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Who was Better: Roy, Hasek, or Brodeur? by Dan Wallace |
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With the retirement of Martin Brodeur this past week and his body of work between the pipes complete, I decided it was the perfect time to start the debate who was the greatest goaltender of this generation. Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek and Martin Brodeur all experienced tremendous NHL team success as well their share of individual awards and achievements.
Each has his name engraved on the Stanley Cup multiple times (Roy four, Brodeur three, Hasek two) to go along with the numerous individual honors and International Medals. Combined Brodeur, Hasek, and Roy have nine Stanley Cups, 13 Vezina Trophies as the league's top goaltender, two Hart Memorial Trophies as the league MVP, three Conn Smythe Trophies as the most valuable playoff player, 13 William M. Jennings Trophies for the NHL's lowest goals against average, two Ted Lindsay Awards (Most Outstanding Player voted on by the NHLPA), and one Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year).
So let the debate begin which goaltender was the best...
Patrick Roy was the first of the three to arrive on the NHL scene and he did that in grand style, winning the Stanley Cup and capturing the Conn Smythe Trophy as a 20-year-old rookie in 1986. Patrick Roy entered the NHL in the midst of the highest scoring era in NHL history. The NHL was loaded with high-flying talent led by Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, who were racking up point totals in the 200 points-per-year range. The emphasis was not on the defensive zone in those days so when comparing the goaltenders' goals against average and save percentages Patrick Roy’s numbers will take a bit of a hit.
Roy led the league in save percentage in 1987-88 with a save percentage of .900, again in 1988-89 .908, and 1989-90 with a save percentage of .912. By today’s standards those numbers would be very pedestrian, but that was a different era. Roy won four Stanley Cups, two with the Canadiens and two with the Colorado Avalanche. The Roy led Canadiens won the 1986 and 1993 Stanley Cups defeating the Flames in 1986 and the Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings in 1993, Roy was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner following both Stanley Cups. Roy also led the Canadiens to the 1989 Finals where they were defeated by the Flames in six games.
During the 1995-96 season things boiled over in Montreal between Roy and head coach Mario Tremblay which led to Roy being dealt the upstart Colorado Avalanche. Roy proved to be the final piece to the puzzle for the newly relocated Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche, as they went on to capture the 1996 Stanley Cup sweeping the Cinderella story Florida Panthers in the Finals. In 2001 Roy and the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup again this time besting Martin Brodeur and the NJ Devils in an exciting seven-games series with Roy winning the Conn Smythe Trophy for a third time.
Patrick Roy announced his retirement following the 2002-2003 NHL season. He finished his career with four Stanley Cups, three Conn Smythe Trophies, three Vezina Trophies, and five William M. Jennings Trophies. He compiled 551 wins, 66 shutouts with a career GAA of 2.54 and a career save percentage of .910. His playoff numbers are even better as he won 151 out of 247 playoff games including 23 shutouts and a GAA of 2.30 and a .918 save percentage. Patrick Roy established the measuring stick that Hasek and Brodeur would be measured against.
Dominik Hasek’s path to the NHL was much different than that of Roy or Brodeur.
Unlike his Canadian counterparts Hasek was born behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia. In 1980, Hasek, at the age of 16, became the youngest player to play in the Czechoslovak Extraliga (the top professional league in Czechoslovakia). He played for his hometown HC Pardubice where he led them to two league titles as well as being named the top goaltender each year from 1986 through 1990. Hasek began his North American career in 1990 splitting his first two seasons between the IHL Indianapolis Ice and the Chicago Blackhawks. In his brief stint in Chicago he showed signs of his brilliance but Ed Belfour was already well entrenched in the Blackhawks net so the Hawks sent Hasek to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Stephane Beauregard and a draft pick which would later be used to select Eric Daze.
In Buffalo Hasek was again relegated to a backup role, first playing behind Darren Puppa and then later Grant Fuhr. An injury to Fuhr opened the door for Hasek to take over the reins during the 1993-94 season. Hasek seized the opportunity with authority as he led the league with a 1.90 GAA and a .930 save percentage with seven shutouts. He won his first Vezina Trophy and shared the William M. Jennings Award with Grant Fuhr, and was the runner up for the Hart Trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player. Hasek played a total of nine years in Buffalo, eight of which he was the starter. He won the Vezina Trophy a modern day record six times during that stretch and he took the Sabres to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999. Even though the Sabres eventually lost that series to the Dallas Stars on the controversial triple-overtime goal scored by Brett Hull, Hasek was the sole reason the Sabres had advanced to the Cup Finals.
Hasek was traded to the Detroit Red Wings prior to the 2001-02 season. He led the Wings to the Presidents Trophy winning 41 games during the regular season. He followed that up with a remarkable playoff run as the Wings defeated Vancouver and St. Louis to advance to the Conference Finals to face Patrick Roy’s Colorado Avalanche. The Wings prevailed in seven games with Hasek shutting out the Avalanche in games 6 and 7 to advance to the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals against the upstart Carolina Hurricanes. The Red Wings dispatched the Hurricanes in 5 games and the “Dominator” got to hoist his first Stanley Cup. Hasek briefly retired from the NHL following the 2002 season but he did return following a one-year absence. He returned to the Wings for the 2003-04 season but unfortunately he was only able to play in 14 games due to a serious groin injury. Hasek finished his career winning another Stanley Cup with the Wings in 2008, although he did not play at all during the Finals.
Hasek retired with a career GAA of 2.20, save percentage of .922, 389 wins and 81 shutouts. He added another 65 playoff wins including 14 shutouts and a career playoff GAA of 2.02 to go along with a .925 save percentage. He won six Vezina Trophies, three Jennings Awards, two Hart Trophies, and two Ted Lindsay Awards. On top of all of his NHL success Dominik Hasek backstopped the Czech Republic to the 1998 Olympic Gold Medal in Nagano Japan. Hasek was so dominant giving up just six goals in the tournament and he put the exclamation point on the Gold with a 1-0 shutout against Russia.
Martin Brodeur was the highest drafted of the three Superstar netminders, selected in the first round of the 1990 NHL Draft No. 20 overall by the New Jersey Devils. Brodeur took over the Devils net in 1993 and quickly established himself as a top notch goaltender. He won 27 games had a 2.40 GAA (second in the NHL) and a .915 save percentage (fourth in the NHL) as he led the Devils to the second-best record in the league. As if that wasn’t enough. Brodeur led the Devils to the Conference Final where they succumbed to the Rangers in one of the most exciting playoff series of all time. Brodeur was awarded the Calder Trophy as the Rookie of the Year following the 1993-94 season. The 1995 season was shortened to 48 games due to the NHL Lockout. Brodeur and the Devils qualified for the playoffs once again but they were far from what anyone would have considered a Stanley Cup contender. But Brodeur had other plans as he almost single handedly backstopped the Devils to the Stanley Cup defeating the Red Wings in four straight games. In 1995-96 Brodeur played in 77 of the Devils 82 games setting a new record for minutes played. Brodeur established a new standard for ironmen between the pipes as he played in 67 or more games 13 out of the next 14 years.
Brodeur was a machine, the picture of consistency as he won better than 30 games in 14 out of 16 seasons between 1995-96 and 2011-12. But not only was Brodeur a great goalie and a true leader he was revolutionary as well. Brodeur was great at handling the puck, acting much like a third defenseman in addition to being an expert puck stopper. He forced teams to adjust how they dumped the puck into the zone due in large part to his exceptional puck skills. The NHL in 2006 adopted a rule preventing goaltenders from playing the puck behind the goal line, except within a trapezoid shaped area behind the net. This rule was even referred to as “The Brodeur Rule” as he was the goalie that was most affected by the new rule.
Martin Brodeur led the Devils to their second Stanley Cup in 2000 beating the defending Stanley Cup Champion Dallas Stars in 6 games. The following year they again made it to the Finals but they were unable to repeat as Patrick Roy and the Avalanche outlasted Brodeur and the Devils in an exciting seven-game series. After an early playoff exit in 2002, Brodeur and the Devils returned to the Finals and captured their third Cup in 2003 as they defeated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in seven games. Brodeur would make one more Stanley Cup Final appearance following the 2011-12 season. The Devils almost shocked the NHL world with yet another Cup run, but the clock struck midnight on the Cinderella Devils as the LA Kings took their first Stanley Cup, defeating the Devils in six games.
Martin Brodeur officially retired from the NHL last week after a brief seven-game stint with the St. Louis Blues. He will always be remembered as a NJ Devil as he almost single handedly (apologies to Scott Stevens here) put the Devils on the map.
Brodeur finishes his remarkable career as the all-time leader in games played (1266), wins (691), and shutouts (125). He finished with a career GAA of 2.24 and save percentage of .912. His playoff records include 113 wins and 24 shutouts, a 2.02 GAA and .919 save percentage. Brodeur won three Stanley Cups, four Vezina Trophies, five Jennings Trophies, and a Calder Trophy. He also won Gold for Canada at the Vancouver Olympics.
So it is clear that these three All Time great goaltenders are in a class of their own, but who is the best of the best? Patrick Roy won the most Cups of the three and he only missed the playoffs once during his eighteen year career. He played a good portion of his career when scoring was at an all-time high in the NHL so his statistics are a bit skewed. Dominik Hasek was the most valuable player to his team year in and year out. He played every game like it was his last making unorthodox acrobatic saves on a nightly basis. Martin Brodeur set the standard by which goaltenders will be measured from stopping the puck to controlling the play to the calming effect he had on his teammates. So after reading between all the lines and after dissecting all the stats it is clear to me that Dominik Hasek is the best of the best. The debate will continue I am sure but no one can argue that the “Dominator” won six Vezina Trophies while playing behind teams that had far less talent than the teams that both Roy and Brodeur were playing behind. Another interesting fact is that Dominik Hasek won all of his Vezina Trophies while Roy and Brodeur were at the top of their games. Patrick Roy won his both of his Vezinas prior to Hasek’s arrival in the NHL and Martin Brodeur won all of his after Dominik Hasek had retired for the first time.
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