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ALL TIME
1) Patrick Roy The ultimate competitor, fantastic glove. You love(d) to hate him but he was the best. 2) Dominik Hasek Completely unorthodox, broke all the rules of the position and many opponents’ hearts. 3) Jacques Plante Stand up netminder, succeeded Hall, preceded Esposito/Dryden as the NHL’s best in his era. 4) Ken Dryden Came out of Cornell University in the early 70’s to dominate for some great Canadien teams. Huge netminder, also technically brilliant. 5) Martin Brodeur Brilliant hybrid (EDITED, thanks readers) goaltender has anchored some great New Jersey Devil clubs. 6) Terry Sawchuk Held together with stitches and gauze, Sawchuk battled through multiple injuries to put together an awesome set of career stats for 5 teams over 21 years. 7) Tony Esposito Hard to argue with the results of this rangy, left handed goaltender 8) Glenn Hall Rock solid ‘keeper for three teams in the 50’s and 60’s. 9) Bernie Parent Stylistically similar to his mentor Plante, Parent was best known for his amazing kick saves. 10) Charlie Gardiner/Bill Durnan (tie) Two goaltenders of the NHL’s earlier years, both with great credentials, both whose careers were cut short
CURRENT
1) Henrik Lundqvist The King is the king. 2) Jonathan Quick Amazingly athletic American netminder can simply lock it down 3) Pekka Rinne Big, technically sound and completely dominant at times. Few goalies hodl their crease btter. 4) Tuuka Rask Has many of Rinne’s qualities and can take over games and series. 5) Carey Price Has succeeded in the intense pressure cooker of Montreal and Canadian national team hockey. A terrific goalie. 6) Kari Lehtonen Big, faster than he looks and handles the puck very well. 7) Antti Niemi Unorthodox, athletic, lightning quick, Nemo can be a rebound machine at times, but he is a proven winner who comes up big in big games. 8) Ben Bishop Huge netminder proved himself as a possibly elite goaltender with an astounding 2013-14 season. 9) Sergei Bobrovsky Big Russian Bob is driving the rise of the Blue Jackets as a team to be reckoned with. 10) Corey Schneider Big, fast and technically sound