Real quick one on Durnan. I can add to it later. I am pretty convinced to the point that I'm certain he was better than Broda, but am unsure of how he compares to Brimsek. For whatever it's worth, Durnan was the first of the big three goalies of the era to get inducted to the Hall, with his induction in 1964, Brimsek's in 1966, and Broda's in 1967. Whenever the top goaltenders are brought up in books, newspapers, etc. it's always Durnan and Brimsek that are brought up, not Broda. Broda was certainly a money goalie, but was not better than the other two.
Bill Durnan
Vezina Trophy winner: 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950
Hart Trophy Voting: 2, 3, 5, 8, 8,
All-Star Voting: 1 (1944, war year unanimous), 1 (1945, war year, unanimous), 1 (1946), 1 (1947), 1 (1949), 1 (1950), 3 (1948),
LOH:
Bill Durnan entered the professional game late and didn't stay for long, but he packed an entire career's worth of awards and recognition into his seven National Hockey League seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. He won the Vezina Trophy as the league's top netminder an amazing six times, missing out on the award only once when Toronto's Turk Broda borrowed it in 1948.
In 1936, the ambidextrous Durnan played hockey in the northern Ontario league with the Kirkland Lake Blue Devils. He spent four seasons with the Devils, backstopping the team to the Allan Cup in 1940. Friends in Montreal convinced him to take a job with the Royals in that city following his success with Kirkland Lake. After three years in the Quebec senior league he finally caught the attention of a National Hockey League team when the Montreal Canadiens began noticing the goalie star in their own backyard.
Incredibly, the rookie netminder was a few months shy of his 29th birthday.
That first season the Canadiens had the offensive services of the Punch Line - Elmer Lach, Rocket Richard and Toe Blake - but it was the often spectacular play of Durnan that took Montreal back to the Stanley Cup after 13 years of frustration. He led the league in games played, wins and goals-against average in the regular season and in the playoffs, when he allowed only 1.53 goals per game as the Canadiens skated to the title. Durnan was awarded the Vezina Trophy, the first rookie to win the award, and was selected to the league's First All-Star Team.
Durnan was an easygoing man, friendly and calm, but over time the stress of playing - and the mental and physical toll of so many minutes and games between the posts - began to wear him down. In 1950 he abruptly retired from the game at the age of 35, while still in his prime
Pelletier on Greatest Hockey Legends:
Durnan had a very peculiar trait that helped him excel: he was ambidextrous. Instead of wearing a blocker, he'd wear gloves on both hands. He would then switch which hand he used to hold the stick depending on which side of the rink the opposition was attacking from. Thus, the shooter would always be facing his big glove. He became known as Dr. Strange-Glove
Although his career lasted only 7 seasons, it was long enough to earn him top consideration as perhaps the greatest goalie in hockey history. He won the Vezina trophy in his rookie season, and would win the Vezina every year he played in the league except one. He was a 6 time First Team All Star and led the Habs to two Stanley Cup championships.
Playoff Performance:
One thing overblown about Durnan is his playoff record. He seems to have been the same or slightly better in the playoffs throughout his career outside of his final season, which will be delved into later. During his first 4 playoff appearances, his GAA went down in the playoffs, three times by the considerable margin of .4 Goals against per game. The fifth playoffs he appeared in his GAA only went up .01 goals against per game. The final season was obviously a disaster, but for his career his GAA in the playoffs went down .29. For his career, his GAA in the playoffs is only .09 higher than Broda's in the playoffs throughout their overlapping careers (taking away that final season from Durnan, he is equal to Broda's 1.98 career GAA, but that's not fair to do in my opinion). Now of course, the Canadiens had a stronger defense, meaning these numbers aren't the be-all-end-all in comparison to Broda, and Broda was a better playoff goalie than Durnan. But Durnan was far from a slouch in the playoffs, and I actually believe him to be a solid playoff goalie.
Hal Walker said:
Over the years, I've seen some great playoff goaltending from the likes of Bill Durnan, Turk Broda, Tiny Thompson, Frank Brimsek, Glenn Hall, Terry Sawchuk and Ken Dryden to name a few...
Contemporary Quotes on his level of Greatness:
Ottawa Citizen February 6, 1945
Bill Durnan, says Dick Irvin - who should know or may be prejudiced, depending on the way you look at it – is “the best goaler in 20 years in the National Hockey League.â€
The coach admits he’s taking in a wide territory with that “20 years†business, but adds that he has formed his opinion while fully aware of the merits of such stars as Charlie Gardiner, Frankie Brimsek, Johnny Mowers, George Hainsworth and Turk Broda.
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, March 20, 1946
The National Hockey League announced its first 1945-46 season trophy winner Tuesday night, and it came as a surprise to no one to learn that Big Bill Durnan , goaltender for the champion Montreal Canadiens was awarded the Vezina Trophy
The Montreal Gazette, April 9, 1946 (Playing the Field by Dink Carroll)
If there has ever been any better goaltending exhibited in a Stanley Cup Final than that offered by Bill Durnan and Frankie Brimsek, no one can recall it. These two are high on the all-time list of great goaltenders.
The Calgary Herald, November 14, 1949
Big Bill Durnan has proven again that he’s just about the “hottest†goaler ever to don pads in the National Hockey League.
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, January 19,1950
Big Bill Durnan, as good a goalie as can be found anywhere, wielded his shutout brush again Wednesday night…
The Leader Post, July 13, 1950
Durnan told Frank Selke, Montreal Canadiens’ general manager Wednesday that he is through. Said Durnan, “I could never stand another season. My nerves are all shot and I know it.â€
Boston Globe, November 5, 1961
Chicago's Glenn Hall is regarded by a good many competent students as the best minder of a major league net since Montreal's Bill Durnan.
Pelletier on how Durnan’s career ended:
Durnan left the game he loved because of the pressures involved in tending the net.
"Hockey started to get rough for me at the end of the 40's. I had broken my hand and after it mended it felt as if my arm was falling off whenever I'd catch the puck," said Durnan. "One of my main reasons for chucking it all was because the fun was going out of the game for me. A lot of my old pals were leaving - or had gone - and much of the camaraderie was missing."
Durnan also cited the money as a reason he got out of hockey.
"My reflexes had gotten a little slow and, besides, the money wasn't really that good. I'll admit, if they were paying the kind of money goaltenders get today, they'd have had to shoot me to get me out of the game! But at the end of any given season when I was playing I never seemed to have more than $2000 in the bank, so I wasn't really getting anywhere that way. I wasn't educated and I had two girls to raise."
Things came to a head in the 1950 playoffs against the New York Rangers however. The Rangers were on the verge of an upset when they had the Habs on the brink of elimination 3 games to 1. Durnan pulled himself from the series.
"I was afraid I was blowing things. I really wasn't, I guess, but we hadn't won a game and I didn't want to be blamed for it. And I felt I wasn't playing as well as I did in the past.. The nerves and all the accompanying crap were built up. It was the culmination of a lot of thinking and I realized 'What the hell, I'm quitting and this is as good as time as any'"
Gerry McNeil stepped in and finished the playoffs.
"A lot of people thought it was a nervous breakdown but it wasn't. To this day, people still won't believe me."
Maurice Richard, on Bill Durnan in
The Flying Frenchmen by he and Stan Fischler sums up Bill Durnan nicely. He starts it by talking about the 1950 series where Durnan had his troubles, but then goes into his opinion on Durnan and Durnan's style:
With Durnan in the nets, we lost the first three games of the series. The Montreal fans were unmerciful. Finally, Irvin threw McNeil in for the fourth game and we won, but New York bounced back and took the fifth game, and we were eliminated from the play-offs. Durnan couldn't take the punishment from the fans anymore, so he quit. On top of that, he had had a lot of trouble with his knees and they were hurting him so it was all for the best that he got out of the game. But as far as I'm concerned, Durnan was the best goaltender I've ever seen, with Boston's Frankie Brimsek right behind.
What put Durnan head and shoulders above the others was his style. He could switch hands with ease and use either his left or his right glove to spear shots. Very few goaltenders have ever been ambidextrous like Durnan and none has ever mastered the art the way he did. He'd rarely commit himself on a play and had a great knack of waiting for the forward to make the first move, which was the reason he was so hard to beat on breakaways. Brimsek was almost the same, but he could only use one hand.
In the same book, Stan Fischler comments on Durnan's ability, this about the 1946 season:
Goalie Bill Durnan, already acclaimed as the greatest since Vezina and possibly even better than Vezina...
Durnan won the Vezina Trophy for the third consecutive time and was now regarded as superior to Vezina.
Hockey Hall of Famer Jim Coleman named his team of the past twenty years (so from approximately 1940-1963):
Jim Coleman said:
If I was picking an all-star hockey team, over the past 20 years, I'd put Milt Schmidt at centre. For that matter, I'd put Bill Durnan in goal, Babe Pratt and Doug Harvey on the defense....
