"Subjective" is the key to success, in the right hands.
I completely missed that post yesterday because it got sandwiched in between a couple, but do you mind sharing a bit more about this process of yours? A link is fine if it's already been fleshed out. I don't necessarily need a whole treatise (though, I would read it), but just an idea on what the key points are to your process would be cool to see.
It's not something I could publish, really... It's not a hard science. I'm just looking at each season individually. Looking at stats and awards, taking goalies who had both the numbers and some voting going for them. Then I look at their playoffs and international play.
That gives me several tiers of best goalies in whatever season I've just explored. And I put the non-NHL Euros into those tiers. I'm keeping in mind the averages of how well the 1st / 2nd / 3rd best Euro goalie played in NHL between 1991-2024 (the average Vezina votes for Europeans over 30+year time span). How often a European goalie won the Vezina post-1991.. This all gives me a range where a 1st / 2nd / 3rd Euro goalie usually placed. So it's taking actual results of Europeans in a consolidated global NHL after 1991 and applying that to pre-1991 seasons.
How to evaluate an individual 70s-80s Euro goalie season, like Tretiak in 1977 or 1981 or 1973.. comes down to how signficant that goalie's season was. Comparatively to other goalies that season, comparatively to that goalie's previous seasons, comparatively to other skaters.. So was Tretiak a clear #1 goalie in a XXXX season? Was he a #2? Obviously you have seasons where can't make that judgment. Rather you see a tier of 2-3 Russian, Czech, Swedish goalies looking the same.
So it's very subjective, naturally.. But it also forces me to look for details which is fun (and brings attention to less known goalies who starred briefly for few seasons like Högosta, like Palmateer).
But to be bit more concrete.. Take 1983 as an example. Soviet media members voted Tretiak the nation's best player in 1983 (over all of Green Unit members in their prime), I'll take a note.. Then I'll look at those Izvestia votings, this time various European writers voting, and I see Tretiak 1st once more (against the top skaters of other nations). That's pretty good, making note to myself.. I'll see the stats for that year's World championship, I see 0.973. Nice, nice.. I see the all-star vote of that tournament, and see Tretiak cleared it too.
I recognize this as one of the best individual non-NHL goaltending seasons ever. If a goalie was on par with every other skater (not just netminders), that means a lot. So going to 1983 NHL goalies, I won't put Tretiak somewhere below the 1st tier, saying he was 4th or 7th.. No. I'm thinking one of the greatest goalie season outside NHL must be either 1st or 2nd at worst. That's how I treated Tretiak 1981-1984 seasons.
He had an impressive rookie season. What more can I say?
Reading Eagle. April 12, 1977
"This season Thomas played behind Mike Palmateer, and he was on the bench when the Leafs took the ice in Monday's quarterfinal playoff opener against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Spectrum. Palmateer had become the darling of the fans at Maple Leaf Gardens."
Toledo Blade. April 19, 1977
"Ironically, Leach, one of the most powerful goal scorers in the league, burned Toronto goalie Mike Palmateer with two tantalizing short shots that almost crawled into the net. Otherwise, Palmateer, a rookie, was even more sensational than Stevenson as the Leafs' goalie stopped 37 other Flyers' shots. Several times he was almost knocked his net by the force of bullet-like Philadelphia drives."
Ellensburg Daily Record. February 1, 1977
"The Atlanta Flames beat Toronto, 73, Monday night and both sides agreed Maple Leafs' goalie Mike Palmateer was brilliant. Although seven shots got by him, he turned back 41 others. Toronto coach Red Kelly said Palmateer 'was one of the few playing well tonight. We were struggling.'"
The Montreal Gazette, January 29, 1977
"Palmateer has been a surprise find for the Maple Leafs after starting out this season in the minors. He has replaced Wayne Thomas as the club's No. 1 goaltender and has 17 victories against nine losses and three ties. 'He's played just great for us,' coach Red Kelly said. 'Look at his record and at the kind of teams he's played. He's beaten the Islanders twice and shut out Montreal (1-0). He's been in some tough spots and came out winning. He's a big reason the club got turn around.'"