[transplant99]

Just another great article by the master of NHL coverage.

Ultimately, Bowman’s decision to go with Vernon got the Red Wings over the hump in 1997. Detroit won and Vernon’s stat line in that postseason – a 16-4 record and a 1.76 goals-against average – earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL’s playoff MVP.

When the pressure ramped up, Vernon was capable of rising to the occasion. It was a trait that he also demonstrated against Grant Fuhr, one of the other members of that generation’s goaltending elite. Fuhr and Vernon were junior rivals and then mainstays for their respective teams during the most competitive years of the Battle of Alberta.

Before Vernon arrived in Calgary, the Oilers dominated the Flames – and made a lot of very good goalies look very bad. Vernon was a rare exception. Lifetime, against Edmonton, he played great.

From the time Vernon made his NHL debut as a junior call-up on Dec. 12, 1982, until his final NHL appearance on April 13, 2002, he earned the second-most regular-season wins among all goaltenders in that span:

Vernon sits at No. 16 on the all-time NHL goaltender wins list, with 385. But he also completed his career with 92 regular-season ties. If he played in the current era, where every game reaches a decision – win or loss – he could easily have added an extra 50 victories or more to his career total.

Kevin Weekes, the NHL Network analyst and former goalie, describes Vernon as “the forgotten, high-level, elite goalie of that generation – and I believe he has Hall of Fame credentials for sure. Talk to anybody from Calgary in ’89 or Detroit in ’97 and they will tell you the same thing.”

“To play as well as he did in the Battle of Alberta, at that time, with all those guys that Edmonton had – and then to win a Cup in Calgary – that’s crazy,” Weekes said. “That’s nuts. Then to go to Detroit and win again – yeah, he’s for sure a Hall of Famer. But it’s so interesting because people hardly ever talk about him.”

You can’t go back in time and redo a Conn Smythe vote – or amend the rules relating to ties or overtime results.

But you can evaluate players against their peers, within the statistical context of the eras in which they played. Against the two Hall of Famers that he faced time and time again, Vernon emerged with the edge over both Fuhr and Roy. Both are in the Hall of Fame – and belong there.

Vernon does too.

It's a farce he isn't in the HOF already.

https://theathletic.com/1809037/