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Martin Brodeur, Tim Thomas and Goalies with the Most Vezina Trophies
Georges Vezina and Martin Brodeur with the Vezina Trophy
The NHL’s Vezina Trophy is awarded to the season’s best goaltender (or, for a brief time in the 1960s and 1970s, a team’s best goaltenders). It is one of the oldest official awards in North American sports: Montreal Canadien George Hainsworth was the inaugural winner for the 1926-27 season.
Georges Vezina was the Montreal Canadiens‘ first goalie, in net from the NHL‘s first official season, 1917-18 (and from before to be exact – 1910-11), to 1925-26. Vezina and the Habs made five Stanley Cup Finals appearances, winning the Cup three times (1919, 1924 and 1925). He was a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s first class.
Vezina never missed a single game – regular season or playoff – in his more than 15 years of service in goal (mind you, they played 24-game seasons for the most part). Then, he played one game in 1925-26, got sick, was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died several months later.
Very Lou Gehrig-like.
The Canadiens gave the classy and beautiful “Vezina Trophy” to the NHL the following season (1926-27), intended as an award for the goalie who gave up the fewest goals. Since then, various criteria have been used to make the selection, including fewest goals by a team and most recently (1981-82 to present) a league-wide GM vote.
Today’s list features all goalies who won more than one Vezina Trophy. There are 21 of them, led by another Canadien, Jacques Plante with seven.
Montreal Canadiens are all over this list. The Canadiens have the most Vezina Trophy winners of any team – more than a third of them – a full 34 of 99 given.
Only four goalies have won the Vezina for more than one team: Plante, Michel Larocque, Terry Sawchuk and Glenn Hall.
So what about Martin Brodeur and Tim Thomas? They’re the only actives with multiple Vezinas.
Thanks to my source, hockey-reference.com, where you can see every Vezina Trophy winner in chronological order. Did you know there were several years when more than one was awarded?
Follow @VinGetz| GOALIE | VEZINAS | TEAM | TROPHY SEASONS | |
| 1. | Jacques Plante | 7 | Montreal Canadiens | 1955-56 thru 1959-60, 1961-62 |
| St. Louis Blues | 1968-69 | |||
| 2. | Bill Durnan | 6 | Montreal Canadiens | 1943-44 thru 1946-47, 1948-49, 1949-50 |
| 2. | Dominik Hasek | 6 | Buffalo Sabres | 1993-94, 1994-95, 1996-97 thru 1998-99, 2000-01 |
| 4. | Ken Dryden | 5 | Montreal Canadiens | 1972-73, 1975-66 thru 1978-79 |
| 5. | Martin Brodeur | 4 | New Jersey Devils | 2002-03, 2003-04, 2006-07, 2007-08 |
| 5. | Michel Larocque | 4 | Montreal Candiens | 1976-77 thru 1978-79 |
| Montreal Canadiens / Toronto Maple Leafs | 1980-81 | |||
| 5. | Terry Sawchuk | 4 | Detroit Red Wings | 1951-52, 1952-53, 1954-55 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 1964-65 | |||
| 5. | Tiny Thompson | 4 | Boston Bruins | 1929-30, 1932-33, 1935-36, 1937-38 |
| 9. | George Hainsworth | 3 | Montreal Canadiens | 1926-27 thru 1928-29 |
| 9. | Glenn Hall | 3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 1962-63, 1966-67 |
| St. Louis Blues | 1968-69 | |||
| 9. | Patrick Roy | 3 | Montreal Canadiens | 1988-89, 1989-90, 1991-92 |
| 9. | Tony Esposito | 3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 1969-70, 1971-72, 1973-74 |
| 13. | Bernie Parent | 2 | Philadelphia Flyers | 1973-74, 1974-75 |
| 13. | Charlie Gardiner | 2 | Chicago Black Hawks | 1931-32, 1933-34 |
| 13. | Charlie Hodge | 2 | Montreal Candiens | 1963-64, 1965-66 |
| 13. | Ed Belfour | 2 | Chicago Blackhawks | 1990-91, 1992-93 |
| 13. | Frank Brimsek | 2 | Boston Bruins | 1938-39, 1941-42 |
| 13. | Gump Worsley | 2 | Montreal Canadiens | 1965-66, 1967-68 |
| 13. | Johnny Bower | 2 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 1960-61, 1964-65 |
| 13. | Tim Thomas | 2 | Boston Bruins | 2008-09, 2010-11 |
| 13. | Turk Broda | 2 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 1940-41, 1947-48 |
NHL: Martin Brodeur and Goalies with the Most Playoff Games Played
Martin Brodeur
Martin Brodeur has played in 198 playoff games, including tonight.
He’s just two away from becoming only the second goalie all-time with at least 200 playoff appearances.
And that would be a most exciting occurrence this year: it would mean either a Game 7 in the hotly contested Eastern Conference Finals between Brodeur’s New Jersey Devils and the rival New York Rangers, or depending on how this series goes, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the L.A. Kings.
Patrick Roy‘s 247 postseason games, while not really an “unbreakable” record, is going to be damn hard to catch.
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| 1. | Patrick Roy | 247 | Canadiens, Avalanche |
| 2. | Martin Brodeur | 198 | Devils |
| 3. | Ed Belfour | 161 | Blackhawks, Stars, Maple Leafs |
| 4. | Grant Fuhr | 150 | Oilers, Sabres, Blues |
| 5. | Mike Vernon | 138 | Flames, Red Wings, Sharks, Panthers |
| 6. | Curtis Joseph | 133 | Blues, Oilers, Maple Leafs, Red Wings, Flames |
| 7. | Billy Smith | 132 | Islanders |
| 7. | Andy Moog | 132 | Oilers, Bruins, Stars, Canadiens |
| 9. | Chris Osgood | 129 | Red Wings, Islanders, Blues |
| 10. | Dominik Hasek | 119 | Blackhawks, Sabres, Red Wings |
| 10. | Tom Barrasso | 119 | Sabres, Penguins, Senators |
| 12. | Glenn Hall | 115 | Red Wings, Black Hawks, Blues |
| 13. | Jacques Plante | 112 | Canadiens, Blues, Maple Leafs, Bruins |
| 13. | Ken Dryden | 112 | Canadiens |
| 15. | Terry Sawchuk | 106 | Red Wings, Maple Leafs, Kings, Rangers |
| 16. | Turk Broda | 101 | Maple Leafs |
| 17. | Tony Esposito | 99 | Black Hawks |
| 18. | Ron Hextall | 93 | Flyers, Nordiques, Islanders |
| 19. | Gerry Cheevers | 88 | Bruins |
| 20. | Kelly Hrudey | 85 | Islanders, Kings, Sharks |
Photo: zimbio.com
NHL: Martin Brodeur and the Most Postseason Shutouts by a Goalie
Martin Brodeur Breaks the Postseason Shutout Record
We’re in the midst of the 2011-12 NHL postseason and Sports List of the Day has been running down some all-time playoff stats.
We looked at the greatest scorers in playoff history. We checked out all the 8-seed over 1-seed upsets. Hell, we broke down all Cup winners by seed.
We determined who the greatest postseason goalies are in terms of saves and save percentage.
Let’s expand on that last one.
Which goalies have just been utterly dominant in the postseason? Who has the most playoff lockdowns?
Martin Brodeur just broke Patrick Roy’s record on Thursday with a 4-0 Game 4 Devils win over the Nashville Predators. Brodeur now has 24 postseason shutouts.
Here are all the goalies with at least 10 shutouts in the postseason. Many of the usual suspects feature.
Follow me on Twitter @VinGetz.
| 1. | Martin Brodeur | 24 |
| 2. | Patrick Roy | 23 |
| 3. | Curtis Joseph | 16 |
| 4. | Chris Osgood | 15 |
| 5. | Jacques Plante | 14 |
| 5. | Dominik Hasek | 14 |
| 5. | Ed Belfour | 14 |
| 8. | Turk Broda | 13 |
| 9. | Terry Sawchuk | 12 |
| 10. | Ken Dryden | 10 |
Photo: bostonherald.com
SPORTS LIST OF THE DAY 