VHL Franchise All-Time Goaltending Ranking: Teams 1-4

[Victor 10,553]

Teams 5-10: https://vhlforum.com/topic/66213-vhl-franchise-all-time-goaltending-ranking-teams-5-10/

 

 

4. Riga Reign

S8 – Travis Wilcox

S9-S15 – Marek Van Urho S10 | Tretiak

S16-S17 – Jonas Markstrom S16 | Tretiak

S18-S23 – Ma'a Nonu

S27 – Andreas Bjorkman Tretiak

S31-S32 – Alexander Labatte HOF | Shaw x2

S33 – Jehovah S33

S34 – Vincent Vega

S36-S41 – Mike Szatkowski Jr. S40 | Shaw

S44-S45 – Bernie Gow

S46-S47 – Hans Wingate HOF | Shaw

S51-S52 – Sandro Clegane HOF | S51 | Shaw x2

S55-S59 – Markus King HOF | S57, S58 | Shaw x2

S60 – Vernon Von Axelberry

S63-present – Kallis Kriketers S63 | Shaw x2

 

Riga's goaltending history has been a slow-burner but has gone from strength to strength more recently. While we can safely ignore their brief time in Stockholm, the first few starting goaltenders were solid backbones for cup-winning teams (and Van Urho was unlucky to not make the Hall of Fame). Subsequently there was a troubled period when the Reign became one of the league's struggling franchises, but the key turning point seemed to be the free agent signing of superstar Alexander Labatte in S31. Although he was curiously traded before winning a cup, Riga was back in the spotlight and has hardly fallen out since. In the past few decades, the Reign have even aligned their goaltenders' success to their own as a team, with three straight Hall of Famers who won Shaw Trophies while in Riga (Wingate, Clegane and King). Kriketers is well on his way to matching the predecessors and keeping this streak going might just move Riga to the top of this list soon enough.

 

3. Helsinki Titans

S1-S5 – Maxim Desny HOF | Tretiak x2

S6-S11 – Dominik Stryker S6

S12-S15 – Izaak Muller S15

S19-S24 – Jakob Kjeldsen S22 | Tretiak

S25-S27 – Claudio Martucci S27

S31-S36 – Tuomas Tukio HOF | S34

S40 – Eggly Bagelface

S41 – Kimmo Salo

S42 – Mike Szatkowski Jr.

S45-S48 – Greg Clegane HOF | S45, S46

S53-S58 – Astrid Moon S54, S55

S59-S60 – Jacob S60

S61 – Markus King HOF

S63-present – Alexander Pepper S66 | Shaw

 

As pointed out in a recent article before Pepper won the Shaw Trophy, the Titans are not very good at putting their goaltenders in a position where they can be named the best in the league. They are however quite good at getting their goaltenders Continental Cups, although the lines are quite blurred whether that reflects more on Helsinki or their goaltending strength. Either way, the Titans have gone through most of their history without struggling to find a starting goaltender with the exception of a fraught period around S40 and also oddly enough between the back-to-back championships of both Clegane and Moon. The two are quite aligned, even if a few of Helsinki's former netminders seemed to find more individual (but crucially not team) success elsewhere. The door is open for Pepper to be his franchise's best ever goalie, although it's already a solid list regardless.

 

2. HC Davos Dynamo

S10-S16 – Benoit Devereux HOF | S11, S13 | Tretiak x3

S18-S25 – Daisuke Kanou HOF | S20, S24, S25 | Tretiak

S27-S33 – Satan S31

S35-S40 – Lennox Moher S36, S38 | Shaw

S42-S48 – Callum Sinclair

S49-S50 – Sandro Clegane HOF

S51-S52 – Apollo Skye HOF

S56-S57 – Rhett DeGrath HOF

S58-S62 – Shawn Brodeur S61

S64-present – Finn Davison

 

Ignoring the weird and confusing history of the Avangard Havoc (S2-S10), who won a Continental Cup in S7 with a rookie goaltender, the story of Davos splits nicely into two parts. First they were an unstoppable force which seemed to win championships whenever it wanted, helped of course by being spoiled for around 15 seasons by two of the finest goaltenders in history – Benoit Devereux and Daisuke Kanou. Then came a slight drop in goaltending quality and then after Moher's retirement in S40, the cups effectively dried up. However, in these lean years (by anyone's standards, let alone the Dynamo's) for now nearly 30 seasons, Davos has still witnessed some solid to great goaltenders, including 3 Hall of Famers, two of whom, Clegane and DeGrath, inspired the team to underdog finals appearances. Ultimately, the steep fall of Davos has little to do with their goaltending situation and the franchise remains near the top when it comes to that aspect.

 

1. Toronto Legion

S1-S4 – Sam Lafluer

S7-S10 – Alex Gegeny HOF | S9 | Tretiak x2

S14-S17 – Tayson Barabash Tretiak

S19-S25 – Aidan Shaw HOF | S21 | Tretiak x4

S28-S30 – Alexander Labatte HOF| S29

S31-S38 – Remy LeBeau HOF | S37 | Shaw x2

S43 – Mike Szatkowski Jr.

S48-S50 – Hans Wingate HOF | S48, S49, S50 | Shaw

S51-S52 – Greg Clegane HOF | Shaw

S54-S59 – Torstein Ironside Shaw

S63 – Shawn Brodeur

S64 – Norris Stopko HOF | S64 | Shaw

S65 – Johnny Havenk Carison S65

S66-present – JB Rift

 

Never really in doubt but I hadn't really considered Toronto's goaltending legacy since LeBeau retired. At the time, it was a no-brainer to put them at the top, but LeBeau's shoes proved to be too big to fill for a long time. The failed attempt to compete in S43 put the Legion in a deep hole for a while, but they bounced back with a threepeat and it's been largely smooth sailing since in the goaltending department since. Finding a long-term starter has been a bit more difficult in recent years, but there is little to complain when Stopko and Carison claimed a cup and playoff MVP each in their single season as starters. There are potentially parallels to be drawn with S52-S53 New York who were also GMed by Ryan Power and for whom the luck ran out, but it will be hard to argue with the above track record for a while yet.

 

 

I have now realised that this part of the Media Spot is not quite 1,000 words so will add a quick conclusion – it is fitting that it came down to Toronto vs Davos given their history in the finals and the Shaw vs Kanou dynamic for so many years. It's also interesting that this isn't really how I'd rank these 10 franchises in terms of actual success which means we might overestimate the importance of goaltenders? Not sure to be honest.

 

 

1,060 words so 2 weeks for Pavlov.

[Beketov 8,650]

What do the top 4 all have in common: a lack of my goalies (aside from Davos drafting Holik which isn’t mentioned). Yeah, that checks out.

[Baozi 1,635]

Didn't realize Davos drought has been this long. Perhaps i need to go back and inspire the world!

[Victor 10,553]

5 minutes ago, tfong said:

Didn't realize Davos drought has been this long. Perhaps i need to go back and inspire the world!

Wording is a bit iffy in that sentence, doesn't mention they did win 1 in S61. But that's still 1 in nearly 30 seasons compared to 8 in the previous 28. Yes, you need to go back.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Glad to see Lebeau's Legion on top  

[.sniffuM 1,741]

Until Harding I never actively played for a top 5 franchise on this listing. Interesting how things work out.

Edited July 17, 2019 by .sniffuM

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

my only goalie played for both of the top 2 teams. and was the goalie who broke the Davos curse. fitting that i hated that player

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

@uphillmoss here my young goalie padawan

[Victor 10,553]

2nd week for Pavlov