NHL Network: Top 10 Goalies of ALL TIME

[NickA 39]

I wanted to puke when I saw this. I was shocked to even see Hasek on the list of top 10 goalies of all time. They put Plante at #4, Sawchuk at #3 and Hasek at #2. HaHa. WTF. Somewhere in the world someone thinks that Hasek was not only better than those legends, but also better than Johnny Bower, Glenn Hall, Martin Brodeur, Billy Smith, Bernie Parent, Esposito, etc. What a joke.

[toby91_ca 620]

He has the hardware, that's why some experts put him so high, which I disagree with. I always thought (back when he was winning those awards) that he really shouldn't be, maybe he was winning based on perception, reputation, etc., but I really thought he was a bit overrated.

Don't get me wrong, he was a great goalie in his day (probably better than great), but not as good as those awards would suggest and not my #2 all-time, no way.

[P. Marlowe 748]

I wanted to puke when I saw this. I was shocked to even see Hasek on the list of top 10 goalies of all time. They put Plante at #4, Sawchuk at #3 and Hasek at #2. HaHa. WTF. Somewhere in the world someone thinks that Hasek was not only better than those legends, but also better than Johnny Bower, Glenn Hall, Martin Brodeur, Billy Smith, Bernie Parent, Esposito, etc. What a joke.

You're a joke. Haha.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

A guy who has 6 Vezinas, 2 Harts, a Cup ring, and the reputation as the best goalie in the world in the late 90's doesn't belong on the top 10 goalies of all time?

[egroen 384]

I was shocked as well -- Hasek should be #1.

He literally is the best goaltender of all time, with only Plante, Sawchuk, Roy and Hall on the same tier with him. Hasek was the Gretzky of the late 90s and single-handidly got a horrible Buffalo to the Stanly Cup Finals. And I mean horrible. Their top scorer at the time had like 60 pts.

If Hasek had entered the NHL at the same time as Roy (he is actually older than Roy) this would not even be up for debate. Once Hasek became a starter in the NHL, Roy never won a single Vezina again (much like Sawchuk never won again once Hall and Plante entered the league). Though Hasek could not come over right away to the NHL he was 5 times named Czechoslovakian Goalie of the Year (`86, `87, `88, `89,`90), 3 times named Czechoslovakian Player of the Year (`87, `89, `90) and 2 times named best goalie at the World Championships. And Czechoslovakia was no slouch at hockey during this time.

He also leads all goalies in Hart voting... by a very large margin.

Edited September 15, 2008 by egroen

[CrossoverThrash 0]

most goalies back in the day sucked, they didnt have the butterfly nor any pads, the only reason some of the earlier ones put up good stats was that the sticks and technology weren't there. Hasek is probably better than Wah though.

[Reds4Life 51]

I was shocked as well -- Hasek should be #1.

He literally is the best goaltender of all time, with only Plante, Sawchuk, Roy and Hall on the same tier with him. Hasek was the Gretzky of the late 90s and single-handidly got a horrible Buffalo to the Stanly Cup Finals. And I mean horrible. Their top scorer at the time had like 60 pts.

If Hasek had entered the NHL at the same time as Roy (he is actually older than Roy) this would not even be up for debate. Once Hasek became a starter in the NHL, Roy never won a single Vezina again (much like Sawchuk never won again once Hall and Plante entered the league). Though Hasek could not come over right away to the NHL he was 5 times named Czechoslovakian Goalie of the Year (`86, `87, `88, `89,`90), 3 times named Czechoslovakian Player of the Year (`87, `89, `90) and 2 times named best goalie at the World Championships. And Czechoslovakia was no slouch at hockey during this time.

He also leads all goalies in Hart voting... by a very large margin.

Yeah. Hasek is the best in my book too. Roy is 2nd, Plante 3rd

[JayUp88 1]

A guy who has 6 Vezinas, 2 Harts, a Cup ring, and the reputation as the best goalie in the world in the late 90's doesn't belong on the top 10 goalies of all time?

Couldn't have said it better, just because we got to see him in his later years doesn't take away from what he was in his prime.

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

A guy who has 6 Vezinas, 2 Harts, a Cup ring, and the reputation as the best goalie in the world in the late 90's doesn't belong on the top 10 goalies of all time?

2 Cup rings.

[HomeNugget 2]

I don't know that I'd put him second, but anyone who doesn't think he's in the top 10 needs to have their head examined. Six Vezinas, 2 Harts, 2 Pearsons, 6 first team all-star selections, tenth all-time in wins and sixth all-time in shutouts. His resume is hard to overlook.

Edit: Spelling

Edited September 15, 2008 by HomeNugget

[toby91_ca 620]

2 Cup rings.

I don't think they handed out the 2008 cup rings yet

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

I don't think they handed out the 2008 cup rings yet

Haha, not yet. But what I meant with 1 Cup ring was as a starting goalie. Other than a strong Game 2 in round 1, Dom basically contributed next to nothing other than paving the way for Ozzie to take over.

[Reds4Life 51]

He has the hardware, that's why some experts put him so high, which I disagree with. I always thought (back when he was winning those awards) that he really shouldn't be, maybe he was winning based on perception, reputation, etc., but I really thought he was a bit overrated.

Don't get me wrong, he was a great goalie in his day (probably better than great), but not as good as those awards would suggest and not my #2 all-time, no way.

In that case Roy was good goalie (probably better than good), but he is overrated and his Conn Smythe trophies are flukes.

[T-Ruff 47]

I was shocked as well -- Hasek should be #1.

He literally is the best goaltender of all time, with only Plante, Sawchuk, Roy and Hall on the same tier with him. Hasek was the Gretzky of the late 90s and single-handidly got a horrible Buffalo to the Stanly Cup Finals. And I mean horrible. Their top scorer at the time had like 60 pts.

If Hasek had entered the NHL at the same time as Roy (he is actually older than Roy) this would not even be up for debate. Once Hasek became a starter in the NHL, Roy never won a single Vezina again (much like Sawchuk never won again once Hall and Plante entered the league). Though Hasek could not come over right away to the NHL he was 5 times named Czechoslovakian Goalie of the Year (`86, `87, `88, `89,`90), 3 times named Czechoslovakian Player of the Year (`87, `89, `90) and 2 times named best goalie at the World Championships. And Czechoslovakia was no slouch at hockey during this time.

He also leads all goalies in Hart voting... by a very large margin.

Agreed....

I read the title and I thought the topic was gonna be about why Roy is ahead of Hasek or why Hasek isn't #1.... not to contend that he doesn't even belong in the top 10

[toby91_ca 620]

In that case Roy was good goalie (probably better than good), but he is overrated and his Conn Smythe trophies are flukes.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit biased against Hasek, I always have been, I just don't like the guy. That said, I don't like Roy either, but I do think he was the better goalie.

In terms of awards, I just don't think Hasek deserved all of the awards he has received. I won't bother getting into a debate about that though, since I have already said, I'm biased against him, so I wouldn't really be arguing from an objective point of view.

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

Roy and Tretiak were the best goalies ever to play the game.

I would put Hasek anywhere from 3-5, with Sawchuk and Brodeur taking the other two spots. Thus, him being number 2 isn't really that big a stretch.

[egroen 384]

This is a post taken from hfboards.com from Wings4Life... and really takes a look at Hasek and Roy:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The case for Dominik Hasek over Patrick Roy:

Hasek and Roy were both born in 1969. Hasek is actually 9 months older than Roy. Despite this, Roy got his start much sooner in the NHL, and had already won the Vezina ('89), Conn Smythe ('86), and Stanley Cup ('86) before Hasek was even in the league. Hasek played his first 5 NHL games in the 90/91 season, and then saw limited games as a backup for the next two seasons.

In 93/94, Hasek earned the starting job for the Buffalo Sabres. Patrick Roy turned 28 the day the season began, and still had his best hockey in front of him.

Since that day, Dominik Hasek has undoubtedly proven himself to be the better goaltender, and not just by a little bit.

Here are their stats during the time period both were NHL starting goaltenders:

Regular Season

Patrick Roy

Season SO GAA SV%

1993–94 7 2.50 .918

1994–95 1 2.97 .906

1995–96 1 2.95 .907

1995–96 1 2.68 .909

1996–97 7 2.32 .923

1997–98 4 2.39 .916

1998–99 5 2.29 .917

1999–00 2 2.28 .914

2000–01 4 2.21 .913

2001–02 9 1.94 .925

2002–03 5 2.18 .920

Dominik Hasek:

Season SO GAA SV%

1993-1994 7 1.95 .930

1994-1995 5 2.11 .930

1995-1996 2 2.83 .920

1996-1997 5 2.27 .930

1997-1998 13 2.09 .932

1998-1999 9 1.87 .937

1999-2000 3 2.21 .919

2000-2001 11 2.11 .921

2001-2002 5 2.17 .915

2002-2003 DNP--Retirement

Playoffs

Patrick Roy:

Season SO GAA SV%

1993-94 0 2.56 .930

1995-96 3 2.10 .921

1996-97 3 2.21 .932

1997-98 0 2.51 .906

1998-99 1 2.66 .920

1999-00 3 1.79 .928

2000-01 4 1.70 .934

2001-02 3 2.51 .909

2002-03 1 2.27 .910

Dominik Hasek:

Season SO GAA SV%

1993-1994 2 1.61 .950

1994-1995 0 3.49 .863

1996-1997 0 1.96 .926

1997-1998 1 2.03 .938

1998-1999 2 1.77 .939

1999-2000 0 2.39 .918

2000-2001 1 2.09 .916

2001-2002 6 1.86 .920

2002-2003 DNP--Retirement

Hasek was without a doubt the better goaltender as the numbers clearly show. In terms of regular seasons, Roy was only better in 2001-2002, and not by much. Hasek was the superior goaltender in 8 of the 9 regular seasons in which both goalies were starters. Hasek also had the worse team in front of him for the majority of these years.

In terms of playoffs:

Hasek was clearly better in '94

In '95 Roy did not play whereas Hasek crapped the bed.

In '96 Hasek did not play whereas Roy played very well (winning the Cup).

In '97 Hasek was slightly better, though the sample size is very small.

In '98 and '99 Hasek was clearly better.

In '00 and '01 Roy was clearly better.

In '02 Hasek was clearly better.

That's 5 seasons out of 7 where both played, in favour of Hasek. Taking their total averages over this time period, Hasek has the better GAA, SV%, and SO/GP ratio.

So Hasek was undoubtedly the better goaltender when both played simultaneously in the NHL. The counterargument to this is that Roy already had a HOF career at 25 years of age, when Hasek had just made his NHL debut.

So we have to look at their careers as a whole: Hasek's trump Roy's handily, for both playoffs and regular season (career season stats: Hasek: GP 694 SO 76 SV% .923 GAA 2.20 vs. Roy: GP 1029 SO 66 SV% unavailable GAA 2.54).

Funnily enough, Hasek actually has more shutouts (76 vs 66) in far less career GP (694 vs 1029). Again though, the counterargument would be that Roy's early career was in the high scoring late-80's era.

So we look at how each goaltender faired in competition with their peers, over their respective careers (ie their hardware):

Roy:

3 x Vezina

0 x Hart

0 x Pearson

3 x Conn Smythe

5 x Jennings (3 shared with Brian Hayward)

Also, 4 Stanley Cups.

Hasek

6 x Vezina

2 x Hart

2 x Pearson

0 x Conn Smythe

2 x Jennings (0 shared)

Also, 1 Stanley Cup.

Roy's 3 Conn Smythes do not match up to Hasek's double Hart/Pearson sweep, imo. They are simply a reflection of Roy having a team capable enough of winning the Cup, and Roy having a chance to shine in the SCF...chances which Hasek rarely (once) had in Buffalo.

The Vezina trophy, meanwhile, by definition goes to the best goaltender. Once Dominik Hasek became a starter, he won six of these whereas Roy would never win another. That, along with his superior playoff stats (career, peak, and contemporary) is more than enough to rank Hasek over Patrick Roy.

As a final bonus, there is the head-to-head factor: Hasek outplayed Roy in Nagano (1998), as well as in the 2002 Western Conference Final, over 7 games. These were both the types of huge, historical, "clutch" moments which Roy was famous for excelling in, yet Hasek was the better player here.

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

Those are some good points, but you quickly dismissed early on in your post all of Roy's accomplishments before Hasek came into the league, such as winning the Vezina, and taking his team to 2 Finals appearances. That was clever of you.

Roy was a better goalie for a longer period than Hasek was. Fact is, I don't think a younger Hasek would have had the same success as Roy had, if he played in the NHL in the mid 80's. It took Hasek a while to learn to control his maddening style of goaltending.

With that said, Hasek probably had a better prime than Roy had, but over a career span I still have to give the edge to Roy.

Edited September 15, 2008 by GMRwings1983

[Reds4Life 51]

Those are some good points, but you quickly dismissed early on in your post all of Roy's accomplishments before Hasek came into the league, such as winning the Vezina, and taking his team to 2 Finals appearances. That was clever of you.

Roy was a better goalie for a longer period than Hasek was. Fact is, I don't think a younger Hasek would have had the same success as Roy had, if he played in the NHL in the mid 80's. It took Hasek a while to learn to control his maddening style of goaltending.

Hasek was considered the best goalie in Europe, it just took time before GMs in the NHL realized his potential. Hasek, at the age of 16 was already playing in highest czechoslovakian hockey league. And he won the title too.

Edited September 15, 2008 by Reds4Life

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

Hasek was considered the best goalie in Europe, it just took time before GMs in the NHL realized his potential. Hasek, at the age of 16 was already playing in highest czechoslovakian hockey league. And he won the title too.

The NHL at that time was far ahead of any European leagues. The Czech teams were good, but not as good as some of their players and teams are now. It's no comparison.

[egroen 384]

Those are some good points, but you quickly dismissed early on in your post all of Roy's accomplishments before Hasek came into the league, such as winning the Vezina, and taking his team to 2 Finals appearances. That was clever of you.

Roy was a better goalie for a longer period than Hasek was. Fact is, I don't think a younger Hasek would have had the same success as Roy had, if he played in the NHL in the mid 80's. It took Hasek a while to learn to control his maddening style of goaltending.

With that said, Hasek probably had a better prime than Roy had, but over a career span I still have to give the edge to Roy.

I just wanted to compare apples to apples. In Czechoslovakia Hasek was beating out some great hockey players, including Jagr, for player of the year -- but that post ignores this as well.

The two played much of their prime at the same time, it makes for a great opportunity for a comparison, and Hasek was cleary better. A lot better.

Hasek played longer than Roy, and was easily in the running for the Vezina as late as '04 until he went down with an injury. Career-wise, in the NHL, Roy played more.... but if you include international play Hasek played a much longer career... and his international accolades easily trump Roy, as well.

Edited September 15, 2008 by egroen

[egroen 384]

The NHL at that time was far ahead of any European leagues. The Czech teams were good, but not as good as some of their players and teams are now. It's no comparison.

Huh? That is completely untrue.

At the World Championships, Canada had not won since '61 (the US since '60) -- and that is what the NHL consisted of.

Internationally, the Soviets completely dominated during this time, with Czechoslovakia winning the years they did not.

[toby91_ca 620]

Just one thing to point out is that it is easier to win individual goaltender awards playing for an inferior team, which made it easier for Hasek to pile up awards that Roy did not (other than stanley cups, conne smythes, etc.). Think about all the goalies that have won major awards. How many have been on the top few teams in the league?

[toby91_ca 620]

Huh? That is completely untrue.

At the World Championships, Canada had not won since '61 (the US since '60) -- and that is what the NHL consisted of.

Internationally, the Soviets completely dominated during this time, with Czechoslovakia winning the years they did not.

Canada had not won the world championships or Olympics for many, many years because all of the countries best players were playing in the NHL and were not allowed to play in the Olympics, etc. All of the European countries built teams with their absolute best players. If Canada was able to build a team with any of its players, they probably could have sent 20 teams each year that were better than the teams it sent.

[Reds4Life 51]

Just one thing to point out is that it is easier to win individual goaltender awards playing for an inferior team, which made it easier for Hasek to pile up awards that Roy did not (other than stanley cups, conne smythes, etc.). Think about all the goalies that have won major awards. How many have been on the top few teams in the league?

Roy would have no Cups or Conn Smythes if he played for bad teams. Hasek played for poor teams yet he managed to post better numbers than Roy. Vezina is given to the player mainly based on statistics, playing for bad team is no advantage.

Canada had not won the world championships or Olympics for many, many years because all of the countries best players were playing in the NHL and were not allowed to play in the Olympics, etc. All of the European countries built teams with their absolute best players. If Canada was able to build a team with any of its players, they probably could have sent 20 teams each year that were better than the teams it sent.

Yeah in 20's or 30's maybe.

Soviet players easiy beat NHL all stars many times. Not to mention 'what ifs' are irrelevant. Canada had the best team on paper in Nagano 98 or Torino 06..guess who won it all? Euros.

Edited September 15, 2008 by Reds4Life