Fat Tony

Since I can remember, my favourite Habs goalies in the order I saw them were; Vachon, Dryden, Penney, Theodore, Price. Dryden was pretty much my reason for playing goal. I learned to appreciate Plante near the end of his career and because of his excellent and still somewhat relevant book on goaltending. Dryden's real gift was the ability to stand there leaning on his stick for 8 minutes and then make a heart stopping save. Any goalie will tell you that is a rare skill!

Wrong again my friend. I'm comparing how I PERSONALLY feel about the guy to how some currently feel about Emery. I respect his talent, didn't care for the way he conducted himself at times...at no point is there any comparison between Roy & Emery...merely a segue of my feelings toward him as a similarity to other folks feelings towards Emery. You've completely missed what I was trying to say and this is the 3rd time I've tried to explain it. I also held him and Tremblay equally responsible for the final meltdown...I've pretty much forgiven Roy over the years but Tremblay is dead to me That said, I was in the Forum in the 1993 playoffs cheering his every move, he was a Montreal Canadien after all.

Gotta love it!

A gamble like calling an all-in bet with 4 aces and a king kicker is a gamble

You do know that was 3 days ago, don't you Also the best name in sports.

I totally agree, his respect for Huet seemed to hold him back. Go figure.

This is a big one for him, the future elite vs the current elite...he has to be pumped.

I love that Price is standing up for himself and making the crease crashers pay...this is fairly new behavior for him.

Kovalev, both Titz and Price really suck too

Boo-urns, Boo-urns, Boo-urns, Boo-urns, Boo-urns, Boo-urns, Boo-urns, Boo-urns, Boo-urns!

Extremely sweet goal! Nice passing...

To stop this line of questioning in it's tracks, I never compared Emery with Roy in any way shape or form. That's what I mean about you manipulating my words. Here's EXACTLY what I said and I stand by the comment your honor

I'm not going to win with you because you're manipulating my words and taking everything 100% literally. Let's leave it that I didn't like Roy's arrogance and sometimes poor sportsmanship...btw, Roy didn't drive a hummer, he wasn't a boxer and he was a white guy if you're planning on going there next

Great thread and many compelling discussions. But I stand by my earlier sentiments that 30 somethings will choose Roy, 40 somethings will choose Dryden and 50ish (not quite there yet ) will choose Plante...all three were great and all three are worthy of consideration. In the case of too close to call, human nature is to go with the guy you grew up with I guess. But really, anyone much under 40 never saw Plante and probably can barely remember Dryden and I just don't think it's right to pick the best by stats alone...if you didn't see all three it's not fair to rule any one out IMHO. Therefore this discussion, while fun, will solve nothing. Now all we need is a 60 year old to say Gerry Mcneil was the greatest or a 70 year old to tell us all we're full of crap, there was nobody like Durnan or an 80 year old to say Wilf Cude was a God or a 90 year old to tell us we're all nuts it's Hainsworth or a 100 year old to tell us whippersnappers that Vezina's the man :lol:

I'm not for a second comparing Emery's & Roy's skills. Just making a comparison to their attitudes and how some fans feel about them. I don't buy that Roy's attitude made him what he was, it was a side show that was completely unnecessary and not becoming of the CH.

I mentioned Durnan in my first post and I agree he deserves consideration. But in my opinion he and Dryden both had too short careers to be all time greats...but they were both amazing for what, about 8 years. I was a big Dryden fan, in fact I dug up some old super 8 movies of me playing in 1973 and for the first time I realized how much I tried to copy Dryden I disliked Roy as a human being so much I actually stopped watching the Habs for his last few seasons. Stats are stats, but I feel the same way about Roy's arrogance and poor sportsmanship as many feel about Ray Emery these days. My personal feelings aside, you can't argue that at worst he's a top 5 goalie of all time and his number is worthy of retirement...in fact I believe he's the only Habs to EVER wear 33. Plante is was and will always be my choice however

See, I knew we'd end up on the same page

I agree with your logic, but I'm sticking with Plante...I will give that Roy is probably my 2nd choice. There's just too many great goalies that did different things so well. I may have to give Roy the edge over just about anyone in being amazing in clutch situations, and that is arguably the most important aspect in an NHL goalie.

:lol:

Best avatar EVER!

Ya, I knew you were going to come after me when I said "on the planet", hell I would have too Tretiak had a few great outings, but I (and likely all of us) never saw enough of him to deem him all time great. Same goes for all of Europe, 99.99999% of us North Americans only saw NHL and local minor hockey back then. And to be honest, I never in my life have proclaimed any goalie or player to be the best in the world all time...it comes down to best of an era for me. I agree with you 100% that this is a subjective and un-winable discussion, I've already said that. As for dropping all the guys on the ice at the same time to embarrass the original 6 goalies...I think that's completely unfair. Look at the differences in equipment and training techniques, it's not a level playing field. Now, if you airlifted young Plante, Sawchuck & Hall into todays NHL with todays equipment and the benefit of todays training techniques for their whole life...lookout! But I wholeheartedly agree with your evolution theory As for Lumley's .500 win record, not fair again as he played on some lousy teams, as did Gump. More fair to look at their career regular season goals against avg in my opinion. 1955/56 number 1 Goalies career averages Rollins 2.79 Sawchuck 2.52 Plante 2.38 Worsley 2.87 Hall 2.51 Lumley 2.76 Wamsley, you know your stuff and it's a pleasure to occasionally disagree with you I respect your opinion and how you came up with it.

I have to disagree. In the 6 team league you were competing against likely the other 5 best goalies on the planet, not in a watered down NHL with maybe 4 really great guys and 70 average or sub average. To me, to win 6 Vezinas with the 6 greatest goalies in the world competing is pretty impressive. As a side note, lets agree to reconvene in 19 years where we can add Carey Price to this debate

While legend says he was a great goalie, the trophy was likely dedicated to him because he died of tuberculosis while an active player, not for what he acomplished on the ice. As for the equipment, if I remember my history, not only were the shots considerably softer, they rarely left the ice. Still hats off to standing in front of ANY shots with that little gear...I wouldn't even play ball hockey with a tennis ball dressed like Vezina This thread is pretty predictable, no offence meant to anyone by that. Habs fans under 30 are pretty much all going to say Patrick Roy because he is what they saw and statistically he holds many of the records. It also doesn't hurt that Canadian media (many also under 30) tell us that Roy is the definitive best ever. But sorry, it ain't that easy. Vezina was the best of his era, Durnan was likely the best of his era, Plante arguably the best of his era, Dryden probably the best of his very short stint, Roy and Brodeur duke it out for the best of the passing era. The only way to definitively say who the best of all time is to use a time machine, get them all together at the same age, same equipment and face the same shooters. Seriously, how good would Plante, Sawchuck, Vezina, Durnan, Hall and the like be in todays equipment with todays training techniques? By the same token, how good would Roy, Brodeur, Hasek, Belfour, Cujo have been wearing the equipment of 50 years ago with no coaching and being replaced after an off game? In my opinion there really is no way to pick the best of all time. Each person is free to offer their opinion of the best they've ever personally seen.

Plante hands down...and I did see him play a fair bit. A truly great goalie who played 18 seasons in the days before bulletproof equipment. 7 vezina's, 9 all star games (as near as I can tell), a Hart trophy, 6 Stanley Cups including an incredible 5 in a row. He was such an innovator, the first to play the puck regularly outside the crease, first to wear a mask, he truly revolutionized the position an all that follow owe him a large thank you. My honorable mentions go to Roy, Sawchuck, Brodeur, Hall, Parent...Dryden, Esposito & Hasek don't make my list although I respect they will make many people's list. Durnan, Vezina, Broda, and many other old timers are worthy of consideration, but I never saw them play. I will say that Roy may be the best clutch goalie I ever saw but over all I still personally go with Plante. Mostly it's very tough to pick the ultimate best because there were true greats from every era and each era placed different demands on the goalies.