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Bigalke said 06/06, 02:15 AM
My choice is another Habs' netminder. His credentials in comparison:

5-time leader in wins (v. Durnan's 4)
4-time leader in shutouts (v. Durnan's 2)
6-time leader in GAA [pre-expansion only] (v Durnan's 6)


My goalie ALSO won six Vezinas (pre-expansion to go with one post-expansion)... and was also a Hart Trophy winner, something rarely achieved by a goalie and NEVER by Durnan. Here are their compared career regular-season Original Six stats:

Durnan: 383 GP, 22945 min, 208-112-62 (.626), 34 SO, 2.36 GAA
My choice: 654 GP, 39064 min, 346-186-119 (.627), 63 SO, 2.31 GAA


... and their playoff stats:

Durnan: 45 GP, 2871 min, 27-18 (.600), 2 SO, 2.07 GAA
My choice: 90 GP, 5424 min, 59-28 (0.640), 10 SO, 2.17 GAA


But the most telling stat for these two historic men who minded the net for the Canadiens? Durnan, in his seven years, won two Stanley Cups with the team... while my guy won 6 in an 8-year stretch with Montreal. Durnan was consistent... until the big game came along. After winning the Vezina in 1945, for instance, he lost a stunner in six games to Toronto. My guy was unflappable under pressure... mask or no mask. Who is the greatest Original Six goalie?



Jacques Plante

Bigalke said 06/06, 02:56 AM
Several good points here... let's go one by one:

LONGEVITY: I think being able to continue playing at the NHL level, when only one goalie was largely used, for more than 7 seasons is indicative to Plante's superiority. Plante won the starting role @ 26, Durnan @ 28. Further, Durnan played in an era where only 50 games made up the regular season (60 by 1947, 70 in 1950)... while Plante never knew a season with fewer than 70. So this argument about "playing all the games in the season" is fallacious as you are comparing one season which is 71% as long as the other...

AWARDS: Remember when I mentioned that Plante did a lot of these things in an 8-year span? Well, Plante enjoyed a dominant stretch much like Durnan between the ages of 26 & 33 (for Durnan it was 28 & 34)... anything past 1967 is off limits, also.


AVERAGES: Talking about longevity, let's look instead at averages for a moment. Well, despite a slight dropoff in numbers Plante still managed to end his career with better averages per season (we'll go 60-game averages to split the difference of their eras):

Durnan: 32-18-10, 5 SO, 2.36 GAA
Plante: 32-17-11, 6 SO, 2.32 GAA

Plante got one more point per season than Durnan.

Bigalke said 06/06, 03:34 AM
Oh, as a longtime Habs fan and hockey historian, I've heard of Harvey & extolled his virtues... but you discount some of the players with whom Durnan played. What about the Punch Line of MAURICE RICHARD (in his prime during Durnan's days), Toe Blake & Elmer Lach? Durnan had Emile Bouchard, Kenny Reardon and Glen Harmon on his defense as well. The Montreal Canadiens were stocked with high-quality players in the 1940s... yet only won one Cup with Durnan in goal. It took PLANTE coming to the team to kick-start the dynasty...

It takes more than just a goaltender to win the Stanley Cup, certainly, but the road to a dynasty begins in net. Montreal had all the pieces in the mid-late 1940s: a strong defense and a prolific offense. Even their netminder was quality... he just was not in the caliber of Plante. Jacques revolutionized goaltending, from positioning to designing the modern mask to sustained success.

The key is not to have the best numbers; it is to have better numbers than the man in the opposite net. No one did that better than Plante -- not Durnan, not Sawchuk or Broda or Worsley etc. etc. -- and that is why Jacques is the greatest pre-expansion goaltender in NHL history...