March Madness bracket: Who’s the greatest NHL goalie of all time?

The NHL has seen so many excellent goaltenders. What happens when you create the ultimate March Madness bracket of 64 goalies? Lots of arguing and debating. 

March Madness owns the hearts of many sports fans during the month of March. Its 64-team, single-elimination tournament is the gold standard in all sports. All sports should do something similar. Nothing can match the upsets and drama of the winner take all tournament.

The NHL features a best of seven format for each of its postseason rounds. While this does a good job of making sure the better team wins, it’s not nearly as chaotic. No position in hockey creates as many debates as goaltenders. A great one can lead the team down the stretch while a bad one can cost their team everything. Ask four random fans who the best goalie is and you might get four different answers. So why not take the 64 greatest goalies in NHL history and force them into a win-or-go-home playoff bracket?

Like the NCAA Tournament, all 64 participants will be assigned to one of four regions. However, these regions will honor some of the lesser and mediocre goalies in NFL history. Apologies in advance for bringing back terrible memories. Each team will have at least one representative. This is how it will work. Let’s begin.

Round of 64

Vesa Toskala Region

No. 1 one seed Patrick Roy takes on the fan favorite underdog Mike Smith in this first round matchup. If the contest involved scoring goals or having goals go in off the butt, Smith would win hands down. But Roy’s clearly the better goaltender. Canadiens might be mad he isn’t listed as a Hab, but the Colorado Avalanche needed a goalie. Don’t worry Montreal fans, you have by far enough representatives.

Pete Peeters had the misfortune of playing during that one era when everyone scored. Tony Esposito easily wins this matchup. The Montreal Canadiens have a long history of letting go of elite goalies and it started with him.

This matchup winds up being close. Georges Vezina is by far the better goaltender, but Pekka Rinne gets a lot of love because of how good the Nashville Predators are. In the end, the namesake for the award given to the best goalie in the league reigns supreme.

Gump Worsley was one of the NHL’s first elite goaltenders. Not only that, how can you NOT love a guy named Gump? Jean Sebastian-Giguere had some great seasons. This is a tough one, but Worsley pulls away with a run late in the game.

Turk Broda’s the team who should be ranked higher than it is. The Maple Leafs are a storied franchise and they’ve never had a better goalie than him. Fellow Hall of Famer Gerry Cheevers puts up an admirable effort, nearly pulling off the upset, but Broda’s overall success gives him the win.

Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Blue Jackets pulls off the huge upset here. Grant Fuhr was always a product of his team (which happened to be the highest scoring team in the league on a consistent basis). His lack of success away from Wayne Gretzky is what did him in.

This is by far the most intriguing matchup in this region. You have two goalies who quietly put up impressive numbers in the 1990s. Both had great seasons, but their primes weren’t anything too special. Vanbiesbrouck gets the nod for being more consistent, though Potvin nearly pulled off the upset for almost leading Toronto to upset the Gretzky Kings. JV at least took the Panthers to a Stanley Cup Final.

These two had to face each other. Tom Barrasso and Mike Richter had some epic battles in the 1990’s. The former gets the nod because of his hardware. Barrasso got a Calder and a Vezina Trophy along with two Stanley Cups. However, Richter only has the 1993-94 Stanley Cup on his resume.

Ken McAuley Region

Dominik Hasek earns the No. 1 overall seed and gets to face the worst goalie in the bracket. It should come as no surprise the worst goalie to make the bracket comes from the Winnipeg Jets. Hasek wins this one in a huge blowout.

Craig Anderson is much better than people think. So he gives Ed Belfour an inspired battle here. Unfortunately, the underrated Stars and Blackhawks goalie pulls away at the end. Belfour led the Dallas Stars to a controversial Stanley Cup, so he gets the nod.

This matchup is quite fascinating. Ben Bishop’s health has kept him from winning a Vezina Trophy, but he has come close numerous times. He gives Roberto Luongo, who also has no Vezina Trophies, a good run. However, you can’t ignore the best tweeter in hockey’s consistency. Luongo wins this round.

Johnny Mowers is a sad “what if” story. World War II took away a lot of his career, as he only played in four seasons. However, Mowers did very well in his lone four seasons. Carey Price, though, gets the nod here for his sustained excellence.

It’s hard to pinpoint where Charlie Gardiner should be, but he warrants a spot in the top 20. He’d be so much higher, except he died shortly after his sixth NHL season. Jose Theodore pulls off the upset here because whether it’s fair or not, Gardiner didn’t have much of a prime. Also, he played during an era defined by a lack of scoring. Theodore has one of the best seasons ever by a goalie on his resume.

Harry Lumley and Normie Smith are two of the greatest goalies to ever play for Title Town. The former gets the nod over the latter for a variety of reasons, the biggest one being Lumley had a much longer career than Smith.

Chris Osgood squares off against one of the first goalies to stand on his head, Chuck Rayner. Rayner led a lot of terrible teams to success, even winning a Hart Trophy in the process. His Hart is just enough to propel him past Osgood, who was more of a product of the Red Wings than anything else.

The two greatest Los Angeles Kings goalies of all-time square off here. Quick has two Stanley Cups, but Vachon was a heck of a goalie for them in the 1970’s. The slight nod goes to the eighth seed here. Vachon has a Vezina and made some terrible teams a lot better.