Your first NHL game and other prominent games you attended

[goldenage]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

Patrick Roy was as dominant as people think.
Literally everything you stated was based on save %.... just that one stat.
Factor in all other stats for goaltenders and Patrick Roy is hands-down ONE of the greatest of all-time.

ROY:

- the only PLAYER in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy three times, the only one to do so in different decades, and the only one to do so for two teams.
- Most NHL playoff wins by a goaltender
- First NHL goaltender to win 500 games
- popularized the butterfly style of goaltending, which has since become the dominant style of goaltending around the world.
And, most importantly - selected as the greatest goaltender in NHL history in 2004 by a panel of 41 writers, coupled with a simultaneous fan poll

Hasek has great numbers, but his career is at best 12 "full" seasons (he played in 735 games in parts of 16 NHL seasons). Compare that to Roy's full 18 seasons...

If you consider shorter careers, Bill Durnan posted stats as arguably impressive as Hasek.... and he was certainly more dominant, albeit for a shorter period.

- selected to the NHL First All-Star Team IN EVERY SEASON HE PLAYED except one, which equates to six in seven seasons (six selections for Hasek in parts of 16 seasons)
- won the Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender in EVERY SEASON HE PLAYED except one, which equates to six in seven seasons (Hasek won six Vezina Trophies in parts of sixteen seasons)
- won a pair of Stanley Cup championships in just seven seasons (Hasek also won a pair, but over parts of 16 seasons)

Also, Hasek's NHL career average of 2.20 is only slightly better than Durnan's of 2.36, while Durnan registered a better win % than Hasek throughout his career.


.... if save % was the stat to gauge careers on, then goaltenders you mentioned at the top of that statistic would be considered the best all-time, and we know that is no where near the case for the likes of Bishop, Thomas and Rask.

Goaltenders don't win games. Good teams win games. Marty Broduer won lots of games making 20 saves a night. Would Marty have won all those games playing for the Buffalo Sabres facing 35 shots a night ?

Hasek wasn't given a chance when he first entered the league. Chicago had him as a backup to Ed Belfour and Buffalo even had Fuhr start ahead of him in a playoff series. Go check out Fuhr and Hasek's numbers in that series. It was a joke that they wouldn't give Hasek a fair shot. Go watch game 6 of the Chicago-Penguins series when Belfour was pulled and Hasek replaced him. It wasn't even close who the better goaltender was. Hasek stoned Lemeiux on two breakaways. Which was impossible back in that day.

There was a Canadian goaltender bias back in that day. Europeans were not given the same chance the way Canadians were. Same with coaching back in the day, and pretty much even up till now. Most coaches have to be Canadian or American to get a good coaching job, but the player side has got better over the years. Not knocking it, just saying what the data shows us.

Durnan never faced a curved stick, or a Bobby or Brett Hull slapshot.
Would love to see Durnan face an Ovie or Chara shot with a fiberglass stick. He'd be toast.

Tim Thomas was one of the greatest goaltenders all time. No one gave him a shot out of high school or college. He was always a back up. On team USA in the Olympics he backed up Ryan Miller. On the Bruins it was always him and Rask. BTW, Thomas and Rask are in the Top 5 save percentage all time, so yes, I do see them as two of the greatest ever.

Tim Thomas lifetime playoff and regular season save percentage numbers are considerably better than Patrick Roy's, and you're going to tell me that Patrick Roy was a better shot stopper than Tim Thomas ? No. Tim Thomas stopped the puck better than Patrick Roy.

Not sure if you ever looked at the 2001 playoff numbers for Thomas, but they aren't even human. He belonged in another league with Bobby Orr.