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
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
1996-1998 Potvin
1999-2002 Joseph
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 Wild
0 Senators
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.


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