Intelligent Hockey

Part I examined who was the supreme goaltender each year from 1956 to 1975 – who would be the consensus choice in an “Us vs. Aliens” doomsday scenario. Part II stretches from 1976 through the 2012-2013 season.

Ken Dryden (1976-79)

By 1976, Dryden had recaptured his goaltending prowess and was dominant once again. In the previous season, his Canadiens had struggled, becoming a team that played too many shootouts and would run-and-gun. Montreal was not tough on the puckcarrier, and turned over the puck far too often – the Habs lost to the Buffalo Sabres in the Stanley Cup semifinals. In 1975, Dryden had also shown rust as he came back from a year-long sabbatical, and the Flyers’ second consecutive Stanley Cup win brought about an important philosophy change in how Montreal needed to play.

In 1976, the Canadiens adopted a grittier, defensive style that neutralized the Flyers to the tune of a four-game sweep. The Canadiens won 12 of their 13 playoff games, and ended the Flyers’ two-year Cup run. The Canadiens bottled up opposing team’s best scorers – captain and leader Bobby Clarke was most notably blanketed in the finals when he squared off against the relentless Doug Jarvis and Doug Risebrough.

The efforts of players like Bob Gainey, Jim Roberts, and Jarvis, along with the bruising physicality of Larry Robinson, allowed the Canadiens to change their strategy of simply trying to outscore teams. They protected Dryden more judiciously.

Dryden once again looked like Dryden before the year he had pursued his law degree, and his GAA yearly returned to nanoscale:  1976 – 2.03, 1977- 2.14, 1978 – 2.05, and 1979 – 2.30. Dryden won the Vezina outright in 1976, and then shared it with backup Michel Larocque in the three subsequent years.

In 1979, goalie duties were more equally divvied up, but Dryden had carried the mantle in the three Cup years previously. The Canadiens won every Cup from 1976-1979; Dryden was in goal for all four of them.

Dryden did benefit from having before him a Canadiens’ dynasty that is widely considered one of the best ever, comprised of Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Jacques Lemaire, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Larry Robinson, Doug Jarvis, Bob Gainey, Doug Risebrough, Mario Tremblay, Yvon Lambert, and Jim Roberts. Still, it must be acknowledged that Dryden was good at making them look spectacular. His quandary was the same one that former Canadiens’ goalie Jacque Plante had faced:  win and avoid the rancor of the terrific roster assembled; lose and be unfairly ridiculed for preventing a superstar-filled team from winning the Cup.

To fully appreciate what Dryden did in net, one needs to look at how the victories were achieved. The Canadiens ended the Flyers’ mini-dynasty in 1976. The Habs beat the resurgent Boston Bruins in 1977 and 1978, and dashed the potent Rangers in 1979. Three of those four years, Dryden had the best GAA and most shutouts, and two of them he led the NHL in wins. Dryden had excellent skaters playing in front of him, but he was the best player on the team and the top goalie in the NHL.

Tony Esposito (1980)

The Black Hawks won the Smythe Division, but Chicago was not a great team in 1980. Stan Mikita finally retired. Chicago got a needed talent infusion from ex-WHA players Rich Preston and Terry Ruskowski. The Black Hawks were able to beat the St. Louis Blues in the preliminary round, but were soundly defeated against the Buffalo Sabres in the quarterfinals. A pivotal reason for the team’s success in 1980 was Esposito. Little Espo played 69 games and notched six shutouts – both were the most in the NHL – while logging a 2.97 GAA. Esposito was also named to the First Team All-Star in 1980, the last year he would make either First Team or Second Team.

Mike Liut (1981)

This is a hard one to quantify with numbers because, frankly, Liut’s numbers are not very good. The large goaltender had a 3.34 GAA and had one shutout. But the Blues finished first in the Smythe, and they did not have a particularly good team so they rode Liut to that spot in the standings. Liut was spectacular, despite his lack of support, and he was named First Team All-Star, won the Lester B. Pearson as the league’s best player chosen by the players, and was runner-up to Wayne Gretzky for the Hart.

Liut proved to be an unstoppable force in 1981; his style was described by coach Red Berenson as a hybrid of playing the angles and reflexes. Liut took the bottom of the net away from shooters with his nimble legs, which benefited him because of his size. Despite heavy shooting on prime scoring chances, Liut gave the Blues the opportunity to win every night.

Billy Smith (1982)

The nadir of the Vezina’s existence came in 1981 with three Montreal goalies earning the honors. Then – after 55 years of convoluted reasoning when awarding the Vezina – the NHL finally changed the criteria to the goalie assessed to be the best at the goaltender position. The other NHL awards are subjective as well, but this is seen as much more valid than some statistical qualifier.

After consecutive Stanley Cup wins, The New York Islanders’ goaltender Billy Smith was the first to earn the Vezina Trophy as we currently know it. Battlin’ Billy Smith enjoyed his best season in the net in 1982, but a noteworthy incident preceded it. In March of 1981, the Islanders traded Chico Resch to the Colorado Rockies and, after sharing goalie duties with Resch for almost eight seasons, Smith now had the majority of work in net.

Behind Resch and Smith was the Islanders’ blue-chip prospect, Rollie Melanson, but the trade was also made because Islanders’ General Manager Bill Torrey believed Smith was the best goalie in the league. “When I want to win a hockey game or walk down a dark alley, I know where Smitty will be. He’ll be there.” The Islanders won the Patrick Division, and Smith performed admirably, posting a 2.97 GAA in an era where goals against were sharply rising.

Smith’s play in consecutive postseasons earned him the flattering title of “a money goaltender,” and in 1982 he was as good as his sobriquet. The pugnacious goalie was outstanding in the Islanders’ third Cup chase, registering 15 wins and notching a 2.52 GAA. He also was named First Team All-Star.

Pete Peeters (1983)

Pete Peeters was nicknamed Gomer Pyle by former Bruins’ teammate and current NHL analyst Mike Milbury. For Flyers’ fans, history repeated itself in 2013 with Sergei Bobrovsky. But the first time it happened was with Peeters.

Peeters was once the property of the Philadelphia Flyers, but they moved him to Boston in a trade for Brad McCrimmon. Like Bobrovsky, Peeters made the Flyers pay when he won the Vezina trophy after leading the NHL in GAA (2.36), shutouts (8), and wins (40).

The feisty 1983 Bruins were coached by Gerry Cheevers, the former Boston goaltender who protected the cage during the Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito glory years. Perhaps because Cheevers was a former goalie, he employed a strategy that would protect the incumbent Bruins’ goaltender, who was in many ways a facsimile of Cheevers himself.

Cheevers clamped down on Boston’s offensive aggression, not letting the B’s defensemen rush the puck, and instead relying on their aggressive forechecking to manufacture offense. Peeters utilized a Cheevers-esque third-defenseman technique, kicking out pucks to lead breakouts, and breaking up plays with aggressive goaltending, as well as head-manning the puck. Peeters’ style of goaltending was also heavily influenced when playing for the Flyers with Jacques Plante as his goalie coach. Peeters’ outstanding play extended to the playoffs, where the Bruins made a nice run to the Wales Conference finals before falling to the Islanders in six games. Peeters was named First Team All-Star and finished second in the Hart Trophy voting.

Tom Barrasso (1984 and Save Percentage is Introduced)

Picked by the esteemed Scotty Bowman, Tom Barrasso was selected fifth overall in the 1983 Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres. He wasted no time getting acclimated, winning the Vezina Trophy, Calder Trophy, and First Team All-Star accolade. Barrasso’s quantitative dominance was conclusive as well, finishing third in the NHL in Save Percentage and second in GAA.

Barrasso was another of Jacques Plante’s many disciples, having read the eccentric goalie’s book on netminding, which stressed the importance of fundamentals. Barrasso had excellent size, puckhandling aptitude, and covered the cage with a hybrid style of butterfly and stand up. Bowman was the coach of the Canadiens when Montreal won five Cups with the giant Dryden, and SI writer Jack Falla sees Barasso’s style as a melding of Tony Esposito and Dryden:

“And while the left-handed Barrasso plays more in the style of Tony Esposito, with his glove held low and his pads fanned out like an upside-down Y, his huge frame fills the mouth of the net the way Dryden’s did.”

The lefty goalie cast himself in Eddie Giacomin and Gerry Cheevers’ mold, and won two Cups in ‘91 and ‘92 with the Penguins.

Pelle Lindbergh (1985)

The story of the Philadelphia Flyers and goaltending is a tale of tragedy and bad fortune. After the franchise had lost all-star netminder Bernie Parent in 1979 to an eye injury that cut his career short, the Flyers had their brief affair with Pete Peeters. As mentioned earlier, Philly traded Peeters to Boston where he proceeded to win the Vezina Trophy in 1983.

Philadelphia found Peeters’ replacement in 1983, a Swedish goaltender named Pelle Lindbergh, who would go on to have an incredible season in 1985, earning First Team All-Star, the Vezina Trophy, and helping Philadelphia reach the Cup finals. In 1985, Lindbergh finished with an NHL best 40 wins, third in GAA (3.02), and second in save percentage (.899).  But in November 19, 1985, Lindbergh died in a car accident when he crashed his Porsche into a concrete wall.

Bob Froese (1986)

This is our first departure from the First Team All-Star and Vezina winner in quite a while. Yes, John Vanbiesbrouck won the Vezina as the Rangers’ goalie in 1986, but “Beezer” had a GAA of 3.32 and save percentage of .887. Bob Froese, the Flyers’ goaltender, outperformed Vanbiesbrouck with an NHL-leading GAA of 2.55, shutouts (5), and save percentage (.909). The Flyers also won the Patrick Division, and Froese was recognized as a Second Team All-Star. A free agent signed by the Flyers in 1981 after the Blues had cut him, Froese benefited from the Flyer’s sandpaper grit, hard forechecking, and bruising body-checking game.  Nevertheless, Froese was peerless.

Ron Hextall (1987)

Hextall was brilliant in 1987, and considered the NHL’s best goaltender by nearly every account. He won the Vezina Trophy, was named First Team All-Star, led the NHL in save percentage (.902), was third in GAA (3.00), and first in NHL wins.

The irascible goalie also led his team to the Stanley Cup Finals where the Flyers lost to Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers in seven games. Hextall was superlative, playing so well he was honored with the Conn Smythe Trophy.

One of the things that makes Hextall so interesting is that he was in the distinct counterculture, an iconoclast among his dominant contemporaries. Chico Resch, the Flyers’ backup goaltender at the time, said this “Ron is the real thing. There are young goalies in the league like Patrick Roy, Tom Barrasso, even Grant Fuhr when he came up, who were going down a lot, whose skills weren’t that developed, but they were compensating with their enthusiasm and adrenaline. Ron doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t play on his knees or use tricks. He’s got the best feet and lateral movement of any big goalie I’ve ever seen. He’s truly got a chance to be one of the all-time greats.”

One of the points Resch makes speaks to the important dichotomy that existed, and continues to exist, when evaluating great goaltenders. Goalies use angles and standup, or they use the butterfly and reflexes. Many of the goalies Resch named dropped to their knees – taking away the bottom of the net – using their athleticism to stop the puck when it was fired at the top of the net. Hextall was symbolic of the colossal goaltender who used his lateral explosion post-to-post to stop shooters. He was quick with his lumber to hack skaters, but also to sweep the puck away from the crease.

Patrick Roy (1988-1990)

By 22, Patrick Roy was already a superstar. In 1986, when Roy was 20, he had helped the Montreal Canadiens go on an improbable Stanley Cup run, backstopping them to a five-game-series’ win over the dangerous Calgary Flames. In that Conn Smythe-winning postseason, Roy showed he could be a tangible brick wall, and from 1988 to 1990, he was superb in the regular season as well. He won the Vezina Trophy in 1989 and 1990, and in 1989 took the Canadiens back to the Cup finals where they lost in a rematch against the Flames. In 1989, Roy had the lowest GAA in the NHL with 2.47 and, for three consecutive years, he had the best save percentage in the NHL and was top-three in GAA. Although he was Second Team All-Star while Grant Fuhr was the Vezina winner in 1988, Roy’s numbers best Fuhr’s significantly.

Fuhr dropped off in ugly fashion after the Oilers’ fourth Stanley Cup, but Roy proceeded to earn First Team All-Star honors in ’89 and ‘90. Roy also had one of the highest ceilings for how well he could play, and that was emblematic when Larry Robinson said Patrick Roy’s play against the New York Rangers was the “best goaltending we’ve had since I’ve been here.” It should not be forgotten Robinson played in front of Dryden, so that compliment is telling.

Roy was the best goaltender in the NHL, and his butterfly style was perfectly buttressed by his extraordinary athleticism. His angles were not always perfect, and he would sometimes turn over the puck when he tried to display too much stickhandling panache, but his ability to suppress an offense regardless of how many shots made him the best goaltender at this time. Roy also had a penchant for playing his best in the biggest moments – this is quantified in his three Conn Smythe Trophy’s. And it makes it all the more unfathomable that he was eventually dealt in Le Trade.

Ed Belfour (1991)

The hyper-intense Eddie “The Eagle” Belfour played one of best seasons of his career in 1991, and performed one of the best seasons ever by a rookie goaltender. Belfour, an aggressive butterfly-style goalie who came out of the net to cut down on shooting angles, led the NHL in GAA (2.47), save percentage (.910), and wins (43). He also accumulated four shutouts, won the Vezina, Calder, and got a First Team All-Star selection.

The Blackhawks won the Norris Division title and were favored to reach the Campbell Conference finals, but were upset by the Minnesota North Stars. Belfour was a more modern goalie when thinking about the best netminders playing today. Goaltending equipment by the early 1990’s had evolved into a near replica of what is used today, and Belfour excelled at absorbing shots into his equipment. His prolific athletic ability allowed him never to give up on a play when the shooting angles changed. One possible correlation between Belfour and three other consecutive Vezina-winning Flyers is that they all had Mike Keenan as their coach:  1985 – Pelle Lindbergh, 1986 – Bob Froese, 1987 – Ron Hextall, 1991 – Belfour. The reason for this is two-fold:  Keenan coaches with draconian discipline and vituperatively admonishes anyone who does not meet his standards, and Keenan is a one-goalie coach. Keenan’s philosophy certainly bred stingy goaltending statistics, but he also enjoyed some amazing luck with goaltenders. While Belfour was posting elite numbers on the NHL circuit, Chicago also had Dominik Hasek in the Blackhawks’ pipeline.

Patrick Roy (1992)

St. Patrick guarded the cage in the 1992 season with ingenuity and finesse, finishing runner-up for the Hart Trophy and winning the Vezina. Roy paced the NHL in GAA (2.36), save percentage (.914), and shutouts (5), and was a First Team All-Star selection. Roy and Belfour were the unquestioned number one and number two best goaltenders of their day and, in an ironic twist, it was Belfour who reached the Stanley Cup during Roy’s Vezina season in 1992, while Belfour recaptured the Vezina in 1993, but watched Roy carry around the chalice.

Roy is also credited as being the goaltender who brought the butterfly-style from sparsely used to prevalent. It might seem inverted to have Roy holding only the 1992 title when in 1993 he helped steward the Canadiens to 10 straight overtime victories and the Stanley Cup — but Belfour was a beast in 1993 and Roy was certainly not the only reason Montreal won the Cup that year.

Ed Belfour (1993)

This fiery netminder recaptured his claim as the NHL’s best goalie in 1993 as “The Eagle” took on a tremendous workload. Belfour played in 71 games, submitted an NHL-leading seven shutouts, was second in GAA (2.59), and third in save percentage (.906). The Blackhawks won the Norris Division, and Belfour earned First Team All-Star and the Vezina Trophy.

Belfour has the reputation of being an unusual person and his career is illuminating in that respect. The Eagle signed with the Blackhawks as a college free agent – a much more common practice in today’s NHL – after winning the NCAA Championship with North Dakota his freshman year in 1987. Later, when he played for Dallas, Belfour had such obsessive routines before practice that the Stars moved their practice schedule back 30 minutes to appease him.

Dominik Hasek (1994-1999)

Jim Carey won the Vezina Trophy in 1996, but that season was one of the biggest outliers in NHL history. From the mid-90’s to the start of the 21^st century, no one was better than the Dominator. Hasek led the NHL every season in save percentage – he is the all-time NHL leader in save percentage at .922 – finishing in the top four in GAA every year except 1996.

Hasek also won the Vezina Trophy every year in this run except for in 1996, and was First Team All-Star. In the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Hasek was in goal when the Czech Republic won a gold medal over Russia 1-0, and he enjoyed the additional honor of being named top goaltender of those Olympics. In 1999, Hasek built on that success to help a limited seventh-seeded Buffalo Sabres team reach the Stanley Cup finals against the Dallas Stars. The Sabres won Game 1 and battled to a 2-2 series tie, but ultimately lost in Game 6 on Brett Hull’s winning goal-that-was-not-a-legal-goal. The Canadien Press, like nearly everyone else, struggled to describe the netminders’ modus operandi:

“Hasek’s style of goaltending is difficult to define. He suggests no word for it himself. He uses the butterfly leg spread that long ago became the rage, and he also flops around as if he’s trying to make snow angles on the ice.”

After watching copious YouTube footage, the best comparison might be a fusion of Tony Esposito and Jonathan Quick.

Ed Belfour (2000)

The 1996 season was an odd one for goaltending as Carey won the Vezina and Chris Osgood presented his biggest challenge for the honor. However, 2000 was pretty strange too, as Olaf Kolzig took the Vezina honors and Roman Turek made Second Team All-Star.

Even when performing at their highest level, neither of these goalies was better than Belfour, who finished first in save percentage (.919) and fourth  in GAA (2.10). More relevant, Belfour was able to perform immaculately in the postseason, and helped guide his Dallas Stars to a second consecutive Stanley Cup. Belfour and the Stars would be capsized by the New Jersey Devils, but there was no disputing that Belfour was at the forefront of the Stars’ success.

Dominik Hasek (2001)

By 2001, Hasek was 36 years old and people were beginning to wonder if he was the greatest goaltender the game had ever seen. Even at his relatively advanced age, Hasek did not provide diminishing returns. He posted the fourth best GAA (2.11) and the fifth best save percentage (921). He was named First Team All-Star and won his sixth Vezina Trophy. This is the last time Hasek held the title, but the Dominator did not go quietly into the night. He stuck around the league and landed in Detroit, and in 2002 became the first European starting goaltender to win the Cup. Despite being in his late thirties, Hasek was not a supplementary component on that Stanley Cup-winning team either – The Dominator recorded an NHL record of six shutouts during that playoff run.

Patrick Roy (2002)

Jose Theodore won the Vezina Trophy in 2002, but Patrick Roy played spectacularly coming off the Colorado Avalanche’s 2001 Stanley Cup win, and yielded the best GAA (1.94) and second best save percentage (.925). Admittedly, Theodore was great that year, but Roy got the nod for the First Team All-Star and took his team to the Western Conference Finals. Roy was a three-time Cup winner who turned back the clock and performed in one of his best seasons ever statistically.

Martin Brodeur (2003)

Brodeur is an interesting case in NHL history because, while his long-term statistics are unmatched, his season statistics when compared with his Hall of Fame contemporaries are, well, underwhelming.

Brodeur has never led the league in save percentage, and only led in GAA once. He led the NHL in shutouts five times, but his team’s tight-checking and defensive scheming unquestionably helped that. Everyone hates the Dead Puck Era because of the obstruction – clutching, holding, grabbing – and the Devils were the poster team for that style of play.

They capitalized on the evolution of the NHL game and its playing standards, winning three Cups because of it. And at the epicenter has been Brodeur. In 2003, the Devils bested the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in seven games to win their third Stanley Cup in organizational history – and the losing goalie was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.

The Devils are not a well-liked franchise – not by the league, and not by other organizations. They seem to field rosters who offend the fans’ sense of what makes hockey enjoyable. So Brodeur’s winning four Vezinas in a span of five seasons has to mean something. Miikka Kiprusoff was superb in 2004 and 2006, but Brodeur’s lack of dominance in save percentage and goals allowed, even in this “dominant” span, was because his team prevented goalie dominance in the conventional sense that people think of when they imagine Hasek in the 1990’s or Roy in the playoffs of ’86 and ’93.

Taking the larger view, it seems safe to assume that, if save percentage was employed before 1984, things would likely be viewed very differently with goaltenders. Brodeur’s defense was good enough that he never had to routinely stop 30-plus shots a game. And in the postseason and continuous overtimes, he stepped up. He also was recognized for his superior play by the league, and was named First Team All-Star in 2003, 2004, and 2007 (he was Second Team All-Star in 2006 and 2008).

Miikka Kiprusoff (2004, 2006)

In the first decade of the 21^st century, Kiprusoff is a familiar sight on the lists of league leaders for goaltenders. In 2004, he had an NHL-leading .933 save percentage and a 1.69 GAA. In 2006, he led the NHL in GAA (2.07) and shutouts (10), and was third in save percentage. He was sensational protecting the cage when the Flames reached the Stanley Cup in 2004, but they just did not have enough and lost in seven games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kiprusoff was recognized with the Vezina Trophy in 2006, and won more games than any other NHL goaltender from 2006 through 2012. Kipper was underrated – he was awesome.

Martin Brodeur (2007-2008)

A contentious issue among hockey geeks is what goalie style is Brodeur? The consensus now seems to be that he is a hybrid. Brodeur focused on stopping the puck standing up in the beginning of his career, but he butterflied more as time passed. Like an NFL player calling a touchback, Brodeur will drop to a knee by his near post, or stack the pads; Brodeur will not hesitate to drop to his knees to freeze a puck.

Brodeur is also quite nifty with his puckhandling, allowing the Devils to have a de facto third defenseman because he is so good at playing the puck. In fact, his skill led to the NHL creating a rule that restricted where goalies could play the puck. In some ways, Brodeur is like the Hank Aaron of goaltending – he is the all-time leader in wins and shutouts.  Simply, he has played so well for so long that he has broken all of the position’s biggest numbers.

Tim Thomas (2009)

Before Tim Thomas, there was Johnny Bower. In 1959, the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Bower, a farm team lifer, and by 1961, the 36-year-old Bower was leading the NHL in GAA (2.50) and wins (33) and won the Vezina Trophy.

At the age of 34, after getting drafted 217^th overall by the now-defunct Quebec Nordiques and failing to break into an NHL lineup for nine years, Boston Bruins’ goaltender Tim Thomas unleashed his genius with first-rate production in the 2009 season. He led the NHL in GAA (2.10) and save percentage (.933) and was unbeatable.

Thomas was First Team All-Star, won the Vezina Trophy, and shared the William M. Jennings Trophy for least goals allowed with his goaltending partner Manny Fernandez. In an odd twist, Thomas would have to prove himself again after another goaltending partner, Tuuku Rask, had incredible success as the Bruins’ 1B starting goaltender in 2010 and earned the starting job in the postseason.

Ryan Miller (2010)

In 2010, Ryan Miller won the Vezina Trophy and was awarded First Team All-Star. However, Thomas’s injury replacement for his torn labrum – Tuuku Rask – had a better save percentage and GAA than Miller did. But Miller started 24 more games than Rask because of the goaltending switch, so the sample size of excellence for Miller is larger (2.22 GAA and .929 save percentage). Ultimately, the deal breaker is Miller’s performance in the Vancouver Olympics. Everyone who watched in 2010 remembers that Miller was phenomenal and helped the Americans come within a goal of winning the gold medal. In 2010, no one was better than Ryan Miller.

Tim Thomas (2011)

Just as it seemed that Thomas had faded into oblivion and the era of American goaltender dominance was alive in Ryan Miller’s catching glove, Thomas offered up brilliant backstopping in his 2011 “Sistine Chapel” season. He won the Vezina, was awarded First Team All-Star, and won the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Thomas led the NHL in GAA (2.00) and save percentage (.938). In the postseason, he was even better, with four shutouts, a 1.98 GAA, and a .940 save percentage. He also won the magic number: 16 playoff games. Thomas’s goaltending was outstanding as he reached the zenith of his play in 2011.

Henrik Lundqvist (2012-2013)

My how things change. Thomas went from American hero and best goaltender alive to unwanted in the NHL until being offered a one-year deal with the Florida Panthers after participating on a professional tryout. The perception of Thomas is of a bombastic egomaniac because of his zealous use of social media and the ways in which his ego distracted him from his team.

Filling the role of best goaltender presently – BARELY – goes to Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist won the Vezina Trophy in 2012 and was a First Team All-Star. Lundqvist was top five with a 1.97 GAA and .930 save percentage, but failed to repeat in 2013 when Columbus Blue Jackets’ netminder Sergei Bobrovsky nabbed the Vezina honors.

But Bobrovsky is not Lundqvist’s near equal or main competitor for the best goaltender belt today. That would be the incomparable Jonathan Quick; after all, he helped the Los Angeles Kings to a Cup victory in 2012 and almost returned them to the Finals in 2013 because of his superhuman play in the postseason.

The win over Brodeur in the 2012 Cup finals must have been particularly vexing to Brodeur, because Quick is everything Marty dislikes in a goaltender. He is quick to his knees, and his butterfly style works because he possesses superhuman athleticism and astounding reflexes.

But Lundqvist gets the victory by a hair. The majority of NHLers polled by ESPN voted for Hank as their best goalie, and he held top position in the best goaltender’s rankings by ESPN’s pundits who cited his consistency and ability to perform at an elite level.  This despite the fact that, while initially it appeared that John Tortorella’s conservative philosophy for coaching would be advantageous to Lundqvist, it actually played against his strengths.

Lundqvist’s field of vision was routinely blocked because of the Rangers’ propensity to block shots, and the collapsing style New York employed in front of him did not allow him to always get the right read on the puck when it was loose. This is not to suggest that Lundqvist would be more suited to a fast-break, firewagon style of play, but teams like the New York Rangers, with mobile defensemen and skilled forwards, can push opponents to the outside and keep Lundqvist from repeated shots in the slot. Even though New York limited shot volume, I think that worked against Lundqvist’s comfort. Quick has been the better postseason player – that much is irrefutable – but Lundqvist has shown he can shine on the international stage.

Winning a gold medal for Sweden shows Lundqvist has the mettle to get it done when the lights are shining the brightest. Fortunately, the 2013-14 season is here, and Sochi will provide a delicious double postseason. The title for best goaltender lies in the balance.