the butterfly mode, and even varied the very paraphernalium that goaltenders wore thanks to his close relationship with coach Francois Allaire and the Lefebvre brothers.
Roy’s brand of goaltending, paired with the new rig, led to a huge influx in goaltenders from the provinces and territories of Quebec. Athletes in the provinces and territories who once hero-worship goal-scoring immenses such as Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur now wanted to be goaltenders, something that was unheard of at the time. The character of goaltending improved around the league, which represented a large role in a continuous decrease in scoring. No goaltender has the combination of sheer dominance, team success, and force on the sport that Roy had, which sees him the greatest goaltender of all time.
Related: Remembering the Late Great Pelle Lindbergh
… and some of the greatest saves of all time, experience
* originally published in 2015, might take a good while before any of the identifies are altered.
The post The 5 Greatest Goaltenders in NHL History materialized first on The Hockey Writers.
Read more: thehockeywriters.com
Recent Comments