Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDevilMadeMe
Did anything Giacomin did outside of the 1966-67 to 1970-71 time frame add anything to his value?
1965-66 (his rookie year): Giacomin 35 GP, 3.68 GAA. Maniago 28 GP, 3.50 GAA. Simmons 12 GP, 4.36 GAA.
(Then his 5 All-Star years)
1971-72: Giacomin 44 GP, 2.70 GAA. Villemure 37 GP, 2.09 GAA
1972-73: Giacomin 43 GP, 2.91 GAA. Villemure 34 GP, 2.29 GAA
1973-74: Giacomin 56 GP, 3.07 GAA. Villemure 21 GP, 3.53 GAA
1974-75: Giacomin 37 GP, 3.48 GAA. Villemure 37 GP, 3.16 GAA
After 1975, Giacomin never played more than 33 games. So where does Giacomin beat Lundqvist in longevity, again? Giacomin has 5 All-Star seasons. Then 5 more seasons where he played in a tandem, and his tandem partner outperformed him (sometimes badly) in 4 of them! In Giacomin's best post-1971 season (1975), he didn't get a single vote for the All-Star team. Then he has 3 more seasons of 33, 33, and 9 games played.
I hate to keep talking about a player who isn't available yet, but if you think Lundqvist has been at least a borderline star every year since the lockout, that beats Giacomin 7 years to 5. And that's not even talking about what happened during the lockout year.
Seriously, what does Giacomin add to his resume outside of 1966-67 to 1970-71? I'm open to arguments that he did something of note during this time, but I'm really close to seeing him as someone like Guy Lafleur, where his quality of play outside his peak was low enough where it can almost be thrown out entirely. Add in Giacomin's weak playoff record, and I really don't see anything of note outside of his 5 regular seasons.
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1971-72 season saw a balanced 78 game scheduled. Each team played the other 13 teams 6 times, 3 home and 3 away. Six of the 14 teams did not make the playoffs - Detroit, Buffalo, Vancouver, California, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1972.html
Boston finished with 119 pts, Rangers with 109, Montreal with 108, Chicago with 107.
Gilles Villemure played 37 games, 34 starts. Ed Giacomin started 44 games.
22 of Gilles Villemure's starts were against the six non-playoff teams. 12 starts against playoff teams but only 4 against Boston - 1H, Chicago - 1H, Montreal - 1H/1A.
14 of Ed Giacomin's starts were against non-playoff teams but 14 starts were against the elite three teams.
This should be considered when comparing Giacomin's and Villemure's performance with the 1971-72 Rangers.
The other seasons could benefit from similar scrutiny.