Who was the best Goalie of all time?

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Les Binkley

Laff. What about Andy Brown? Last goalie without a mask.

[JohnnyB]

Hasek for me. No doubt it my mind.

You can say that Roy revolutionized the game and other goalies all followed him, but consider the fact that nobody followed Hasek's style because nobody could come close to doing the things he did all the time. He was a goalie that came from space or from out of the distant future.

If you could pick any one goalie at their peak to play a must-win game for you against a better team, it's got to be Hasek.

[GioforPM]

Hasek. That 99 Sabres team had zero business being in the finals and he dragged them there. Dude had .913 SV% and went to round 3 in the POs at age 40.

[Domoic]

Hasek was all-world in the 98 Olympics, including shutting out the Russians in the gold medal game, 1-0.

If you need a tie breaker, that is it for me.

[MegaErtz]

I'm glad to read so many people agree with me about Hasek. Anyone too young to have seen him play needs to try to track down his performances in the 1999 playoffs. He basically took an AHL squad of players to the Stanley Cup finals all by himself.

[Strange Brew]

IMO you have Hasek, Royand Brodeur of the modern era.

Then goalies like Plante, Sawchuk, Hall of the golden era.

Guys like Dryden, Esposito were great goalies but aren't in this convo IMO.

[powderjunkie]

Roy played his first 418gp in a very high scoring environment. 115 of those the league avg GAA was 3.35-3.37; the other 305 it was always >3.53.


'93-94 (3.14 avg GAA) was the first year that all 3 guys were starters, and marked the start of the transition into dead puck era - the next three years were 2.89, 3.04, 2.80.

The following 7 years leading into the lockout averaged 2.55 GAA.

5 yrs out of the lockout averaged 2.74 (still well below the mid 90s transition years), and then it dropped back to 2.55 from 2010-17.


So career stats are inevitably tough to compare; even though Hasek is 9 months older than Roy, he managed to skip the highest scoring years.

That said, Hasek lead the league in sv% for 6 straight years (twice lead GAA). Roy lead the league for 4 out of 5 year stretch (thrice lead GAA in his career).

Somewhat surprisingly, Brodeur never lead the league in sv% and lead GAA only once. But he lead the league in Mins seven times; Roy and Dom each lead Mins once.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by foofighter15

Kipprusoff. Call me a homer, I don't care

Homer

[Sandman]

Hasek is #1. Dragged the Sabres on his back to the SCF, and the Czechs to the Gold. Six vezinas, and was a treat to watch.

Second was Pat Roy. Conn Smythe trophies, Vezinas, 3 Stanley Cup rings plugging his ears.

Third is Terry Sawchuk. His career stats are similar to Roy’s, without the benefit of the Butterfly, or a facemask. Plus, he was usually drunk.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Hasek for me.



Goalies are always difficult to gauge as what is in front of them really affects their numbers. Roy played behind truly great teams, but they eye test told you that he was a truly great player too. Hasek was just on another level in my opinion. He was such a student of the game playing percentages depending on where the puck was or how it was being shot. Maybe nobody else in the history of the NHL has more highlight-reel saves than the Denominator.



Tretiak is the interesting case. I will argue nobody saw enough of him to really know where he ranks. I really wondered exactly how good he was. Having a prime Tretiak in the NHL would have been something... or maybe not and he was simply over-hyped.

[Sandman]

The same could be said about Valeri Kharlamov-the Russian Gretzky.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Coach

It’s hard to argue against Roy. Hasek a real tight #2.

If we’re talking pure talent and not accolades, I legitimately think Kipper was one of the best ever. Wasted on crappy old man teams.

At his peak, Kiprusoff deserves to at least be in the conversation. The problem is that his peak was relatively short.

I would have to go with Hasek, at least in my lifetime.

[GS Skier]

Tretiak.

Look at the Soviet National team until he retired in 84' then look at them afterwards. He was better than Esposito or Dryden.

There was film of him standing 15 feet from a wall throwing tennis balls simultaneously with both hands and catching them with the same hands over and over.

When that 72 series took place we thought the russians weak point was goal. Wrong until Tretiak retired.

[Tiger]

Originally Posted by GS Skier

Tretiak.

Look at the Soviet National team until he retired in 84' then look at them afterwards. He was better than Esposito or Dryden.

There was film of him standing 15 feet from a wall throwing tennis balls simultaneously with both hands and catching them with the same hands over and over.

When that 72 series took place we thought the russians weak point was goal. Wrong until Tretiak retired.

just came in to say people are forgetting tretiak

[Hoop27]

Roy, Hasek, and George Hainsworth.
Pick the order you like.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Hasek by a fair margin for me. Best singular performances, with just mind blowing saves. Great, sustained peak with 6 Vezinas. 2 Hart trophies is pretty insane for a goalie, which I think is the topper.

He doesn't have a Conn Smythe, but I am not sure how he didn't win it in 01..920 save percentage and 1.86 goals against. Lidstrom was a great player, but I don't recall him with a spectacular playoffs that would give him the nod, but who knows, perhaps that was deserved.

[keenan87]

Mike Smith clearly believes he has never made a mistake in net. So, does that mean he is the best goalie of all-time? Also, the unluckiest because he would have a shutout every single game if it wasn't for players in front of him?

[dissentowner]

It is Hasek for me and it's not really even close. Roy and Brodeur both had great teams with great D for the majority of their careers, Hasek didn't.

[Psytic]

Hasek always stuck out as being like a freak of nature. He was so different in style and saw the game on another level. Has to be him if you watched him play. Brodeur benefited from a trap team and solid D. Put him on Buffalo I doubt he’s in the top 3. Roy was good. I miss there being different goaltending styles the positions has actually become a bit boring with every goalie just being big and covering a lot of the net in the butterfly style.

[Bourque's Twin]

Hasek in his prime was insane. The Sabres team in front of him was, for the most part, nothing special. His Save %'s from 94-99 were .930, .930, .920, .930, .932, .937.

He also won an Olympic gold for the Czechs. They beat the USA, Canada and Russia in the playoffs and he gave up 2 goals in those 3 games.