#8 - Patrick Roy

Patrick Roy (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #8)

Adjusted Stats

1984-1985  Mtl        1 GP, 1-0-0, 1.000 win%, 21 min, 0 GA, 0.00 GAA
1985-1986  Mtl*      48 GP, 24-18-3, .567 win%, 2717 min, 118 GA, 2.59 GAA
1986-1987  Mtl        47 GP, 23-16-6, .578 win%, 2753 min, 131 GA, 2.45 GAA
1987-1988  Mtl        46 GP, 24-12-9, .633 win%, 2651 min, 106 GA, 2.40 GAA
1988-1989  Mtl        49 GP, 34-5-6, .822 win%, 2813 min, 95 GA, 2.03 GAA
1989-1990  Mtl        55 GP, 32-16-5, .651 win%, 3252 min, 115 GA, 2.11 GAA
1990-1991  Mtl        49 GP, 26-15-6, .617 win%, 2906 min, 117 GA, 2.41 GAA
1991-1992  Mtl        69 GP, 37-23-8, .603 win%, 4033 min, 140 GA, 2.09 GAA
1992-1993  Mtl*      61 GP, 30-24-5, .551 win%, 3509 min, 159 GA, 2.72 GAA
1993-1994  Mtl        66 GP, 34-17-11, .637 win%, 3775 min, 149 GA, 2.37 GAA
1994-1995  Mtl        73 GP, 29-34-10, .466 win%, 4389 min, 223 GA, 3.06 GAA
1995-1996  Mtl/Col*61 GP, 34-24-2, .567 win%, 3565 min, 161 GA, 2.72 GAA
1996-1997  Col        62 GP, 38-15-7, .692 win%, 3698 min, 151 GA, 2.45 GAA
1997-1998  Col        65 GP, 31-19-3, .613 win%, 3835 min, 178 GA, 2.79 GAA
1998-1999  Col        61 GP, 32-19-8, .610 win%, 3648 min, 162 GA, 2.67 GAA
1999-2000  Col        63 GP, 32-21-8, .590 win%, 3704 min, 158 GA, 2.56 GAA
2000-2001  Col*      62 GP, 40-13-7, .725 win%, 3585 min, 147 GA, 2.47 GAA
2001-2002  Col        63 GP, 32-23-8, .571 win%, 3773 min, 143 GA, 2.28 GAA
2002-2003  Col        63 GP, 35-15-13, .659 win%, 3769 min, 159 GA, 2.53 GAA

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1985-1986  Mtl*       20 GP, 15-5, .750 win%, 1218 min, 34 GA, 1.66 GAA
1986-1987  Mtl         6 GP, 4-2, .667 win%, 330 min, 20 GA, 3.58 GAA
1987-1988  Mtl         8 GP, 3-4, .429 win%, 430 min, 18 GA, 2.52 GAA
1988-1989  Mtl         19 GP, 13-6, .684 win%, 1206 min, 36 GA, 1.80 GAA
1989-1990  Mtl         11 GP, 5-6, .455 win%, 641 min, 22 GA, 2.06 GAA
1990-1991  Mtl         13 GP, 7-5, .583 win%, 785 min, 34 GA, 2.61 GAA
1991-1992  Mtl         11 GP, 4-7, .364 win%, 686 min, 26 GA, 2.29 GAA
1992-1993  Mtl*       20 GP, 16-4, .800 win%, 1293 min, 38 GA, 1.75 GAA
1993-1994  Mtl         6 GP, 3-3, .500 win%, 375 min, 16 GA, 2.52 GAA
1995-1996  Col*       22 GP, 16-6, .727 win%, 1454 min, 49 GA, 2.01 GAA
1996-1997  Col         17 GP, 10-7, .588 win%, 1034 min, 40 GA, 2.32 GAA
1997-1998  Col         7 GP, 3-4, .429 win%, 430 min, 20 GA, 2.80 GAA
1998-1999  Col         19 GP, 11-8, .579 win%, 1173 min, 57 GA, 2.92 GAA
1999-2000  Col         17 GP, 11-6, .647 win%, 1039 min, 37 GA, 2.15 GAA
2000-2001  Col*       23 GP, 16-7, .696 win%, 1451 min, 48 GA, 1.99 GAA
2001-2002  Col         21 GP, 11-10, .524 win%, 1241 min, 62 GA, 2.99 GAA
2002-2003  Col         7 GP, 3-4, .429 win%, 423 min, 19 GA, 2.71 GAA

Career - 1064 GP, 568-329-125, .617 win%, 62396 min, 2612 GA, 2.51 GAA
Avg. (18 seasons) - 59 GP, 32-18-7, .617 win%, 3465 min, 145 GA, 2.51 GAA
Career-Highs - 73 GP (94-95); 40 wins (00-01); .822 win% (88-89); 4389 min (94-95); 2.03 GAA (88-89)
Peak Avg. (86-94) - 55 GP, 30-16-7, .632 win%, 3212 min, 127 GA, 2.36 GAA, 1 Cup

Playoff Career - 247 GP, 151-94, .616 win%, 15209 min, 576 GA, 2.27 GAA
Playoff-Highs - 16 wins (3 times); .800 win% (92-93); 1.66 GAA (85-86)

Accolades - 3 Vezina Trophies, 5 Jennings Trophies, 3 Conn Smythes
All-Star Teams - 5-time 1st-team, 2-time 2nd-team
4-time Stanley Cup Champion

Oh, this one hurts. To place Patrick Roy at #8 all-time, ahead of Martin Brodeur as the greatest goaltender of all time, is an act of self-treachery. Brodeur is my favourite sports athlete of all-time, and in many circles is regarded as the greatest goaltender, so why wouldn't I cheat a little bit and place him ahead of Roy? Well, because part of constructing this pyramid is putting aside personal biases and focusing on the reality. And the reality is that Patrick Roy, not Martin Brodeur, Terry Sawchuk, Jacques Plante or anyone else, is the greatest goaltender of all time.

It's bad enough I have to usurp Brodeur, but it's even worse that I have to hand the title to Roy, a jerk through and through. Now I know how Bill Simmons felt when he had to place Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, his least favourite player ever, ahead of Larry Bird on his Pyramid list. Roy was arrogant beyond belief, sometimes to amusing results (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaiN8HjEy74), but more often than not, to his own detriment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lTkNE1z8ss).

(That statue-of-liberty play is worth remembering...it wasn't just some footnote in history. If not for that play, it's conceivable that the Avalanche would have won Game 6 and gone on to win a third Stanley Cup, and a fifth for Roy. Instead, the veteran-laden Red Wings team got Dominik Hasek his long sought-after first Cup.)

There was the infamous moment where Roy essentially quit on his team, let his ego get the better of him, and demanded a trade from the Canadiens after being thoroughly embarrassed by allowing nine goals against the Red Wings. This was another example of Roy's me-first, pride-above-anything mentality, something I can't imagine Martin Brodeur ever doing (Brodeur is the epitome of class in all things NHL...off the ice, well, who's to judge him for having an affair with his wife's sister-in-law?).

There was the fact that late in his career with the Avalanche, Roy was still athletic but was almost making a mockery of the NHL's rules regarding goaltender pads. While Brodeur and Hasek kept fairly small pads, Roy ballooned his equipment to epic size, so that there was hardly anything left to shoot at. As a student of goaltending, I found the whole thing disgusting.

And there was his off-ice behavior...the rumours that he had abused his wife and the domestic charges that followed, and then later the shameful moment where, as coach of the Quebec Ramparts, he ordered his son (a goaltender) to head down the ice and beat up the opposing team's goalie, who clearly wanted no part of it. All of these actions, as well as Roy's many personal interviews, paint the picture of a petty, vindictive, egotistical jerk.

But he's still the greatest. Why? Brodeur may have him beat in regular season numbers (although not by much), but it is in the playoffs that Roy made his legend...and really, what better time is there to judge a goalie? No other player has won three Conn Smythe awards in the history of the game...not Gretzky, not Lemieux, not Howe, not Orr, not anyone! Think about that: three separate times, for two different teams, Roy was the best player in a 16-team playoff and led his team to Stanley Cup glory.

Roy's 151 playoff victories will almost surely never be touched. Brodeur has the regular season record for wins and shutouts, but Roy beats Brodeur by an astonishing 52 wins come post-season. The difference between Roy's 4 Cups and Brodeur's 3 doesn't seem that large, but the key separation is in the years the goalies didn't win: oftentimes, Brodeur's Devils would bow out in the first round, while Roy almost always had the Avalanche in at least the Conference finals, and won a few extra rounds with the Habs also.

Brodeur's Devil teams weren't as good as Roy's two Avalanche championship teams, but they were FAR better than Roy's two Canadien championship teams. In the modern era, I can't think of a more mediocre Stanley Cup champion than the 1992-1993 Montreal Canadiens, or a case of one player nearly singelhandedly lifting a team to the championship. Sure, Lemieux was dominant for the Pens, but he had a very good supporting cast of Mark Recchi, Kevin Stevens, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Larry Murphy, Paul Coffey and Tom Barrasso. Five hall-of-famers and two other excellent players at their peaks.

The 1993 Canadiens? A past-their-primes Guy Carbonneau and Denis Savard. A before-their-primes Vincent Damphousse, Mathieu Schneider and John LeClair. Eric Desjardins. And after that a bunch of character grinders: Kirk Muller and Mike Keane at the high end, Lyle Odelein and Gary Leeman at the low end. That's the group Roy had to work with. And in that '93 run, he was 10-0 in overtime games. 10 games out of 16 that they won went to overtime, and Roy never cracked. It's the greatest playoff run any goaltender has ever had, and possibly will ever have (the closest we saw was J.S. Giguere's near-miss in 2003).

Roy was no slouch in the regular season either: he won three Vezina trophies, was a five-time 1st-team all-star, and when adjusted for the inflated scoring era he was playing in early in his career, his career GAA isn't that far from Brodeur's. For the first few years of his career, Roy wasn't a workhorse, but the era he played in didn't really call for goalies to play 60-70 games, more in the 50-55 range. So that's what Roy did, and he was good enough to get the Habs into the playoffs time after time. But his legend was built, and his status as top goalie on the pyramid stands, because of what he did when the postseason rolled around.