The goaltender is the most influential player on the ice for every NHL team. Tasked with playing the full 60 minutes and stopping over 90 percent of the 30-plus shots that come their way, hockey goalies have the toughest job on the ice.
In the playoffs, goaltenders only become more influential. Even a mid-tier starter with a hot hand can stand on their head and drive the team to the Stanley Cup. On the flip side, a poor goalie can sink a world-class team.
Here, we’re looking at the top ten goaltenders in NHL history, only including athletes who have officially completed their careers.
NHL’s Greatest Goaltenders
Below, you’ll find the top-ten list – not in any particular order – as well as more information on each selection.
Martin Brodeur
Martin Brodeur is the NHL’s all-time regular season games, wins, and shutouts leader, as well as the playoffs leader for shutouts while sitting second for postseason games and wins.
The 2018 Hall of Fame inductee is, without a doubt, among the top ten goalies in NHL history, winning the Stanley Cup three times and the Vezina Trophy four times.
A one-team player for all but seven of his 1,266 NHL games – ending his career with the St. Louis Blues – the Quebecois netminder was a superb glove-hand stopper, but his puck handling skills were on another level.
Henrik Lundqvist
Henrik Lundqvist goes down as one of the greatest goalies in NHL history and one of the biggest names never to win a Stanley Cup. He did grant the New York Rangers 12 passages to the playoffs, though.
An impeccable rookie out of the gates, he earned the nickname “King Henrik” and remained the star of the show at Madison Square Garden throughout his 15-season NHL career.
Alongside his Vezina Trophy triumph, the Swede stands as the only goaltender in NHL history to have 30 wins in each of his first seven campaigns – and 11 in his first 12.
The eight-time Rangers MVP had his No. 30 jersey retired in 2021, and now, the torch has passed on to another seemingly phenomenal talent, Igor Shesterkin, who’s a big reason why the NHL odds have NYR at +1400 to win the Stanley Cup.
Patrick Roy
The epitome of a clutch goaltender, Patrick Roy’s legacy can be summed up by him winning ten consecutive sudden-death overtime games with the Montréal Canadiens.
Add to this that he’s second only to Brodeur in regular season wins (691), held a .910 save percentage through his 1,029-game career, and leads the way in playoff games (247) and wins (151), and you can see that Roy was an incredible netminder.
To establish himself as one of the top ten best goalies in NHL history, Roy stacked up three Vezina Trophies, four Stanley Cups, and an incredible three Conn Smythe Trophies, all while cementing the butterfly style of goaltending that modern NHL netminders use by default.
Dominik Hašek
It took quite some time for Dominik Hašek to finally arrive, entering the league behind Ed Belfour in Chicago and then being traded to the Buffalo Sabres – who already had Grant Fuhr – but once he did, there wasn’t any turning back.
Fuhr’s injury opened Hašek up to his chance, and he never let go. From the 1993-94 season, he was unstoppable, securing a save percentage of at least .920 for each of the following six seasons.
A late starter in the NHL, Hasek only amassed 735 games, but 389 of those resulted in a win. He also secured 81 shutouts, six Vezina Trophies, two Stanley Cups (both with the Detroit Red Wings), and is the only goalie to win the Hart Trophy twice.
Jacques Plante
A seven-time Vezina Trophy winner, Jacques Plante was at the core of one of the greatest dynasties the NHL has ever seen, backstopping for the Habs through their five consecutive Stanley Cups (1956-1960).
Winning 437 of his 837 regular season starts, Plante will forever stand among the upper echelons of the best NHL goalies of all time, but he’ll always be fondly remembered for being the first to wear a mask regularly.
Ken Dryden
Throughout the history of the NHL, we’ve seen hundreds of flash-in-the-pan rookies, and given what was essentially his pre-rookie season, Ken Dryden could have become the ultimate example of these.
Before his official rookie campaign – he didn’t play enough games to qualify in his first season – Dryden held the crease for the Habs late in the season and all of the way to the Stanley Cup. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy for his incredible efforts.
The next season – Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe already in the bag – Dryden won the Calder Trophy, losing only eight of 64 games in the 1971-72 season.
He ended his career with five Vezina Trophies (three shared) and six Stanley Cups.
Tony Esposito
Laying the groundwork for the butterfly style, which Roy would go on to all but perfect and popularise, Tony Esposito followed up a mighty, Calder Trophy-winning rookie season with years of consistent play for the Black Hawks.
A very athletic netminder, Esposito utilized the butterfly stance to glide around the crease swiftly, but more importantly, he closely studied opposing forwards, helping to establish the dominance that led him to three Vezina Trophies and 423 wins from 886 regular season games.
Terry Sawchuk
Permanently enshrined as the leader for shutouts and wins in the Original Six era, Terry Sawchuk’s efforts in the 1950s and ‘60s still hold him eighth of all time for regular season wins (445) and second for regular season shutouts (103).
Playing in the same era as Plante, Sawchuk took a tremendous amount of damage from the puck, played through numerous injuries, but still swept up the Calder Trophy, four Vezina Trophies, and four Stanley Cups.
Grant Fuhr
For the better part of a decade, Grant Fuhr was one of the top goaltenders in the NHL, backstopping the most successful period in the history of the Edmonton Oilers franchise – while Wayne Gretzky did his thing up top.
In his initial stint, Fuhr commanded the crease for the 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988 Stanley Cup wins, adding another in 1990.
After some hit-and-miss seasons, Fuhr was able to re-establish himself with the St. Louis Blues in the late-‘90s, pulling him to third-overall with 92 playoff wins.
While Edmonton has another generational forward in Connor McDavid, there are many uncertainties around the goaltending.
A lot of faith is being placed in Jack Campbell this season, which is why the Oilers are only really dark hose contenders in the sport betting at +1300 to win the Stanley Cup.
Ed Belfour
Bookending this list of the ten best goaltenders in NHL history is Ed Belfour, who still stands fifth overall for regular season wins at 484 and sixth for playoffs wins with 88 from 132 postseason games.
After breaking into the NHL in the 1988-89 season for the Chicago Blackhawks, it wasn’t until his 1997-onwards stint with the Dallas Stars that Belfour hit his stride, winning the team its first Stanley Cup in 1999.
Many legends were in contention for a spot among the top ten goalies in NHL history, but these picks have certainly earned their places with the best of all time.
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 22nd September 2022
