Buffalo Sabres: 3 reasons Dominik Hasek is the G.O.A.T at goalie
There is an ongoing debate over who is the best goaltender of all-time. Here are three reasons why a former Buffalo Sabres goalie holds the title.
There have been some outstanding goaltenders in the history of the NHL, and the Buffalo Sabres were lucky enough to have two of them: Ryan Miller and Dominik Hasek. However, Hasek might just be a head and shoulders above all the others, Miller included, despite Miller’s heroics time and again.
Hasek, the 199th overall pick of the 1983 NHL Draft, never saw action in an NHL game until 1990-91, when he played in just five contests for the Chicago Blackhawks. He did, however, earn All-Rookie honors a year later, and it was the beginning of something amazing when the Blackhawks shipped him to the Sabres on August 7th, 1992.
Three reasons former Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek was the best goaltender in NHL history
There are really a plethora of reasons you can call Dominik Hasek the best in the game, and there are also a few reasons you may see someone else as such. For example, The Hockey Writers gave former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Patrick Roy the honor, with Hasek coming in second.
And while Roy was an outstanding goaltender, Hasek hit a couple of milestones Roy never reached. Sure, Roy won four Stanley Cups as opposed to Hasek’s two, none with the Buffalo Sabres, unfortunately. But there were more than a few things Hasek accomplished that Roy never did.
So what makes Hasek the top goaltender in league history? Here are three reasons Hasek, and not Roy, Martin Brodeur, or anyone else, takes the title.
Only goaltender to win the Hart Trophy Twice
In case you don’t know, the Hart Memorial Trophy is the NHL’s version of the MVP award. And you don’t see goaltenders win the Hart often. In fact, only seven have won the honor since it was first awarded in 1924. Of those seven players, Hasek was the first and only goaltender to win it twice.
And in both instances, his wins occurred with the Buffalo Sabres, with his first coming in 1996-97 and the second a season later in 1997-98. Each time, Hasek also won the Lester B. Pearson Award (today the Ted Lindsay Award) as the NHLPA’s top player, and the Vezina Trophy, which recognizes the NHL’s top goaltender.
Hasek has also won the Vezina Trophy six times, which is tied with Bill Durnan for second all-time, trailing only Jacques Plante, who has seven. But that’s beside the point. Hasek’s multiple Hart Trophies showed his dominance during an era where the Sabres defensive rotation was not one of the NHL’s best, which further displays just how valuable Hasek was to the Sabres playoff runs in the late 1990s.
Twice led NHL in save percentage while facing the highest number of shots per 60 minutes
1995-96 was an unfortunate season for Dominik Hasek and the Buffalo Sabres. But especially for Hasek, who led the league with 30 losses. It was a year where Hasek should have won the Vezina Trophy and secured yet another First Team All-Star honor, but he didn’t because of what might just be the worst goaltender stat out there: Wins-Losses.
Generally, I share a goaltender’s win/loss record as a stat because there are fans out there that want to see it, and at times, the win-loss record will reflect goalie performance. At least to some degree. The 1995-96 season wasn’t one of those years, and it was mainly Hasek playing stellar hockey for a bad team.
The Sabres finished 33-42-7 that season, good for 73 points. Despite the high number of losses, Hasek still led the league in save percentage, at 0.920. It was the first of two instances where he paced the NHL in save percentage and in shots faced per 60 minutes.
Hasek faced the same conundrum in 1997-98. Once again, he topped the league in save percentage, but at 0.932 this time around. He also rightfully won the Vezina that season, along with the Hart. Tack on a First Team All-Star honor and the Pearson Award, and Hasek was recognized as the best player in the NHL that season.
Until another goaltender faces such a high number of shots per 60 minutes and leads the league in save percentage, it should be no contest regarding who holds the title of best goaltender in NHL history. Regardless of the number of Stanley Cups.
Highest save percentage in NHL history
Hasek still leads the NHL with a career 0.9223 save percentage, which narrowly edges out Johnny Bower by 0.004 percentage points. Kevin Dryden is also up there with a 0.9215 save percentage. There are some active players who could threaten Hasek’s record, such as Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Some fans may see save percentages as a good stat/bad stat, much as many see wins/losses as a bad stat. So for further justification, I also wanted to recognize that Hasek has the best career GAA in NHL history among goaltenders who have started at least 700 games.
Must Read. Every retired number in franchise history. light
Overall, there is sound evidence out there that Dominik Hasek is the best goaltender in NHL history. No, he didn’t win a Stanley Cup with the Buffalo Sabres, but he still added two to his resume later in his career. And while some goaltenders have won more, it is hard to argue with Hasek’s career accolades.
Article Source: Dominik Hasek Not Always Popular With Buffalo Sabres Fans by Paul Taylor
(Statistics provided by Hockey Reference and Quant Hockey)