The 10 Best NHL Goalies of All Time, Ranked

The greatest ever goaltender in the NHL has got to be Patrick Roy, because of four Stanley Cups, a record three Conn Smythe Trophies and an unparalleled 151 playoff victories. Dominik Hasek comes second behind the greatest height ever achieved by a netminder while Martin Brodeur is third on a record book which is virtually his. These three make up the majority of the debate. Everything below that is more than a century of netminding, plus all the figures of the ten and the explanation of why statistics alone do nothing when you are trying to compare players from different eras.

The Top 10, With Full Career Numbers:

Regular-season career totals. Save percentage was not an official NHL statistic until the 1980s, which is why it is unavailable for several of these careers.

#	Goaltender	Career	GP	Wins	SO	GAA	SV%
1	Patrick Roy	1984-2003	1,029	551	66	2.54	.910
2	Dominik Hasek	1990-2008	735	389	81	2.20	.922
3	Martin Brodeur	1991-2015	1,266	691	125	2.24	.912
4	Terry Sawchuk	1949-1970	971	447	103	2.52	n/a
5	Jacques Plante	1952-1973	837	437	82	2.38	n/a
6	Glenn Hall	1952-1971	906	407	84	2.49	n/a
7	Ken Dryden	1970-1979	397	258	46	2.24	n/a
8	Bernie Parent	1965-1979	608	270	54	2.55	n/a
9	Tony Esposito	1968-1984	886	423	76	2.92	n/a
10	Ed Belfour	1988-2007	963	484	76	2.50	.906

The Hardware:

Statistics describe a career. Trophies describe how a goaltender was regarded by the people watching him at the time, which for the older names is often the better evidence.

Major awards for each of the top 10.

Goaltender	Cups	Vezinas	Conn Smythes	Harts	Notes
Patrick Roy	4	3	3	0	Three Conn Smythes is a record no player at any position has matched
Dominik Hasek	2	6	0	2	The only goaltender to win the Hart Trophy twice
Martin Brodeur	3	4	0	0	Also won the Calder in 1994 and two Olympic golds
Terry Sawchuk	4	4	0	0	Calder winner in 1951 and an 11-time All-Star
Jacques Plante	6	7	0	1	Seven Vezinas is the most by any goaltender
Glenn Hall	1	3	1	0	Won the Conn Smythe in 1968 on a losing team
Ken Dryden	6	5	1	0	Six Cups in eight seasons. Won the Conn Smythe before the Calder
Bernie Parent	2	2	2	0	Back-to-back Cups, Vezinas and Conn Smythes in 1974 and 1975
Tony Esposito	0	3	0	0	Calder winner in 1970 with 15 shutouts as a rookie
Ed Belfour	1	2	0	0	Calder winner in 1991

Why Patrick Roy Is First:

Roy’s case is founded on the criterion by which the performance of goaltenders is ultimately gauged, and that is the results in the spring. He has been part of four Stanley Cup winning teams, winning the championship in 1986 and 1993 with Montreal, and in 1996 and 2001 with Colorado. In addition, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy in three different occasions, a feat not even matched by players in other positions. Roy owns the franchise records for the most playoff wins (151), and the most playoff shutouts (23). 

In addition, Roy transformed the way the position is played. Roy made the butterfly style so popular that it has become the standard approach taught to all youngsters, which is an influence factor that is not quantifiable from any statistics table. It is certainly fair to state that his career save percentage of .910 is inferior to Hasek’s and his regular season statistics fall behind those of Brodeur. Roy would answer he shined the most when the chips were down.

Why Hasek Is Second:

In the case of whether or not it is the greatest peak versus greatest career, Hasek would be the answer because there is no doubt. His .922 save percentage ranks highest all time among goaltenders having played more than 500 games. He also has six Vezina Trophies and has been the highest ranking goaltender in terms of save percentage for six years running. What makes Hasek truly stand out above the rest is the fact that he was awarded the Hart Trophy in two successive years (1997 and 1998), and he is the only goaltender to do it twice in history.

The Hart Trophy would be the stat that seals the deal. People always have problems recognizing goaltenders as MVP’s. It shows that Hasek wasn’t just the best goaltender, but the most important man on the ice for his team. He has two Stanley Cup titles, Detroit in 2002 and 2008, as well as an Olympic Gold Medal in 1998 for the Czech Republic in Nagano.

Why Brodeur Is Third, Not First:

The record book belongs to Brodeur. 691 wins, 125 shutouts, 1,266 games, 74,438 minutes, eight 40 win seasons, and fourteen 30 win seasons, all league records, each by massive margins. He leads the next best mark by 140 wins. He also played the entire length of his career under the most defensive system of his day in New Jersey during the lowest scoring era of hockey in the National Hockey League since pre-expansion days.

His puckhandling was good enough that he had the league change its rules to stop him. The trapezoid behind the net introduced in 2005, informally known as the Brodeur rule, is there because one goalie was too good with the puck. Three Stanley Cups, four Vezina trophies, a Calder, and two Olympic gold medals. It is an amazing achievement. All he needs now is a Conn Smythe to have first place locked up.

Every All-Time Goaltending Record:

Three names hold nearly all of them, which is itself the clearest argument for the top three.

The major NHL goaltending records and who holds each.

Record	Figure	Holder
Most regular-season wins	691	Martin Brodeur. The next closest is 140 behind
Most shutouts	125	Martin Brodeur, passing Terry Sawchuk’s 103
Most games played	1,266	Martin Brodeur, one of only two goaltenders past 1,000
Most minutes played	74,438	Martin Brodeur
Most 40-win seasons	8	Martin Brodeur
Most 30-win seasons	14	Martin Brodeur
Most playoff wins	151	Patrick Roy
Most playoff shutouts	23	Patrick Roy
Most Conn Smythe Trophies	3	Patrick Roy, a record across all positions
Most Vezina Trophies	7	Jacques Plante
Most Hart Trophies by a goalie	2	Dominik Hasek, in 1997 and 1998
Highest career save percentage	0.922	Dominik Hasek, among goaltenders with 500 or more games
Most consecutive complete games	502	Glenn Hall, played without a mask

Brodeur owns the volume records, Roy owns the playoff records, and Hasek owns the rate statistic. Read that table and the top three ranking largely explains itself.

The Case for the Older Names:

Positions four through nine are where the rankings get genuinely contestable, largely because the evidence is thinner.

Terry Sawchuk

Sawchuk’s total of 103 shutouts was a record held for nearly four decades until it was surpassed by Brodeur, while his 447 victories placed him above all goalies until Roy. Four times he claimed the Stanley Cup, four times the Vezina Trophy, as well as the Calder Award in 1951. Sawchuk had done all this despite his numerous injuries, depression, and violent behavior. He died in 1970 at the age of 40.

Jacques Plante

Seven Vezina trophies is the most any goalie has ever won, while his six Stanley Cups, with five straight years between 1956 and 1960 with the Montreal Canadiens, has yet to be equaled by any other goalie. Also, the fact that he won the Hart trophy in 1962 is almost unheard of for a player in that role. He gave something to every goaltender in history on November 1, 1959, when after being hit in the face with a puck, he returned to play with a mask and wouldn’t take it off.

Glenn Hall

The 502 straight games played by Hall qualify as one of those records that simply do not fit into the current day hockey league. He played every single minute in the game for seven years straight and without a mask in a time when goaltending gear was not really considered protective equipment at all. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1968 with an expansion team that went down to the defending Stanley Cup champions in four straight games in the finals.

Ken Dryden

Dryden played for eight seasons and captured six Stanley Cups during that time. Moreover, Dryden won five Vezina trophies and concluded his career with an impressive record of 258 wins and 57 losses. The most bizarre achievement of Dryden is his chronology. The Conn Smythe Trophy was won by Dryden in 1971 as a playoff MVP, and he won the Calder Trophy as a rookie of the year in 1972 because he did not play enough regular season games.

The Data Problem Nobody Mentions:

This is the section that matters most if you are trying to compare these careers honestly.

Save percentage barely exists for half this list

Save percentage was not considered an NHL statistical category until the 1980s. The shot total statistic prior to that time was not recorded regularly, while at times only estimates were made in certain arenas. The save percentage figures listed for players like Sawchuk, Plante, Hall or Dryden have been calculated based on inaccurate data and cannot be compared to contemporary figures.

Goals against average is an era measurement, not a skill measurement

Esposito’s career GAA of 2.92 compared to Hasek’s 2.20 suggests that Hasek was better in every way. However, while Hasek played in an era where there was no much scoring in the whole league, Esposito played in an era when teams could score eight goals per game. When the scoring rates of the eras are taken into account, Esposito was one of the best goalies. Fuhr is the best example because he won five Stanley Cups despite playing for teams with terrible defence.

Wins say as much about the team

For Brodeur to get 691 victories, he needed 1,266 games played for a very talented team in New Jersey. For Dryden to have won 258 games, he needed to play a fraction of that number of games for a very talented Montreal team. The most sensible way of evaluating cross-era statistics is through the trophies awarded to them since the awarding was done by comparing him to his contemporaries, and the playoff statistics since the pressure is the same in all eras.

Just Outside the Top 10:

Six goaltenders with a legitimate argument, depending on how you weigh the criteria.

Goaltender	Career	The case
Henrik Lundqvist	2005-2020	459 wins and 64 shutouts, a Vezina and a place in the Hall of Fame, but no Stanley Cup
Grant Fuhr	1981-2000	Five Cups with Edmonton and a Vezina. Numbers distorted by the highest-scoring era in league history
Bill Durnan	1943-1950	Six Vezinas in seven seasons and two Cups. Played ambidextrously, with a catching glove on each hand
Georges Vezina	1917-1925	The trophy is named after him. Played 328 consecutive games before collapsing with tuberculosis
Carey Price	2007-2022	A Hart, a Vezina and a Ted Lindsay in the same season, in 2015. Never won a Cup
Connor Hellebuyck	2015-present	The dominant goaltender of the current era and a multiple Vezina winner. Too early to place

Lundqvist is the hardest omission. He has 459 wins, more than everyone on this list except Brodeur, Roy and Belfour, and he carried some very ordinary New York teams. What he does not have is a Stanley Cup, and at this position that remains the difference between a great career and a top-ten one.

Final Take:

Roy for the four Cups and three Conn Smythes. Hasek for the most lofty heights attained. Brodeur for the record books. Anything beyond that is all subjective, depending on how much weight one gives to longevity, dominance or victories, but there is no right or wrong answer. The one thing that is certain is that mere statistics will not answer the question. A goalie’s numbers reflect his era, his team and his playing time, and any rankings that consider only his GAA figures have gotten it all wrong.

Frequently Asked Questions:

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