#46 - Bill Durnan

Bill Durnan (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #46)

Adjusted Stats

1943-1944  Mtl*     82 GP, 62-8-11, .833 win%, 4920 min, 135 GA, 1.64 GAA
1944-1945  Mtl       82 GP, 62-13-7, .799 win%, 4920 min, 166 GA, 2.02 GAA
1945-1946  Mtl*     66 GP, 39-18-8, .662 win%, 3936 min, 157 GA, 2.39 GAA
1946-1947  Mtl       82 GP, 46-22-14, .646 win%, 4920 min, 184 GA, 2.24 GAA
1947-1948  Mtl       81 GP, 27-38-14, .430 win%, 4790 min, 232 GA, 2.91 GAA
1948-1949  Mtl       82 GP, 38-31-12, .543 win%, 4920 min, 195 GA, 2.38 GAA
1949-1950  Mtl       75 GP, 30-25-20, .533 win%, 4498 min, 186 GA, 2.48 GAA

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1943-1944   Mtl*     9 GP, 8-1, .889 win%, 549 min, 14 GA, 1.54 GAA
1944-1945   Mtl       6 GP, 2-4, .333 win%, 373 min, 17 GA, 2.77 GAA
1945-1946   Mtl*     9 GP, 8-1, .889 win%, 581 min, 17 GA, 1.79 GAA
1946-1947   Mtl       11 GP, 6-5, .545 win%, 720 min, 25 GA, 2.05 GAA
1948-1949   Mtl       7 GP, 3-4, .429 win%, 468 min, 20 GA, 2.51 GAA
1949-1950   Mtl       3 GP, 0-3, .000 win%, 180 min, 13 GA, 4.34 GAA

Career - 550 GP, 304-155-86, .637 win%, 32904 min, 1255 GA, 2.29 GAA
Career-Highs - 82 GP (many times); 4920 min (many times); 62 wins (43-44); .833 win% (43-44); 1.64 GAA (43-44)
Avg. (7 seasons) - 79 GP, 43-22-12, .637 win%, 4701 min, 179 GA, 2.29 GAA
Peak Avg. (43-50) - 79 GP, 43-22-12, .637 win%, 4701 min, 179 GA, 2.29 GAA, 2 Cups

Playoff Career - 45 GP, 27-18, .600 win%, 2871 min, 106 GA, 2.22 GAA
Playoff-Highs - 8 wins (twice); .889 win% (twice); 1.54 GAA (43-44)

Accolades - 6 Vezina Trophies
All-Star Teams - 6-time 1st-team
2-time Stanley Cup Champion

We close out Level 4 with the best goaltender of the 1940s, an earlier generation's Ken Dryden. Bill Durnan came into the league late, at age 28, burst onto the scene with the greatest season (even when adjusted) that any goaltender has ever put up (62 wins when prorated to an 82-game schedule, a remarkable 1.64 GAA), and within seven years was out of the league.

The career arc is very Drydenesque, but the reasons for leaving could not be more different. Dryden retired young with his love of the game still intact. The issue for him was that he was a Renaissance Man whose interest in pursuing other walks of life eventually dwarfed his interest in continuing to play hockey professionally. Conversely, Durnan quit on his team in the middle of a playoff series! In a semifinal series against the New York Rangers, Durnan upped and retired, citing stress and frazzled nerves as the reason.

How could I put a guy who retired mid-playoffs in Level 4? Well, I'm prepared to give a pass to a goaltender for retiring from stress if it occurred before 1960, considering that goaltenders didn't wear masks until that time. I think having a black stone shot at my face for seven years would make me a little queasy as well. Granted, others persevered, but perhaps it just wasn't in Durnan's character. Either way, Durnan made up for it in the time when he was in the league: six all-star apperances in seven years, two Stanley Cups, and an adjusted average of 43 wins per year (highest all-time).

So why isn't Durnan even higher? The shortness of the career, for one thing. But also a few blips: the Canadiens should have won three straight Cups from 1944-1946, but Durnan led a choke job in 1945 as the Habs, having cruised to the regular season's best record, lost in six games in the first round to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had finished with a record barely above .500. Although two Stanley Cups is impressive, I get the feeling that if Durnan had been a tad more clutch come postseason time (not that his 27-18 record is anything to sneeze at), the Canadiens would have had a dynasty in the 1940s to rival the ones in the late 1950s and mid-1970s.

Nevertheless, Durnan's career is like Dryden's in that he accomplished more than almost any goaltender has within an extremely brief period of time. Durnan, Plante, Dryden, Roy...it's really not fair when you think about it how blessed the Canadiens have been with elite goaltenders. They churn them out like the Yankees used to churn out superstar outfielders (Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle). Bill Durnan may not have had the same type of personality as his successors, but nervous or not, he got the job done.