Quote:
Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers
Osgood is easily the most underrated goalie of all time.
Honestly, I blame his helmet. He isn’t flashy by any means, but was a solid, consistently well above average goalie.
Likewise I think MAF would be a Canadian legend if he didn’t have that unfortunate error in the world juniors. He’s one of the best, if you can’t see that you’re deliberately closing your eyes.
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I had completely forgotten about this, but Chris Osgood has an honest to goodness goal to his credit.
The World Junior fiasco doesn't help Fleury's cause among the casual fan. He also has to wear a couple truly abysmal playoff performances (2012 and 2013).
I'm trying to come up with a good reason for Marc Andre Fleury's name to not be among the greatest Canadian goalies of all time, and the only thing I can come up with is that he doesn't have a defining international achievement.
When he burst onto the scene the year before going #1 overall, Canada didn't win the WJHC. The next year, amid much fanfare, the Penguins let him go play in the tournament and the famous bungle happens. After that, he never got a chance to take a starring role in a major international event. Luongo and Brodeur were justifiably ahead of him in 2010, and Carey Price's 2014 is the stuff of legend.
It's tough to imagine he'll ever get a decent opportunity to play for Canada on the biggest stage at this point. But if we all had a two-week period we could point to and say 'this was when the entire country was on the Fleury bandwagon' a la Curtis Joseph at the 1996 World Cup, I think that'd go a long way.