Top 10 Goaltenders of All Time

[Victor 10,531]

Top 10 Goaltenders of All Time

 

In case you missed it:

Top 10 Playoff Performers

Top 10 Defencemen

 

Goalie stats come from this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NI9hSDEqGsqHwpo9MxITPo9tSX5yKbvFHJhVCklcwIc/edit?usp=sharing

Playoffs for reference (used for some close decisions below): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K61e1Xgl0LqO29t8oGMYcMvgtVJRIs3aq5aJs6HWulU/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

 

10. Sandro Clegane (S46-S52) @JardyB10

279 wins (16^th), 74 shutouts (6^th), 0.923 save % (16^th), 2.04 GAA (9^th)

1 Continental Cup (RIG)

Shaw x3, Campbell x1, Slobodzian x1
 

The younger brother and massive rival of Greg, Clegane forged quite a unique career for a goaltender, becoming a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame while never playing for one of the favourites. It was poetically fitting, given the characters both Greg and Sandro were based off, that Sandro Clegane was on the side fighting against the establishment, but more importantly it's mighty impressive he found as much success as he did in such a polarised league. A goaltender named the league's best thrice coming just tenth on the list sets the tone for the quality featuring here and it's no slight on a netminder who might have been even better in a different era.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

9. Rhett DeGrath (S52-S59) @STZ

302 wins (10^th), 86 shutouts (3^rd), 0.925 save % (8^th), 2.03 GAA (8^th)

Shaw x3, Campbell x1, Slobodzian x1, Clegane x1
 

It is an indication of his individual prowess that DeGrath makes the list as the sole goaltender without a cup ring to his name, but also an indictment on how much better he could have been by transferring some of that regular season magic to the playoffs. Indeed it is the main gripe with that entire generation of goalies and probably a reflection of the highly uneven playing fields of mid-50s VHL that goalies put up regular season records but looked much more ordinary in the playoffs. However, it's important to point out that regular season DeGrath was as good as anything we've seen and might ever see, stealing many performances for a dying Stockholm and still playing to a high level through to retirement.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

8. Alex Gegeny (S7-S12)

262 wins (19^th), 45 shutouts (20^th), 0.929 save % (2^nd), 2.24 GAA (23^rd)

1 Continental Cup (TOR)
Top Goalie x2
 

The only goalie on this list with fewer than 400 games played. Gegeny's numbers hold up remarkably well considering when he played and he is the only goalie whose prime came in the VHL's first 20 seasons to make the list. It's no surprise then that contemporaries thought Gegeny was out of this world. After bouncing around a few teams, Gegeny settled down in Toronto and helped them to two finals and the franchise's first Continental Cup, while putting up save % numbers which rivalled his fellow goalies on much less successful teams. The first true great goaltender remains among the VHL's best ever.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

7. Apollo Skye (S51-S58) @Velevra

275 wins (17^th), 83 shutouts (4^th), 0.927 save % (4^th), 2.14 GAA (17^th)

1 Continental Cup (QUE)

Campbell x2, Shaw x1
 

Much like his rival DeGrath, Apollo Skye's stats were occasionally through the roof and some of that is attributable to a weaker opposition in the late expansion era. Skye comes into the list slightly higher on account of spending more time on weaker teams in Davos and Quebec and standing head and shoulders above his teammates on two occasions at different ends of his career. What works against both Skye and DeGrath is their unspectacular playoff performance, the duo's only cup coming in S56 when both were significantly outshone by their teams' forwards in the finals. When it comes to the regular season though, both were their teams' stars more often than not.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

6. Daisuke Kanou (S18-S25) @tfong

350 wins (3^rd), 48 shutouts (18^th), 0.920 save % (30^th), 2.26 GAA (25^th)

3 Continental Cups (all DAV)
Top Goalie x1, Playoff MVP x3, Campbell x1, Slobodzian x1
 

For most of the VHL's history, Hall of Fame goaltenders seemed to split their dominance between either the regular season and the playoffs. Both parts of the season are considered in these all-time lists, but given the larger sample size, regular season takes precedence therefore many playoff specialists were eliminated early on. Daisuke Kanou is one of the few crossover hits. Named the second-best goalie and third-best playoff performer of all time, he was also no slouch in the regular season, playing a key role in the great Davos dynasty and their seven-season playoff streak. Now having been consigned deep into the first half of VHL lore, Kanou's records are not what they once were, but there is always a place on the top 10 list for the first goalie to be crowned league MVP.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

5. Tuomas Tukio (S31-S38) @Higgins

359 wins (2^nd), 62 shutouts (14^th), 0.925 save % (8^th), 1.99 GAA (5^th)

1 Continental Cup (HSK)

Shaw x2, Campbell x2, Slobodzian x2

 

The Finn's stats are as good as almost anyone else's on this list, achieved during a long and successful career with Helsinki. However, it was only after leaving the Titans after six seasons that Tukio got some individual silverware, making it a difficult balance between team and individual success. On one hand you have an elite goaltender on an elite team (with not the best playoff numbers), on the other someone who put up two of the best seasons for any goalie ever when allowed to be the star in New York and Quebec. A place right in the middle of the top 10 list feels just about right.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

4. Alexander Labatte (S28-S35) @sterling

335 wins (4^th), 69 shutouts (10^th), 0.924 save % (12^th), 2.01 GAA (7^th)

1 Continental Cup (TOR)

Shaw x3, Campbell x1
 

The son of Hall of Fame defenceman Sterling happens to take the identical position to his legendary father in his position's all time list. Labatte ended up in an awkward situation in that he was caught in between eras – just after the very memorable Shaw/Kanou rivalry, and just before a three-headed monster arose in the S31 draft class. His self-admitted poor performance in back-to-back Games 7s (losing to NY with Riga and then to Riga with NY) didn't help a reputation of a flat-track bully. Yet there is no way to not be impressed by the big picture looking back: Labatte was the best of his generation and for a very decent amount of time after his retirement a legitimate contender for the #1 all-time crown.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

3. Aidan Shaw (S19-S25)

315 wins (7^th), 52 shutouts (16^th), 0.923 save % (16^th), 2.06 GAA (10^th)
1 Continental Cup (TOR)

Top Goalie x4, Slobodzian x1, Playoff MVP x1
 

After 25 VHL seasons, Aidan Shaw was the undisputed king of the goaltenders and it took another 25 seasons for anyone to usurp him. Usurp is in fact probably too strong a word as no one has won the award named after him more than him, while the career numbers, impressive as they are, look even better when you consider Shaw only played seven seasons. Like the rest of his Toronto teammates, Shaw is slightly hurt by winning just one cup, but his battles against Kanou were the stuff of legend. Most importantly, he helped revolutionise a position which was previously discarded when assessing a team, leading it to become considered as possibly the most valuable.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

2. Hans Wingate (S43-S50) @CowboyinAmerica

324 wins (5^th), 70 shutouts (9^th), 0.922 save % (24^th), 2.10 GAA (14^th)

4 Continental Cups (CGY, TOR x3)

Shaw x3, Kanou x2, Campbell x1, Slobodzian x1
 

For all of Wingate's outstanding achievements, chief among them the playoff heroics which also put him second in another list, perhaps the most impressive is how he turned around a difficult situation at the start of his career to climb the all-time rankings. Wingate was hamstrung on a few fronts to start with – his Calgary team was very weak in his rookie season, hence the 'WinGod' moniker for stealing several games, and he arrived in a high-scoring VHL and goalie stats were not at their best for half of Wingate's career. Yet by the end of it, his career stats compare very nicely to the leaders, he won everything there was to win and of course, the threepeat almost speaks for itself. There's a strong argument to be made to put Wingate top of the list and really it comes down to preference between regular season and playoffs... the problem really being that both he and #1 didn't seem to distinguish between the two.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

1. Greg Clegane (S45-S52) @Victor

364 wins (1^st), 93 shutouts (1^st), 0.926 save % (6^th), 1.80 GAA (1^st)

2 Continental Cups (both HSK)

Shaw x2, Campbell x1, Slobodzian x1, Kanou x1
 

I didn't set out making the top 10 all-time lists with the intention of crowning myself number one, but in the case of goaltenders, it's hard to argue against the raw numbers. Greg Clegane comes top or nearly top in every significant stat, and won every award available to a goaltender – with a new trophy now named after him. Unlike most on the list, Clegane doesn't have a clearly more dominant regular season or playoff side – he was better in the regular season, but would still probably come in the top 5 playoff performers among goalies. The one weakness I had considered is the relatively low number of Shaw Trophies, but given this was in the only era of 3 Hall of Fame goalies and bearing in mind everything else, I have to conclude that at the moment this is the best goaltender of all time.

 

Link to Hall of Fame article

 

Honourable mentions:

Benoit Devereux (S10-S16) @Cowboy

261 wins (20^th), 27 shutouts (43^rd), 0.927 save % (4^th), 2.60 GAA (51^st)
 

If it wasn't for commissioners' laziness, the Aidan Shaw Trophy probably would have been named after Benoit Devereux. If it wasn't for rigid public opinion, Devereux, not Kanou 10 seasons later, would have been the first goalie MVP. With those accolades, it would have been difficult to omit the two-time cup winner, but it's probably for the best that he doesn't have them. Devereux was the first modern goaltender after Gegeny, but his numbers no longer hold up. Although the argument is made in his HOF article that we should ignore his last two seasons where Devereux went inactive, that seems like a cheat and doesn't make a massive difference – his legacy is as a trailblazer, less so any longer as one of the absolute best.
 

CAL G (S26-S32) @JardyB10

Jardy's other goaltender apart from Sandro Clegane was also better than average and until the polarisation of the VHL in the late expansion years, he had the monopoly of the shutout records. CAL G has always been hindered by two doubts: firstly, whether he benefited more than other goaltenders from playing for the strongest team of his generation (Seattle) and also why his playoff performance was often below par. Nonetheless, a definite Hall of Famer, CAL G was high up this list until the more recent generations.

[Beketov 8,642]

Obviously it would have been lovely to see Holik on this list as he was my best goalie of 4 now but I definitely don’t top any of these guys so I get it.

[Molholt 2,183]

Wingate #1. Get it done in the playoffs if you want to be the best, Kanou should be higher too. 

[Victor 10,531]

On 1/16/2019 at 10:31 PM, Molholt said:

Wingate #1. Get it done in the playoffs if you want to be the best, Kanou should be higher too. 

There was a separate playoff list for that though.

 

 

 

Also obvs using this for another week, like 1800 words again.

[Nykonax 1,550]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

69 shutouts

Nice.

[Baozi 1,635]

I feel like my wins would've been higher except I did have Martucci on my team one year and we gave him more starts than the 8 that a backup should have during his time there.

Edited January 16, 2019 by tfong

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

 

@Victor

[.sniffuM 1,741]

20 minutes ago, tfong said:

I feel like my wins would've been higher except I did have Martucci on my team one year and we gave him more starts than the 8 that a backup should have during his time there.

 

Remember when he stole ROY in his third season because he technically didn't play enough games as your backup to lose his rookie status?

Edited January 17, 2019 by .sniffuM

[.sniffuM 1,741]

Also D'Artagnan O'McLeCouloulihanmansteinberg will crush all these goalies.

[Higgins 3,617]

7 hours ago, Victor said:

There was a separate playoff list for that though.

 

But you put Tukio behind stupid Labatte based on playoff statistic. Because there no reason otherwise .... 

 

Your list SUCKS. My goalie is the BEST EVER.

[Victor 10,531]

In reality though, Wingate vs Clegane could go either way, but there is no great void in playoff performances between the two, as per: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1By-jHmgovK21t7NqkF7w2tVVV3ErUzKv1xzwEab-GQU/edit?usp=drivesdk

 

Tukio vs Labatte was also very tight but ultimately Tukio is both on the list because of two great seasons and then it was only two great seasons.

[eaglesfan036 4,583]

I like how Victor tags himself

[Victor 10,531]

32 minutes ago, eaglesfan036 said:

I like how Victor tags himself

People must know who the GOAT is.

[eaglesfan036 4,583]

17 minutes ago, Victor said:

People must know who the GOAT is.

@eaglesfan036

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

Review

A well written article by none other than our very own Victor. I think younger members should take a gander and this so they know how we expect articles to be written. Good stuff my friend.

[JardyB10 4,834]

On 1/16/2019 at 3:57 PM, Victor said:

CAL G (S26-S32) @JardyB10

Jardy's other goaltender apart from Sandro Clegane was also better than average and until the polarisation of the VHL in the late expansion years, he had the monopoly of the shutout records. CAL G has always been hindered by two doubts: firstly, whether he benefited more than other goaltenders from playing for the strongest team of his generation (Seattle) and also why his playoff performance was often below par. Nonetheless, a definite Hall of Famer, CAL G was high up this list until the more recent generations.

How dare you leave out my stat line!?

[Victor 10,531]

1 hour ago, JardyB10 said:

How dare you leave out my stat line!?

Be happy with the HM