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

By Dave Stevenson

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 27: NHL Top 100 players Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens, Brian Leetch, Martin Brodeur, Dominik Hasek, Patrik Roy and Chris Chelios pose for a portrait at the Microsoft Theater as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend on January 27, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 27: NHL Top 100 players Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens, Brian Leetch, Martin Brodeur, Dominik Hasek, Patrik Roy and Chris Chelios pose for a portrait at the Microsoft Theater as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend on January 27, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 27: (L-R) NHL Top 100 players Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek and Scott Stevens stand onstage during the NHL 100 presented by GEICO show as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend at the Microsoft Theater on January 27, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chase Agnello-Dean/NHLI via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 27: (L-R) NHL Top 100 players Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek and Scott Stevens stand onstage during the NHL 100 presented by GEICO show as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend at the Microsoft Theater on January 27, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chase Agnello-Dean/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The Stanley Cup

Every fan of hockey has had this debate at some point. Whether you’ve done it with a friend, online on a message board, or even just in your head, this is the $64,000 question for NHL fans. How you answer it largely depends on what you value. There’s no denying Hasek and Roy are the top two goaltenders of all-time.

The Dominator has the Vezina Trophies (six of them to be exact) and two Hart Trophies. For the best years of his career, he dealt with the Sabres. Any Buffalo fan will lament to you how they never surrounded Hasek with enough talent. And they’re right. Night in and night out, he had to be their best player. If Brett Hull didn’t break a rule that the NHL apparently got rid of during the playoffs, maybe Hasek wins a Stanley Cup with the Sabres.

But Roy has a strong case too. Three Vezina Trophies is nothing to sneeze at. Nor is lasting 11 seasons in Montreal at the peak of its craziness. To last with the Canadiens, you have to be mentally strong. You have to be able to be criticized for every wrong move you make and shake it off. Roy was able to do it until it became unbearable. He won two Stanley Cups with Montreal and two with the Colorado Avalanche. Moreover, he won three Conn Smythe Trophies as the playoff MVP.

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