Steady Goaltending

Back on January 14th, 2010, DarrenM posted an article entitled "Are Elliott and Leclaire the worst Senators goalie tandem ever?"  ( http://www.silversevensens.com/2010/1/14/1249349/are-elliott-and-leclaire-the-worst) .  The article goes on to debate that question, but it also asks if the Senators have EVER had the quality goaltending needed to win the Stanley Cup.  I'm a firm believer that any team, regardless of talent and skill up front and on the blueline, has a better chance to win it all with a steady goaltending situation.  The statistics researched below paint a very telling picture in proving my point.

I decided to compare each team's goaltending situation over the past 20 years, excluding the 2009-2010 season, to see which teams have truly had "steady goaltending" over that time period.  The statistics I used were Games Started, Wins, Goals Against Average and Save Percentage.  In order for a team to be considered as having "steady goaltending", their starting goalie for a given year had to have finished the season 15th or better out of 30 in at least two of the four statistical categories.  Each team needs to have had the same starting goalie for at least 3 years in a row.  Only the stats of starting goalies were used to determine the rankings.  In cases where two or more goalies started the same amount of games for a team, Minutes Played was used as a tie-breaker.

Teams are ranked in order of decreasing years of "steady goaltending".  Teams that did not exist for the entire 20-year period may show a decimal point number of years, as their "ranking" was averaged out over the 20-year period.

14        Devils

            1994-2008                   Brodeur

13        Flames

            1990-1994                   Vernon

            1999-2001                   Brathwaite

            2004-2009                   Kiprusoff

11        Jets / Coyotes

            1990-1993                   Essensa

            1996-1999                   Khabibulin

            2000-2002                   Burke

10        Sabres

            1994-1999                   Hasek

            2006-2009                   Miller

10        North Stars / Stars

            1998-2001                   Belfour

            2003-2009                   Turco

10        Capitals

            1990-1993                   Beaupre

            1998-2003                   Kolzig

10        Whalers / Hurricanes

            1994-1997                   Burke

            1999-2001                   Irbe

            2007-2009                   Ward

9          Blackhawks

            1991-1995                   Belfour

            2000-2003                   Thibault

8.87    (Mighty) Ducks

            1994-1997                   Hebert

            2006-2008                   Giguere

8.87    Panthers

            1994-1997                   Vanbiesbrouck

            2003-2006                   Luongo

8          Nordiques / Avalanche

            1996-2003                   Roy

8          Bruins

            1990-1993                   Moog

            2005-2009                   Thomas

8          Red Wings

            1991-1993                   Cheveldae

            1996-2000                   Osgood

7.6       Predators

            2003-2007                   Vokoun

7.13     Lightning

            1994-1996                   Puppa

            2002-2004                   Khabibulin

7          Oilers

            1990-1992                   Ranford

            2000-2003                   Salo

7          Maple Leafs

            1996-1998                   Potvin

            1999-2002                   Joseph

6          Canadiens

            1990-1995                   Roy

6          Penguins

            1991-1993                   Barrasso

            2007-2009                   Fleury

6          Canucks

            2002-2004                   Cloutier

            2007-2009                   Luongo

6          Flyers

            1996-1998                   Hextall

            2001-2003                   Cechmanek

4          Rangers

            2006-2009                   Lundqvist

4         Blues

            1992-1995                   Joseph

3.35    Sharks

            2007-2009                   Nabokov

3          Kings

            1990-1992                   Hrudey

0          Thrashers

0          Wild

0          Blue Jackets

0          Senators

0          Islanders

Does steady goaltending breed Stanley Cups?  The top team on the list has 3 Stanley Cups over the past 20 years.  The bottom 7 teams COMBINED have ZERO.  It's hardly a surprise to see where the Senators rank on this list.  The closest they've ever come to having steady goaltending is the period from 2003 to 2007, although the steadiness was split amongst Patrick Lalime, Dominik Hasek and Ray Emery.  If the Senators manage to find unsteadiness in the goaltending department yet again in the 2010-2011 season, they will have had a different starting goalie 7 years in a row (Lalime, Hasek, Emery, Gerber, Auld, Elliott).  That would tie them with the 1996-2002 Tampa Bay Lightning (Puppa, Tabaracci, Fitzpatrick, Schwab, Cloutier, Weekes, Khabibulin) for the unsteadiest goaltending situation during the 20-year period, unless the Edmonton Oilers manage to keep pace (Salo, Markkanen, Roloson, Garon, Roloson, Drouin-Deslauriers).

Of the bottom-feeders on this list, only the Minnesota Wild will be moving up a spot this year thanks to Niklas Backstrom.

In conclusion, I don't think that there's any question whether or not steady goaltending is key to a team's success come playoff time.  The only Cups won without it over the past 20 years were by Mike Richter in 1994, Dominik Hasek in 2002, Cam Ward in 2006 and Chris Osgood in 2008.  The Detroit Red Wings appear to be an anomaly and could have probably won a Cup with the proverbial grandma in net.

P.S. If you take this year's statistics into account, look for one of Boston, Buffalo, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Jose or Vancouver to win the Cup.