As anyone who watches playoff hockey can tell you, no position in any sport is more vital than a goalie. Good goaltending has carried teams through the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Consistency between the pipes is something that a team needs if they hope to win a Stanley Cup. Here are the 5 best goalies the NHL since the league first expanded in 1967.
1. Patrick Roy
Roy was the goalie for 4 Stanley Cup winning teams. He won his first in 1986 in Montreal, and would win again in 1993 there. He then won Cups in Colorado in 1996 and 2001. He has won over 700 games as a goalie, including 551 in the NHL, and 151 playoff wins. He’s a 3 time winner of the Playoff MVP, and a 3 time winner of the Vezina Trophy for the league’s top goalie. He has also posted 23 shutouts in the postseason. Perhaps more remarkable is that Roy has had his jersey retired by two teams, Montreal and Colorado.
2. Ken Dryden
Dryden’s career is the shortest on this list. He played only a little over 7 seasons with Montreal, but his records are unmatched. Dryden won 258 games while losing a mere 57. In 1971, Dryden played in and won only 6 games but earned the playoff job, which he used to win the Stanley Cup. Dryden would win 6 total cups in his brief career, including 4 in a row from 1976-1979. He also had 46 shutouts, only 11 fewer than the games he lost in his career. He was also a 5 time Vezina Trophy winner.
3. Martin Brodeur
Brodeur passed Roy for wins, currently having 602. He also has 110 shutouts in his career, a record. He was the cornerstone of 3 Stanley Cup winning teams in New Jersey. His best Cup year was 2003, when he posted 7 shutouts. In 2007, he set a record for wins in a season with 48. From 1996-2008, he won at least 30 goals each year. Brodeur still has a chance to add to his legacy.
4. Bernie Parent
Parent was the original goalie for the expansion Flyers, but his first stint in Philadelphia wasn’t as good as next one. After a couple of years in Toronto, Parent returned to Broad Street, donned the number 1 jersey, and lead his team to consecutive Cups in 1974 and 1975. He won the Playoff MVP in both seasons. His 47 wins in 1974 stood until Brodeur broke that mark in 2007. In 1975, he had 44 wins, and won his another Vezina Trophy. It’s one of the best 2 year stretches of any goalie in the NHL.
5. Dominik Hasek
Hasek played along side Roy and Brodeur, but it took him along time to have a good team around him. He was an expert saver, and would be higher on this list had he won more Cups. He won an amazing 6 Vezina Trophies, and also 2 Hart Trophies for the league’s MVP. He lead the Buffalo Sabres to an Eastern Conference Championship in 1999, and finally won his Cup in 2002 with Detroit. He came back after several retirements and would win another Cup in 2008 with Detroit, though he wasn’t the featured goalie. Still few could say they were as stellar or more important to their teams than Hasek. He also added a Gold Medal with Czech Republic in 1998.
