quoipourquoi
Goaltender
I know this board tends to be very reluctant to rank Brodeur over any of the big 3 from the Original 6. Would someone care to make the case for Hall and/or Sawchuk over Brodeur?
This is going to be unfair to Brodeur, but because I've seen his entire career, I've disagreed with enough of his Vezina nominations to not necessarily think of him as a nine-time top-three goaltender. I agree with the increased difficulty of being that in a 30-team league however, so I can't deny the consistency he has displayed, even if it is at a slightly lesser level than some of the top-seven. I'm having a lot of trouble with my #4-#7 right now, and I felt really good about it a month ago.
1994 was the epic playoff series between the stacked Rangers and the Devils, so I don't think you can fault Brodeur for that.
He was so good at reading the Rangers in Game 7, and he didn't have a bad game all series.
Averaging stats don't take into account the fact that Brodeur played his best hockey when the series were on the line. Brodeur's save percentages in 2012:
Florida games 1-3: 0.868 ,
Florida games 4-7: 0.974, including winning game 7 in OT when the Devils were outshot 45-36.
Philadelphia games 1-3: 0.905
Philadelphia games 4-5: 0.940
Claude Giroux's headhot in game 4 that got him suspended in game 5 game from frustration immediately after Brodeur's puckhandling killed a dump in.
NY Rangers games 1-3: 0.917
NY Rangers games 4-6: 0.935
There's a reason Brodeur was widely considered one of several Smythe favorites by the media if the Devils won the finals.
I knew the number for the Florida series (though I had it at .950 in the final four games; and trust me, I was dancing a jig for having correctly predicted him to hit a hot streak in the playoffs), but I didn't have it for the other two series. Very interesting.