The best goalie in franchise history for every NHL team

Winning the Conn Smythe is impressive. Being so undeniable you do it for a team that doesn’t win the Stanley Cup is a rare feat, happening five times to date. The last time? Giguere did that with the Ducks, posting a .945 save percentage in 21 games to carry them to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost in seven games to the Devils. A few years later, Giguere would backstop the Ducks to a Cup, cementing him as the top goalie in franchise history.

Now, you might be thinking, “Wait, the same Mike Smith who spent years as a journeyman goalie?” Yes, the very same. While he was more of a solid goalie when all was said and done, the Coyotes’ goaltending history is not remarkable, even going back to the Jets. Four goals are at a similar level in terms of wins. Ilya Bryzgalov’s .917 save percentage is a smidge above Smith’s .916. However, Smith is the franchise leader in games played. Also, the one time the Coyotes made the conference finals, Smith was the goalie, so he gets the nod.

With an Original Six team, you might imagine a goalie of less-recent vintage might be the pick, a Hall of Famer perhaps. Indeed, Tiny Thompson and “Mr. Zero” Frank Brimsek were both quite good, and Tim Thomas won two Vezinas in a short, but impressive, run. Rask, though, spent his entire 15-season career with the Bruins. He’s the leader in games played and wins. Twice, Rask led the NHL in GAA and shutouts. Though he was a backup when Boston won the Cup, Rask still emerged as a surprising winner here.

Look, when, for our money, the greatest goalie in NHL history played the majority of his career with your franchise, it’s an easy choice. Hasek won six Vezinas and two Harts with the Sabres. What else do we need to say?

This came down to Kiprusoff or Mike Vernon. Vernon did tend goal when the Flames won the Cup. His numbers are much worse, but goaltending in the 1980s was a different beast. However, the Finnish goalie is the franchise leader in games played and wins, he has a Vezina, and he posted five shutouts en route to taking the Flames to the finals in 2004, even if they lost in seven games. By a narrow margin, Kiprusoff wins.

There’s no argument here. Be it the Hurricanes or the Hartford Whalers, Ward has more than doubled his completion in games played and wins. He also won the Conn Smythe when the Hurricanes won the Cup in 2006. Ward wasn’t a great goalie, but he was a franchise tentpole, and no other netminder can say that for the Canes.

Glenn Hall is a Hall of Famer. However, he won his Calder with Detroit and one of his three Vezinas with St. Louis. Esposito played 15 seasons with the Blackhawks, though. He won his Calder and all three of his Vezinas in Chicago. Yes, Espo’s Hall of Fame career is a Chicago career, and so he’s the top goalie in franchise history.

The Avalanche must thank their lucky stars every day that the Canadiens’ brass alienated a three-time Vezina winner and led to him demanding a trade. Roy was dealt to Colorado and immediately led them to a Cup. While he never won a Vezina with the Avalanche, he did win a Conn Smythe in 2001. Roy won 262 games with the franchise and posted a 2.27 GAA and .918 save percentage with it. He ended his Hall of Fame career with the Avalanche, and remains their top goalie.

Bobrovsky has played both hero and goat in Florida, and that was even true in Philadelphia. In Columbus, though, “Bob” is pretty much beloved. He won two Vezinas with the Jackets before moving on to the Panthers, and is by far the best goalie in franchise history.

Eddie Belfour was great in Dallas, and won a Cup there, but he played only five seasons with the team. Turco spent nine seasons as a Star, and twice led the NHL in GAA and save percentage. Comparing careers, Belfour wins in a walk. Comparing runs with the Stars, though, Turco is the franchise’s best goalie.

Chris Osgood has something of a cult following in Detroit, but “Ozzie” has no case to surpass Sawchuk here. The Hall of Famer won three Cups and three Vezinas with the Red Wings. His number hangs in the rafters in Detroit, and that says “franchise icon.”

Again, you have to remember what goaltending meant in the 1980s. Fuhr posted a 3.69 GAA and .883 save percentage in 10 seasons with the Oilers. He also won a Vezina and, oh yeah, four Stanley Cups. Fuhr is in the Hall of Fame, and Edmonton was happy with his performance during the glory days of the ‘80s, so why shouldn’t we be?

“Beezer” and “Bob” backstopped the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Finals, which Luongo can’t claim. No, all Luongo can say is that his 572 games played are more than double any other Panthers goalie, and his 230 wins are a record as well. Plus, Luongo had a .919 save percentage with Florida, and only Tomas Vokoun is better amongst goalies to play more than 53 games with the franchise. He’s a Hall of Famer, and the goalie with the best career as a Panther, if not the most playoff success.

Now, if you want playoff success, Quick is your guy. The Kings have two Cups as a franchise, and Quick was the goalie for both of them, including winning a Conn Smythe. Oh, it also helps that the American netminder played in a whopping 743 games as a King. Nobody else has more than 389.

The Wild have an unremarkable selection of goalies to pick from. It came down to Backstrom and Devan Dubnyk, nobody’s idea of a Hall of Famer. Dubnyk’s 2.41 GAA and .918 save percentage are a bit better than Backstrom’s 2.48 GAA and .915 save percentage. On the other hand, Backstrom has 28 shutouts to Dubnyk’s 23, and he’s the franchise leader in games started and wins. With limited enthusiasm, we go with the Swedish goalie.

The Canadiens are the polar opposite of the Wild, as we were spoiled for choice. Carey Price is actually the franchise leader in games and wins, and he has a Hart and Vezina. Patrick Roy won Vezinas with the Habs. Hell, Georges Vezina played for Montreal! Ultimately, though, it came down to Plante and Ken Dryden. Dryden won six Cups, a Calder, a Conn Smythe, and five Vezinas for the Canadiens. Then, he retired after only eight seasons when he was 31. Plante, in addition to popularizing goalies wearing masks, spent 11 seasons with the Canadiens, winning six Vezinas, six Cups, and a Hart. Even among these great options, Plante is the best of the bunch.

Juuse Saros maybe, we stress maybe, could overtake Rinne someday, but he’ll be hard pressed to do so. Rinne spent his entire 15-season career with the Predators, picking up 369 wins with a 2.43 GAA and .917 save percentage. The Finn also won a Vezina for good measure. Not bad for an eighth-round pick.

Well, for starters, Brodeur has the most starts and wins for any NHL goalie, and all but seven of those starts came with New Jersey. He didn’t merely rack up wins, though, Brodeur won four Vezinas and three Cups with the Devils. Did he benefit from the neutral-zone trap? Sure, but he had 124 shutouts, and that means stopping every shot you face.

Across 17 seasons with the Islanders, Smith made 674 appearances for the franchise. His numbers are indicative of a guy who played his entire career in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but he won a Vezina as well as a Conn Smythe. That Conn Smythe came during one of the four Cups in a row the Islanders won with Smith — of course, the only Cups in franchise history.

It could only be the King. Mike Richter won over 300 games with the Rangers, and was in net when the franchise won its first Cup since 1940. However, Lundqvist made over 200 more appearances with New York, and his .918 save percentage is decidedly better than Richter’s .904 save percentage. Hank also won a Vezina, and there’s a reason why he’s in the Hall of Fame and Richter is not. That Cup was massive for the Rangers, but Lundqvist is the franchise’s iconic goalie.

You might think that Anderson didn’t stick around long enough anywhere to become a top netminder for any franchise. Indeed, Anderson played for six teams, but that was over a 20-year career. He actually spent half of his career with the Senators, once leading the NHL in save percentage. The only other option from a lackluster group was Patrick Lalime, but he made 150 fewer appearances with the Sens and his .908 save percentage is lower than Anderson’s .914.

Parent and Ron Hextall started almost the same number of games for the Flyers. Hextall won a Vezina and a Conn Smythe. Parent won two Vezinas and two Conn Smythes, not to mention two Cups to Hextall’s zero (he’s one of the Conn Smythe winners from a losing team). Ultimately, that made Parent a fairly easy pick.

We weren’t certain Fleury would be the guy heading into this. After all, those early years were tough, as Fleury was pelted with shots behind a rebuilding team. Tom Barrasso, a Hall of Famer, helped lead the Penguins to two Cups. However, Fleury would turn things around in Pittsburgh, and he had a .912 save percentage in 691 appearances for the team. Oh, and he won three Cups to Barrasso’s two. Those first few tough seasons with the Penguins? They are a distant memory.

Arturs Irbe was the first goalie to play hero for the Sharks, leading the fledgling franchise to the playoffs in the 1993-94 season, and also to an upset over the top-seeded Red Wings. In truth, though, Irbe’s overall numbers with the Sharks aren’t very good. Nabokov, a Calder winner, spent 10 seasons in San Jose and posted a 2.39 GAA with 50 shutouts. Things ended poorly, but it was quite the run for Nabokov.

This was the easiest choice, and also the bleakest. To date, only four people have played goalie for the Kraken. Three of them have performed poorly, including expected inaugural number-one netminder Phillipp Grubauer. Daccord took over as the main goalie in 2023-24, and did well enough to keep the role. So, for now, bereft of any other option, Daccord is in the lead.

This is the biggest surprise we had in the bunch. The Blues have six players between 105 wins and 151 wins. Mike Liut is the leader in games played, and wins, but had a 3.59 GAA and .885 save percentage. Curtis Joseph is a notable name, but he had a .904 save percentage in St. Louis with all of five shutouts. Elliott only appeared in 181 games with the Blues, but twice he led the NHL in save percentage, and once he led it in GAA. He had a .925 save percentage, a 2.01 GAA, and 25 shutouts in St. Louis. Thus, somehow, he’s the top goalie in franchise history.

Now here’s a name that is not a surprise in the slightest. Vasilevskiy is the obvious choice, having won a Vezina, a Conn Smythe, and two Cups with Tampa Bay. The Russian has already doubled any other Lightning goalie in terms of appearances, and given that he’s not even hit his age-30 season yet, he has plenty of time to add to his resume.

Both Bower and Turk Broda are in the Hall of Fame. Both won two Vezinas. Broda has more wins and appearances, and also five Cups to Bower’s four. So why did we go with Bower? Well, Broda played from 1936 through 1951. Bower was in the NHL from 1953 through 1970. The NHL that Broda played in, at times, didn’t resemble modern hockey. Bower was around when the Original Six were joined by the Expansion Six. Thus, we give the edge to Bower.

Luongo is the first goalie to appear on this list twice. The Canucks made him their de facto captain, even though a goalie can’t be a captain as per NHL rules. Luongo and Kirk McLean both led the Canucks to the finals, and McLean played in a few more games. However, Luongo has more wins, and he had a .919 save percentage and 38 shutouts to McLean’s .887 save percentage and 20 shutouts. Only one of these guys is in the Hall of Fame, and it’s Luongo.

Back-to-back, we have guys who make this list twice. Luongo and Fleury are actually the only two goalies to do so, and Fleury benefits from the Golden Knights only having been around a few seasons. When Vegas won the Cup, they notably went through a few goalies and relied on Adin Hill coming out of nowhere in the playoffs. Fleury was the first number-one netminder for the Golden Knights, and he won a Vezina with the team. It will be a few seasons until anybody has as many wins as Fleury, and even then it might not happen.

In terms of sheer starts, Olaf Kolzig is the first goalie you think of in Washington, and he did win a Vezina. Kolzig started over 200 more games as a Capital than Holtby, but Holtby finished with only 19 fewer wins and the same number of shutouts. Holtby’s GAA and save percentage are better, and he too has a Vezina. Also, crucially, Holtby was the goalie when Washington won the franchise’s first Cup. Kolzig was the man for many years, but Holtby had more success.

We end with an easy call. Hellebuyck is a rarity in the modern NHL: a workhorse goalie. He led the NHL in games played four times before turning 30. The American netminder has a Vezina and is threatening to leave every other Jets/Thrashers goalie in his wake in terms of counting stats. Nobody in the franchise’s history is near Hellebuyck in terms of success.