CowboyinAmerica 2,843 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 The #1 Pick Goalie Countdown Goalies are oftentimes seen as the centerpiece of a championship team; it’s not too often a team wins with an average goalie. If you want proof, just look at the payments that both Helsinki and Cologne made last offseason to have a slightly better goalie in net for this upcoming campaign. With goalies so prized, then, it may surprise you that just nine of the previous 42 top overall draft picks have been netminders. In addition, since expansion before the S31 year, just two goalies (Lennox Moher and Niklaus Mikaelson) have gone with the top pick in 12 tries. Of course, some of this is because many general managers create goalies themselves, but otherwise, there just may not be that many top goalie prospects. The selections themselves, however, don’t support this. We decided to rank each of these nine top selection goalies, and other than some notable exceptions, each of these goalies ended up solid. It helps, too, that six of the eight already-retired goalies ended their careers with Cups as well. 9. (S24) Mathieu VanCoughnett, G, Riga Reign How can you place a guy in last place that holds a VHL record? Well, it’s quite easy when that particular VHL record is for losses. VanCoughnett, once seen as the future for Riga, holds a VHL-record 253 losses in his career, a dual testament to his longevity (his 459 games played are tied for seventh-most all time) and his complete inability to lead his team to victories. His .901 save percentage and 3.27 goals against average are both in the bottom half of all VHL goalies all-time. Given drafting like this, it’s little surprise Riga only made one playoff appearance between S24 and S30. 8. (S16) Demetrjusz Dudek, G, Calgary Wranglers Dudek may have had the oddest career of any of these goalies. It’s one thing to not have a good record (see the last player on the list). It’s wholly another to be the first player selected in the draft and barely hold on to two seasons in the VHL. Dudek ended his career playing a paltry 128 games in the VHL, finishing with a middling 62-55-10 record, .908 save percentage and a 3.24 goals against average. Overall, Dudek finished with just three shutouts in his career. And yet... he’s also one of the ones with a championship, leading Calgary to the Cup in his final game, in S18. He also made the All-Star team that season. Style points and retiring on top certainly help not be last. 7. (S1) Robert Sharpe, G, Amstel Tigers (now HC Davos Dynamo) The first ever pick in the VHL Draft may also be one of the more disappointing. While nine different players from the S1 class eventually made the Hall of Fame – including two goalies in Maxim Desny and Matthew Pogge – Sharpe was not destined to be one of them. His overall career wasn’t too bad, as his 144-100-21 record and 3.10 GAA at least put him ahead of the first two goalies on this list, even with a paltry .889 save percentage betraying his skills. However, even the Tigers may have known they didn’t have something special, as they traded Sharpe part way through that first season to Stockholm. 6. (S41) Niklaus Mikaelson, G, Seattle Bears I honestly believe that Mikaelson could be in the top three of this list by the time his career is over, especially given his TPE production. He could very well be the best goalie in the league starting in S44. However, given his production so far, he barely deserves to be top five. The Bears have not made the playoffs in each of Mikaelson’s two seasons thus far, and in this most recent season, Mikaelson finished just sixth in save percentage and seventh in GAA. If he retired today, he would essentially be Dudek without a Cup, but his potential gives him a slight bump. 5. (S8) Steve LaFramboise, G, Seattle Bears Today Seattle might be one of the more snakebitten franchises in the VHL, but back in the early days of the league, they had the strength and stability to make runs. That might best be embodied in their back-to-back Finals appearances in S11 and S12, winning the second of those two trips, where they won the North American Conference with a big help from LaFramboise in goal. Sure, his final stats may be merely above average – his 364 wins are 14th all-time, while his save percentage is 13th and his GAA 19th – but he did exactly what that Seattle team needed him to do in five seasons before being traded to Vasteras – for future Seattle lifer Greg Harbinson. 4. (S21) Andreas Bjorkman, G, Madrid Thunder (now Stockholm Vikings) Bjorkman v. LaFramboise is an interesting comparison, as Bjorkman’s longevity in playing 448 games means a lot. His win percentage and save percentage are slightly worse, though, and his GAA beats LaFramboise by just .001. However, in the end, Bjorkman may be more well-beloved for one main reason: He’s the only Madrid/Vasteras/Stockholm goalie to have won a championship in the past 41 seasons. Indeed, he was in net when Vasteras broke their streak, and he led all goalies in wins and FAA that season. All in all, Bjorkman had a successful career. 3. (S27) Satan, G, HC Davos Dynamo Satan may very well be the opposite of Andreas Bjorkman. He isn’t very fondly remembered, especially given his disappearing act from the practice arena during the middle of Davos’ S31 Cup run. However, as a result of his practice up until that point, his statistics speak for himself. Satan’s 296 wins are the seventh-most all-time, while his .922 save percentage is tied for 11th and his 2.31 GAA is 14th; he beats both Bjorkman and LaFramboise in all three categories. Where Satan truly succeeded, though, is in shutting down the competition, as his 51 shutouts are sixth all-time, even ahead of the top two guys on this list. Oh, and lest I forget to mention, he does still have that S31 championship under his belt, regardless of what happened with practicing that year. 2. (S35) Lennox Moher, G, HC Davos Dynamo The direct descendent to Satan in net for the Dynamo, Moher succeeded his predecessor by one main metric: winning. Davos made an incredible four straight Finals with Moher in net, winning it all in both Moher’s second (S36) and fourth (S38) seasons. He also made the playoffs a fifth season with Quebec City. Moher’s career is a bit shorter than normal, only lasting six seasons, so his 15th-best 234 wins may not seem as impressive. However, a ninth-best 2.22 GAA and a Season 40 Shaw Trophy show exactly why he deserves to be second on this list. 1. (S18) Daisuke Kanou, G, HC Davos Dynamo Did you really expect anyone else? Universally acclaimed as one of the best goalies of all-time, Kanou is also the only goalie on this list currently in the Hall of Fame. He has everybody beat in terms of pure statistics – his 530 wins were the all-time record until Tukio passed him a few seasons back, and his 48 shutouts are seventh all-time. His save percentage and GAA are also top 20 overall. Where Kanou truly excelled, however, was in the playoffs. He holds the record among all goalies with five finals appearances, and his Davos teams won three of them (S20, S24, S25). There’s a reason the Playoff MVP award is named in his honor; he won three such awards himself. Phil, Da Trifecta and Victor 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyinAmerica 2,843 Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 It is interesting to me how Davos really only had three goalies in about 23 seasons, essentially going straight from Kanou to Satan to Moher (and Sinclair's likely to extend the streak). There's a reason the franchise is first all-time in championships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Victor 10,837 Posted April 13, 2015 Admin Share Posted April 13, 2015 It is interesting to me how Davos really only had three goalies in about 23 seasons, essentially going straight from Kanou to Satan to Moher (and Sinclair's likely to extend the streak). There's a reason the franchise is first all-time in championships.And immediately before Kanou was a fella called Benoit Devereux (a GM recreate). So much success since his rookie season in S10 that the franchise can just discount their whole pre-Davos existence and still be called the best! Also, fuck Dudek. diamond_ace 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissioner Beketov 8,944 Posted April 13, 2015 Commissioner Share Posted April 13, 2015 Sharpe = Best ever, don't know what you're talking about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.sniffuM 1,741 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Fuck Dudek indeed. diamond_ace and Victor 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Baozi 1,658 Posted April 13, 2015 Moderator Share Posted April 13, 2015 Wooo Davos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Trifecta 1,896 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Mikaelson will be top 3 easily one day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 5,111 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 lol Dudek! GGreat read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kesler 1,514 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Mikaelson will be top 3 easily one day no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylrad 178 Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Content 3/3 Great article, will be interesting to see if you join the people on this list. Grammar 2/2 Great, nothing worth deducting Appearence 1/1 - Yup good, neat layout Final 6/6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyinAmerica 2,843 Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Claimed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.ed69a7260a477fcf4feead7a0e4b7506.png)
Recommended Posts