Post-Season All-Star Teams (Goalies)

quoipourquoi · 09-30-2009, 11:25 PM

I was reading one of the latest blog posts from The Contrarian Goaltender, and he brought up an interesting subject that deviates from the typical by-the-numbers formulas that both he and I have great interest in (though I'm much more into the black-and-white numbers). The subject was hypothetical post-season All-Star teams.

While there's obviously a huge debate on how to weight post-season success against regular season success for both skaters and goalies, outside of the statistics which are not always the easiest things to cite out of full context, there isn't really a quick way to say "Hey, that Claude Lemieux sure was good in 1997," or, for a less obscure one, "How about that Sidney Crosby in 2009, right?"

There was talk in the comments section about someone bringing that discussion to HFBoards to make a good comprehensive list. They haven't done so since that post a few days ago, but I've gotten a little anxious.

Just in case this doesn't catch on, and since modern goaltenders are kinda my thing, I was wondering if we could start with something as relatively simple as The Best and Second-Best Goaltender in the Playoffs in Each Season Since 1984 (The Save Percentage Era)?

While a few Conn Smythes have filled in some blanks in certain years, could some of the veterans on the board help me get the rest?

1984 -
1985 -
1986 - Patrick Roy,
1987 - Ron Hextall,
1988 -
1989 -
1990 - Bill Ranford,
1991 -
1992 -
1993 - Patrick Roy,
1994 -
1995 -
1996 -
1997 - Mike Vernon,
1998 -
1999 -
2000 -
2001 - Patrick Roy,
2002 -
2003 - Jean-Sebastien Giguere,
2004 -
2006 - Cam Ward,
2007 -
2008 -
2009 -

I have quite a few names penciled in, but I don't want to taint anything in the opening post, so if you don't mind, I'll chime in tomorrow (Spoiler Alert: Brodeur for 2nd Team in 2003).

If you don't feel comfortable going back past the point when you may have started watching more than the hometown team, that's fine. Give input on whatever years you feel comfortable talking about.

If we come to a consensus on any particular selection or year, I'd like to put some names on the big board.

ushvinder · 10-01-2009, 02:25 AM

Ed Belfour would definetly be up here like 4 or 5 times.

TheDevilMadeMe · 10-01-2009, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by quoipourquoi

I was reading one of the latest blog posts from The Contrarian Goaltender, and he brought up an interesting subject that deviates from the typical by-the-numbers formulas that both he and I have great interest in (though I'm much more into the black-and-white numbers). The subject was hypothetical post-season All-Star teams.

While there's obviously a huge debate on how to weight post-season success against regular season success for both skaters and goalies, outside of the statistics which are not always the easiest things to cite out of full context, there isn't really a quick way to say "Hey, that Claude Lemieux sure was good in 1997," or, for a less obscure one, "How about that Sidney Crosby in 2009, right?"

There was talk in the comments section about someone bringing that discussion to HFBoards to make a good comprehensive list. They haven't done so since that post a few days ago, but I've gotten a little anxious.

Just in case this doesn't catch on, and since modern goaltenders are kinda my thing, I was wondering if we could start with something as relatively simple as The Best and Second-Best Goaltender in the Playoffs in Each Season Since 1984 (The Save Percentage Era)?

While a few Conn Smythes have filled in some blanks in certain years, could some of the veterans on the board help me get the rest?

1984 -
1985 -
1986 - Patrick Roy,
1987 - Ron Hextall,
1988 -
1989 -
1990 - Bill Ranford,
1991 -
1992 -
1993 - Patrick Roy,
1994 -
1995 -
1996 -
1997 - Mike Vernon,
1998 -
1999 -
2000 -
2001 - Patrick Roy,
2002 -
2003 - Jean-Sebastien Giguere,
2004 -
2006 - Cam Ward,
2007 -
2008 -
2009 -

I have quite a few names penciled in, but I don't want to taint anything in the opening post, so if you don't mind, I'll chime in tomorrow (Spoiler Alert: Brodeur for 2nd Team in 2003).

If you don't feel comfortable going back past the point when you may have started watching more than the hometown team, that's fine. Give input on whatever years you feel comfortable talking about.

If we come to a consensus on any particular selection or year, I'd like to put some names on the big board.

I'm definitely giving a lot of credit to goalies who went far. Perhaps too much. But then hard to say a goalie was a star of the playoffs if he lost in the first round, right?

1994: 1) Kirk MacLean 2) Mike Richter
1995: 1) Martin Brodeur 2) Ed Belfour
1996: 1) John Vanbiesbrouk 2) Patrick Roy
1997: 1) Mike Vernon 2) Mike Richter*
1998: 1) Olaf Kolzig 2) Dominik Hasek
1999: 1) Dominik Hasek 2) Ed Belfour
2000: 1) Martin Brodeur 2) Ed Belfour**
2001: 1) Patrick Roy 2) Curtis Joseph
2002: 1) Artus Irbe 2) Dominik Hasek
2003: 1) JS Giguere 2) Martin Brodeur
2004: 1) Nikolai Khabibulin 2) Miika Kiprusoff**
2006: 1) Cam Ward 2) Dwayne Roloson
2007: 1) JS Giguere 2) Ryan Miller
2008: 1) MA Fleury 2) Chris Osgood
2009: 1) Chris Osgood 2) Cam Ward

*The hardest choice for me. Picked Richter over Roy because his stats were just as good (literally same save% and one fewer win) on a weaker team. Richter was amazing that year carrying a deeply flawed Rangers team to the Conference Finals.
**The top two were obvious, but could be in either order. Since it was close, I went with the winner.

seventieslord · 10-01-2009, 01:35 PM

It was me who wanted to get discussion going at hfboards. I was meaning to get around to it. Thanks for starting the discussion. I'll come back and post what I can later.

quoipourquoi · 10-01-2009, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDevilMadeMe

*The hardest choice for me. Picked Richter over Roy because his stats were just as good (literally same save% and one fewer win) on a weaker team. Richter was amazing that year carrying a deeply flawed Rangers team to the Conference Finals.

That's one of the ones I've really struggled with. I've recently read some editions of The Detroit Free Press, and they were really high on Roy given the shot totals slanted in the Red Wings' favor in the Conference Finals, but the way Richter played absolutely lights-out against the Devils, I picked him.

Here are my rough picks, though I openly admit that I'm not the best judge pre-1997.

1984: Grant Fuhr, Steve Penney
1985: Pelle Lindbergh, Grant Fuhr
1986: Patrick Roy, Mike Liut
1987: Ron Hextall, Kelly Hrudey
1988: Reggie Lemelin, Grant Fuhr
1989: Patrick Roy, Mike Vernon
1990: Bill Ranford, Andy Moog
1991: Tom Barrasso, Andy Moog
1992: Tom Barrasso, Ed Belfour
1993: Patrick Roy, Curtis Joseph
1994: Mike Richter, Kirk McLean
1995: Martin Brodeur, Ed Belfour
1996: John Vanbiesbrouck, Patrick Roy
1997: Mike Vernon, Mike Richter
1998: Olaf Kolzig, Dominik Hasek
1999: Dominik Hasek, Ed Belfour
2000: Ed Belfour, Martin Brodeur
2001: Patrick Roy, Curtis Joseph
2002: Arturs Irbe, Patrick Lalime
2003: Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Martin Brodeur
2004: Nikolai Khabibulin, Miikka Kiprusoff
2006: Cam Ward, Dwayne Roloson
2007: Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Roberto Luongo
2008: Chris Osgood, Marc-Andre Fleury
2009: Chris Osgood, Jonas Hiller

A few years that I watched seem to be betraying me when it comes to my 2nd choice: 2000 and 2002. My original choices (based upon memory) were Brodeur and Hasek, but I forgot how good Roy and Lalime were, respectively. Roy played Ed Belfour and Dallas much closer than in 1999 (in addition to some sublime rounds against arguably better teams in Phoenix and Detroit, the latter of which was without Bourque for the most part). Lalime was the talk of the playoffs until the final games against Toronto, but his team wasn't supposed to win that series anyway.

I'm still going with Brodeur in 2000, but I'm taking Lalime in 2002. I know Hasek broke the record for SOs at the time (6), but in two rounds, Lalime tied the old record (4), and he wasn't on the Best Team Ever (Mitch Albom).