Who are the worst goalies of all time to play in the Cup Final?

[BillyOcean]

MAF. He melted down in all 3 he actually played in

 

[Bleedred]

This is definitely the worst since the 2010 Niemi vs Leighton cup finals.

If Bussi had been playing the entire playoffs I think I’d be a bit more lenient in saying that, but Andersen + Carter Hart is completely mediocre. Don’t care how good either were coming into the finals, both were horrific in the regular season. It was only a matter of time before one of them got plastered, if not both of them.

I went over every cup finals goalie matchup since 2010 in a post earlier in the playoffs and there was always at least one Vezina winning and or HOF/repeat cup winner in every finals between 2011 and 2025.

2016 with rookie Matt Murray vs Martin Jones looks pretty weak right now, but let the record reflect that Murray had an overly impressive start to his NHL career and won the cup again the next year, though he didn’t clinch the first two rounds because he was injured.

2006 was probably the last cup finals with a team switching goalie mid-finals like this. It was for injury that time. Vasilevskiy did start a game for the injured Ben Bishop in the 2015 cup finals, but they did go back to Bishop before it ended.

 

[Bleedred]

Thomas vs Luongo
Quick vs Brodeur
Crawford vs Rask
Quick vs Lundqvist
Crawford vs Bishop
Murray vs Jones
Murray vs Rinne
Holtby vs Fleury
Binnington vs Rask
Vasilevskiy vs Khudobin
Vasilevskiy vs Price
Kuemper vs Vasilevskiy
Hill vs Bobrovsky
Bobrovsky vs Skinner
Bobrovsky vs Skinner

2011-2015 were all really banger matchups. Every cup finals making starting goalie in that 5 years was at least elite at one point, even if not during those playoffs or that point in their careers. The ones who didn’t make the HOF will just barely miss.

Khudobin is probably the most random goalie. Maybe the weakest career of that bunch.

I keep forgetting 2022 with Kuemper. And that was one of the weakest playoff runs for a cup winning goalie. He had nothing to do with that win and was injured for a decent stretch of that playoffs where another goalie played who Colorado also won in spite of.

Skinner has gotta be the worst goalie starting goalie of all time with back to back cup finals appearances.

 

[Bleedred]

MAF. He melted down in all 3 he actually played in

I thought he was good in the 2008 playoffs, but perhaps his numbers in the finals specifically weren’t as good. Same with 2018.

His 2009 playoffs was one of the more mediocre runs until Kuemper’s in 2022. But he may have had stronger numbers in the finals than the prior rounds.

 

[joestevens29]

Apparently the ones this year

 

[SammySalo]

Since the big lockout, Leighton vs Niemi has to be the worst matchup. Fleury was also terrible in the finals vs the Wings, but Osgood was actually really good those runs IIRC.

 

[Boreal01]

Since the big lockout, Leighton vs Niemi has to be the worst matchup. Fleury was also terrible in the finals vs the Wings, but Osgood was actually really good those runs IIRC.

Osgood was much better in 2009

 

[wgknestrick]

This is definitely the worst since the 2010 Niemi vs Leighton cup finals.

If Bussi had been playing the entire playoffs I think I’d be a bit more lenient in saying that, but Andersen + Carter Hart is completely mediocre. Don’t care how good either were coming into the finals, both were horrific in the regular season. It was only a matter of time before one of them got plastered, if not both of them.

I went over every cup finals goalie matchup since 2010 in a post earlier in the playoffs and there was always at least one Vezina winning and or HOF/repeat cup winner in every finals between 2011 and 2025.

2016 with rookie Matt Murray vs Martin Jones looks pretty weak right now, but let the record reflect that Murray had an overly impressive start to his NHL career and won the cup again the next year, though he didn’t clinch the first two rounds because he was injured.

2006 was probably the last cup finals with a team switching goalie mid-finals like this. It was for injury that time. Vasilevskiy did start a game for the injured Ben Bishop in the 2015 cup finals, but they did go back to Bishop before it ended.

Murray was an S-tier goalie (2016-17) .923+.937 until he got CTE'd (knee in the head multiple times).

 

[Bleedred]

Murray was an S-tier goalie (2016-17) .923+.937 until he got CTE'd (knee in the head multiple times).

That’s what I’m saying. He had the best start to a career of any goalie since Brodeur. But he also had a peak almost as short as Jim Carey’s and a very abrupt decline due to injuries.

 

[Xelebes]

It's Forrest Albert. Let's not be silly.

 

[JianYang]

I seem to recall hextall in 97 was awful. I know he won a conn smythe a decade earlier though.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Yeah Niemi was nothing spectacular but he was not a bad goalie, he was a bit hit or miss in the playoffs for Sharks but nothing out of the ordinary or particularly bad. It wasn't until the last few years of his career, Dallas and beyond when he started to suck.

He was always pretty bad, he just played behind some great teams at times.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

It’s still pretty funny a hall of fame goalie has the worst statistical run as a cup winning goalie

It's really not remarkable at all. The lowest SV% was going to happen in the 80s. And the Oilers played a more open style than the Islanders and Canadiens, the only other teams who won while scoring was at an all time high. That's all there is to it.

 

[Vegaspunk]

MAF. He melted down in all 3 he actually played in

Lmao what he was better than Osgood in 2008 and only had 1 real bad game in 2009, not even close to melting down