Best Goalie of all time

[Neutral Zone Trap]

I say Peter Shilton

[Don]

Marty Brodeur is the greatest regular season goalie of all time.

Patrick Roy is the greatest playoff goalie of all time.

And the latter is the only thing that counts. So I voted for Roy.

[ice dog]

butterfly goalies should be disqualified from this poll.

[Motorcity Devil]

butterfly goalies should be disqualified from this poll.

Well said... That's why I wouldn't vote for Roy. He played on some great teams, and always had a 5-star defense. I also would never vote for a goalie who played their entire career in the straight-stick era (like Johnny Bower or Terry Sawchuck). Watch some of those old games - the guys sucked (There, I said it). They skated so slow, and the puck never made it above their knees. I know the goalies didn't where much equipment, but it's like friggin brooom ball...

I am voting for Glenn Hall. There are two main reasons for this:

1) He played in a transition era when guys had curved sticks (with no regulation). He still played with tiny equipment. I think the mid-late 60's might have been one of the toughest eras to play goalie in. He also played on sh!tty teams at the end of his carreer (St Louis) in a division where he played against superstars everynight. (The Hawks were amazing in his era - he played them all the time - bobby Hull had a 107 Point season in 1968-69).

2) He revolutionized the position just as much as Marty did. Marty introduced puck handling, and Hall introduced the butterfly style. I know he was stand-up and butterfly, but he was the first one to do it as a regular part of his game. Like it or not, it is really effective - and this guy was doing it with little equipment and guys like Redmond and Hull taking slap shots with boomerang curves!

Not that I am basing my opinion on this (I would vote for Glenn Hall any day), but Scotty Bowman was at a dinner party about two years ago and I asked him this question. He said Glenn Hall, and it's not even close... btw - He named his son Glenn (after Glenn Hall).

Glenn's stats were: 407 Wins, 84 Shutouts, a career GAA of 2.49, and voted to 11 All-Star Games. He only played 502 consecutive complete games, which spanned eight seasons, an NHL record that will probably never be broken. I believe he won a Conn Smythe Trophy as the LOSING goalie in 1967 when he backstopped the EXPANSION (FIRST YEAR) Blues to the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to Montreal. He has two stanley cup rings as a player, and one as a coach (Calgary). Considering he only played like 900 games total, his stats are really great.

Edited May 10, 2008 by Motor City Devil

[littleton_devil]

Roy...not even close. The guy b!tch slapped Marty in 01.

If you subscribe to the Roy is better than Brodeur theory, based solely upon one (2001) playoff round, which many of you do, then based upon your logic, it only follows that all these goalies are better than Roy:

Hextall

Lemelin

Moog*

Casey

Vernon*

Joseph

Belfour*

Hasek

Roloson/Fernandez

* Having beaten Roy in two different playoff series and based upon your (flawed) deductions, these goalies are twice as good as Roy!

[Satans Hockey]

Even Roy has had some bad postseasons. 2003, 1998, and 1994 come to mind in which he didn't play very well.

[Pepperkorn]

I never saw Tretiak - or heard any first hand stories.

I'm tempted to say Sawchuck. I think the whole past guys don't count is silly because it's the determination etc that gets you were you are. If Sawchuck were a modern era goalie he'd be as competitive and determined and would learn what it took to be the best goalie as well as he did back then. Maybe he'd be better with all the improvements and all the medical advances .

[Beck27]

If you subscribe to the Roy is better than Brodeur theory, based solely upon one (2001) playoff round, which many of you do, then based upon your logic, it only follows that all these goalies are better than Roy:

Hextall

Lemelin

Moog*

Casey

Vernon*

Joseph

Belfour*

Hasek

Roloson/Fernandez

* Having beaten Roy in two different playoff series and based upon your (flawed) deductions, these goalies are twice as good as Roy!

Oh give me a break, that's twisting what I said to a ridiculous level. I didn't think it was necesary to explain that just because one goalie beats another in a playoff series; that doesn't automatically make him better. Obviously there are a ton of other factors that are involved.

Still, Roy and Marty went head to head on the biggest stage, with equally talented teams; I would even argue that the Devils were more talented given that Forseberg was injured. Roy was going for a fourth Cup and Marty with a chance at equalling Roy's three...so if there was ever a head to head showdown that could answer the question of which goalie was better, this was it. Roy proved himself to be the better goalie...he was invincible when the chips were down, while Marty simply folded.

I'm going with Roy.

[DaneykoIsGod]

butterfly goalies should be disqualified from this poll.

Hear hear!

[littleton_devil]

I'm going with Roy. Still, Roy and Marty went head to head on the biggest stage, with equally talented teams, so if there was ever a head to head showdown that could answer the question of which goalie was better

Jesus God!! You make the 2001 Finals sound like a singles tennis match!! So VERY many, many, many variables enter into team sports and in saying this I am NOT trying to argue that Brodeur is better than Patsy Roy.

It's a funny thing, how no one EVER discusses how many World Series rings Ruth, Aaron & Bonds have ... or how many Super Bowl rings Brown, Dickerson, Payton & Smith have or ....

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

Only on a Devils board would Brodeur be killing this poll. He is not the best ever.

[theamazingtiny]

I've seen only few of these guys play. I'd pick marty out of the current era between Roy, Hasek, and him. Just cause I always felt Roy was overrated. All the old school guys are just names and stats to me I have no basis to compare them to the current era guys. So I guess I vote Broduer even though it's a really biased vote.

[DaneykoIsGod]

Only on a Devils board would Brodeur be killing this poll. He is not the best ever.

Personally, I think it would be kinda pathetic on our part as fans if Marty WASN'T killing this poll on this forum. Obviously you'll different results on a Habs, Wings, Avalanche, etc. forum. We're all fans. Nothing wrong with backing up your boy.

Personally, I voted for Marty because 1) I'm a homer, and 2) because he changed the way the game is played. Other goalies before him handled the puck and guys like Hextall deserve credit for revolutionizing that aspect of the position. But the Devils built their system around his skills, three Stanley Cups were won with that system, and the NHL eventually put rules in place to handcuff him. That last fact alone puts him up there with the likes of Wilt Chamberlain for being so dominant that the league had to make rules specifically to put lesser netminders on the same playing field as him.

[littleton_devil]

Personally, I voted for Marty because ... he changed the way the game is played ... and the NHL eventually put rules in place to handcuff him.

Excellent points, Daneyko ... the legacy of Roy and Brodeur lay in the fact that both men were so doggone good that the NHL saw it fit to alter the rules -- for Brodeur, the NHL conncocted the trapezoid ... because of goalies like Roy, they limited the size of the goalie's equipment!! For my money, I'd much prefer my name to be associated with the trapezoid.

[IceThief]

I never saw Tretiak - or heard any first hand stories.

I'm tempted to say Sawchuck. I think the whole past guys don't count is silly because it's the determination etc that gets you were you are. If Sawchuck were a modern era goalie he'd be as competitive and determined and would learn what it took to be the best goalie as well as he did back then. Maybe he'd be better with all the improvements and all the medical advances .

Pepperkorn, I said in one post several days ago that my favorite goalies all time were Marty, Jacques, and The Eagle.

But for sheer legendary talent and ice presence, think of Tretiak.

That man was for all intents and purposes the greatest to ever lace 'em up and go to war on ice.

I stand in awe of him even to this day, so many years later.

Edited May 11, 2008 by IceThief

[Don]

Only on a Devils board would Brodeur be killing this poll. He is not the best ever.

While the latter statement may be true, the former is not. TSN asked this very question during one of the regular season games and Brodeur came up at 50% while Roy came up at 30%. I don't know if you consider that "a killing" or not but it's pretty close to it in my mind.

I would have been in the 30% to say Roy, but there is a huge segment of the population that would put Brodeur at the top.

[LizDevil30]

Brodeur's career is not over. He may very well have another Vezina or two in him, another Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe (some could and would argue he had one stolen). He will have the shutout record all time (doesn't he have it for the playoffs already?) and the wins record. He still holds the single season wins record as Nabby just missed, but missed just the same and who was the goalie that came in #2 in wins? Roy, IMO, left on a down swing. Didn't stick around to see if he could pull it back together.

[devils26]

And the latter is the only thing that counts. So I voted for Roy.

Exactly correct. Who cares if you get your team to the post-season, and then simply become an average goalie? With that in mind, I obviously voted for Roy.

However, in Marty's defense, his career is not. But he would have to be simply amazing in the post-season for the next few years to pass Roy.

[DevilinLA]

If I'm not correct, wasn't Brodeur a student of the Tretiak camp...and later an asst. instructor...lends some credibility to Tret's influence on him....

So when is the :

"Who's the greatest Devils Captian of all time Poll?" -- (i.e. Homer Club Rollcall)

- Not that there's anything wrong w/being a homer, but isn't this kind of a futile argument????

[Pepperkorn]

If I'm not correct, wasn't Brodeur a student of the Tretiak camp...and later an asst. instructor...lends some credibility to Tret's influence on him....

So when is the :

"Who's the greatest Devils Captian of all time Poll?" -- (i.e. Homer Club Rollcall)

- Not that there's anything wrong w/being a homer, but isn't this kind of a futile argument????

Now I don't get this... it's best Devils captain you keep writing -- how is picking a devil homerish then?

Homerish is "Who's the best captain of all time?" ... and picking Messier for Rag$.

[DevilinLA]

Now I don't get this... it's best Devils captain you keep writing -- how is picking a devil homerish then?

Homerish is "Who's the best captain of all time?" ... and picking Messier for Rag$.

My bad PK, I though about it after I wrote it.

It just seems that this poll is meant to evoke an answer that is COMMON OPINION to most Devils fans (at least the majority), so its kind of silly.

The response is expected....as if we asked who most peoples' favorite Devils Captain would be.

Or Like asking DET fans who the best defenseman of the last 5 years is?

Seems like a silly poll to evoke a "We have the best goalie of all time...aren't we cool?" response.

[Default]

I voted for Brodeur because it was what the cool kids were doing, but I really think it's a tie between Goldberg the Goalie and "Stay Jiggy-Puft" Giguere.

[Elias26]

Roy

[njdevils_info]

Can I vote for Corey Schwab? The best shootout goalie of all time?

(someone here must remember the post suggesting we put him in for all shootouts because he was the best at it...)

[devils26]

Seems like a silly poll to evoke a "We have the best goalie of all time...aren't we cool?" response.

I see what you're saying, but maybe the OP simply wanted to see Devils fans' opinions on who is the best. I didn't get the vibe from the way the question was asked that the OP was trying to provoke people to pick Brodeur. Therefore, I don't think the thread was created as a method of bragging or gloating.

Personally, I am a huge Devils fan, but I still voted for Roy. By looking at the poll results, it seems like a lot of other people did too. If everyone wanted to say "we are cool because of our goalie" there wouldn't be arguments against Brodeur being the greatest. And in this thread, there are numerous arguments that argue in favor of one of the other poll options being the best ever, instead of arguing for Marty.

Edit: Spelling

Edited May 13, 2008 by devils26