I'm not saying don't rank Kralik, I'm just arguing that maybe Irbe should be higher. Part of this comes down to how you rate peak vs. career, and how you interpret career arcs (I'm not saying we should completely distrust late bloomers, but everything counts, and most goalies don't get the framing of "look at these 3 good years and ignore the rest"). It also has to do with how you rate the depth of the goalie talent pool in 1985 vs. the 1990s/2000s.
Kralik's domestic play is absolutely important to consider, and I agree it makes him a serious candidate for the list. But with respect to his international career, he also has the following on his record:
1979 WC: Arguably the worst performance by a Czechoslovakian starting goalie from 1964-1992 at a WC, including 24 saves on 34 shots in two GP against the Soviets
1980 Olympics: Arguably the worst performance by a Czechoslovakian starting goalie from 1964-1992 at an Olympics, with 11 GA in the 2 crucial games against USA/Sweden
1981 Canada Cup: Plays 19 minutes backing up Karel Lang
1984 Canada Cup: Either doesn't make the team or doesn't play
1984 Olympics: Plays 1 game and shuts out Austria, Jaromir Sindel plays the rest and puts up a 1.50/.954
And that's pretty much it, other than some Izvestia appearances where he mostly did well against Sweden/Finland and less so against the Soviets.
Arturs Irbe, on the other hand, burst onto the scene at the age of 21 while touring with Dynamo Riga in the 1988 Super Series against NHLers where he was widely praised, playing behind a relatively weak squad. He then had a short but seemingly strong run on a great team very early in his international career for the USSR:
1.72/.926 in 3 GP at the 1989 WC
1.60 GAA in 5 GP at the 1989 Izvestia
0.95/.950 in 6 GP at the 1990 WC
1.35/.930 in 5 GP at the 1990 Goodwill Games
He then played for Latvia where he led them to the world championship A group in 1996 and then proceeded to do this over the rest of his career:
World Championships for Latvia, 1997-2005:
Irbe: 21-13-7, 2.36, .913
Everyone else: 2-14-1, 3.83, .867
Obviously Irbe's backups are replacement level at best but his defence wasn't anything special either, and that gives him success on both powerhouses and underdogs. Hence why I'd argue that Irbe had the better international career (and definitely the more consistently strong one), even if you view Kralik as having a higher peak.
I agree ranking Irbe or Králík (and any other goalie) depends on what a voter is looking for in a goalie. I definitely prefer goalies with a staying power, longevity, with consistent performances through multiple eras.. goalies who maintain their level in high leverage games..
So I should clarify why I even included Králík on my list. Although his case rests on 3 great seasons, I don't want to create a picture where he was a bush league goalie through all of his other years.
There are some positive indications of his talent from late 60s till mid 70s but Králík truly became relevant in 1977. He led the league in SV% (over Holeček, Dzurilla, Crha..) and received decent Golden Stick support in spite of not playing anything international yet.
Králík was Holeček's backup in the National team during the 1978 season but at the last minute before the Championship, coaches went back to Jiří Crha whom they took as a 2nd goalie. (Crha would later emigrate and play 2 seasons for Toronto).
In 1979, Králík's recorded the single-season best SV% in the Czechoslovak league. His 0.9379 % exceeded the best individual seasons' SV% of Holeček, Dzurilla and other 60s-70s goalies as well as Hašek's later in the 80s. No other Czechoslovak goalie in the league brought forth the SV% as high as '79 Králík..
Which brings me to my point. How to rate this season? I'm afraid a lot of people would look at Králík's premiere at the '79 WHC and scratch that season off as "zero value". You correctly point out Králík didn't play well at the Championship (and played even worse a year later at Lake Placid) but he also displayed one of the best goaltending on a domestic level comparable to Holeček or Hašek's top performances.
Králík's play at the league level was good enough to secure him 4th place in the Golden Stick voting for both 1979 and 1980 in spite of disappointing or just outright terrible play at the Championship and Olympics.
Just to avoid misunderstanding, I'm not saying you, or anybody else in this thread, is stating this binary view I've just described. I only used your response to add more nuance to Králík's career.
And to defend me ranking Králík above Irbe despite the latter being an NHL calibre goalie for longer.
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I'm glad you're bringing Irbe's international play. Irbe had very good 1990 WHC for Soviets and always played great for Latvia for a decade. I'm all for counting international tournaments post-1990. Some goalies made a great name for themselves thanks to multiple international achievements. Quality of those tournaments varied but the mental pressure put on goalies by the local fans was large. Off the top of my head goalies who performed well on this level were Pekka Rinne, Tommy Salo, Tomas Vokoun, Henrik Lundqvist, Niklas Backstrom, Vasilevskiy.. From North America, Price, Luongo, Brodeur, Ranford had a few great tournaments.. I'm sure I forgot some more..