#23 - Terry Sawchuk

Terry Sawchuk (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #23)

Adjusted Stats

1949-1950  Det*    8 GP, 5-4-0, .556 win%, 492 min, 21 GA, 2.57 GAA (no Stanley Cup ring for Sawchuk)
1950-1951  Det      82 GP, 52-15-15, .726 win%, 4920 min, 185 GA, 2.25 GAA
1951-1952  Det*    82 GP, 52-16-14, .720 win%, 4920 min, 185 GA, 2.25 GAA
1952-1953  Det      74 GP, 37-18-19, .628 win%, 4428 min, 180 GA, 2.45 GAA
1953-1954  Det*    78 GP, 41-22-15, .622 win%, 4690 min, 194 GA, 2.48 GAA
1954-1955  Det*    80 GP, 47-20-13, .669 win%, 4733 min, 189 GA, 2.39 GAA
1955-1956  Bos     80 GP, 26-39-15, .419 win%, 4779 min, 252 GA, 3.16 GAA
1956-1957  Bos     40 GP, 21-12-7, .613 win%, 2390 min, 108 GA, 2.72 GAA
1957-1958  Det      82 GP, 34-34-14, .500 win%, 4920 min, 265 GA, 3.23 GAA
1958-1959  Det      78 GP, 27-42-9, .404 win%, 4709 min, 257 GA, 3.28 GAA
1959-1960  Det      68 GP, 28-23-16, .537 win%, 4077 min, 189 GA, 2.79 GAA
1960-1961  Det      43 GP, 14-19-9, .440 win%, 2519 min, 134 GA, 3.20 GAA
1961-1962  Det      50 GP, 16-25-9, .410 win%, 3022 min, 169 GA, 3.35 GAA
1962-1963  Det      56 GP, 26-19-8, .566 win%, 3258 min, 143 GA, 2.63 GAA
1963-1964  Det      62 GP, 29-23-8, .550 win%, 3678 min, 179 GA, 2.92 GAA
1964-1965  Tor      42 GP, 20-15-7, .560 win%, 2530 min, 115 GA, 2.73 GAA
1965-1966  Tor      32 GP, 12-13-4, .483 win%, 1782 min, 95 GA, 3.19 GAA
1966-1967  Tor*    33 GP, 18-6-5, .707 win%, 1651 min, 80 GA, 2.90 GAA
1967-1968  LA       40 GP, 12-16-7, .443 win%, 2145 min, 121 GA, 3.38 GAA
1968-1969  Det      14 GP, 3-4-3, .450 win%, 692 min, 31 GA, 2.70 GAA
1969-1970  NYR    9 GP, 3-1-2, .667 win%, 445 min, 23 GA, 3.08 GAA

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1950-1951   Det      6 GP, 2-4, .333 win%, 463 min, 18 GA, 2.30 GAA
1951-1952   Det*    8 GP, 8-0, 1.000 win%, 480 min, 7 GA, 0.89 GAA
1952-1953   Det      6 GP, 2-4, .333 win%, 372 min, 21 GA, 3.46 GAA
1953-1954   Det*    12 GP, 8-4, .667 win%, 751 min, 26 GA, 2.08 GAA
1954-1955   Det*    11 GP, 8-3, .727 win%, 660 min, 32 GA, 2.89 GAA
1957-1958   Det      4 GP, 0-4, .000 win%, 252 min, 17 GA, 4.11 GAA
1959-1960   Det      6 GP, 2-4, .333 win%, 405 min, 21 GA, 3.07 GAA
1960-1961   Det      8 GP, 5-3, .625 win%, 465 min, 20 GA, 2.61 GAA
1962-1963   Det      11 GP, 5-6, .455 win%, 660 min, 35 GA, 3.14 GAA
1963-1964   Det      13 GP, 6-5, .545 win%, 677 min, 33 GA, 2.90 GAA
1964-1965   Tor      1 GP, 0-1, .000 win%, 60 min, 3 GA, 3.27 GAA
1965-1966   Tor      2 GP, 0-2, .000 win%, 120 min, 6 GA, 3.18 GAA
1966-1967   Tor*    10 GP, 6-4, .600 win%, 565 min, 26 GA, 2.74 GAA
1967-1968   LA       5 GP, 2-3, .400 win%, 280 min, 18 GA, 3.87 GAA
1969-1970   NYR    3 GP, 0-1, .000 win%, 80 min, 6 GA, 4.17 GAA

Career - 1133 GP, 523-386-199, .562 win%, 66780 min, 3115 GA, 2.80 GAA
Career-Highs - 82 GP (many times); 52 wins (50-51); .726 win% (50-51); 4920 min (many times); 2.25 GAA (50-51)
Avg. (20 seasons) - 56 GP, 26-19-10, .562 win%, 3314 min, 155 GA, 2.80 GAA
Peak Avg. (50-58) - 75 GP, 39-22-14, .613 win%, 4473 min, 195 GA, 2.62 GAA, 3 Cups

Playoff Career - 106 GP, 54-48, .529 win%, 6290 min, 289 GA, 2.76 GAA
Playoff-Highs - 8 wins (3 times); 1.000 win% (51-52); 0.89 GAA (51-52)

Accolades - 4 Vezina Trophies, Calder
All-Star Teams - 3-time 1st-team, 4-time 2nd-team
4-time Stanley Cup Champion

The Hockey News had Terry Sawchuk ranked as the best goaltender of all-time when they compiled their list of the 50 best players ever in 1997...thirteen years later, he still topped the list of goaltenders, even though Roy and Brodeur had completed careers. I have Sawchuk ranked sixth among goalies. Does that mean I think his career is overrated? Well, I haven't really thought of it in those terms (certainly not to the degree of someone like Mark Messier), but yeah, I guess that's what it means.

First of all, let's get Roy and Brodeur out of the discussion right away. Even when adjusted for an 82-game schedule and the scoring of the eras they played in, both Roy and Brodeur come out considerably on top. Throw in the fact that they won a comparable number of Stanley Cups playing in a 30-team league as opposed to a 6-team one, and that neither of them (well, maybe Roy in the late-Avalanche years) had teams as good as the early-50s Red Wings (Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Sid Abel, Red Kelly, Alex Delvecchio...not a bad fucking core), and it's no contest. Roy and Brodeur come out on top. The fact that The Hockey News still ranked Sawchuk ahead of those two is indicative of a nostalgia pick, pure and simple. There I said it.

But even if the old-timers want to go with a nostalgia pick for greatest goalie ever, they pick the wrong guy if they pick Sawchuk. Plante has the better resume (more Cups, more Vezinas, equal number of all-star teams, an MVP award), and Hall, as discussed in his entry, was viewed as the better goalie at the time, despite the fact that he played for mediocre-to-shitty teams. Also, it's worth noting that Detroit traded Sawchuk at the age of 25, as he was coming off quite possibly the best five-year stretch anyone has put together (only Dryden is close): three Stanley Cups and a staggering 229 adjusted wins (or nearly 46 a season!). Why this happened is anyone's guess, but neither Plante or Hall were traded (that is, from the teams they made their name with) until they were 34.

So Sawchuk's peak coincided with the Red Wings dynasty, although when Sawchuk took over the reigns, Detroit was already the defending Stanley Cup champion (Harry Lumley had been between the pipes for the first ring of their run). No fault of Sawchuk's though, just as it was no fault of Plante or Dryden that they played for unbelievable teams. And for Sawchuk's peak years (which were, oddly enough, his first eight years), he put together a run that, as mentioned, has few peers (Brodeur's close, and Dryden might have it beat).

Still, with Sawchuk, it's really only the first five years, and after that you have fifteen decent years, with a few spurts (such as taking over goaltending duties for the '67 Maple Leafs and leading them to the Cup...their last, in case you didn't know). In his final fifteen years, Sawchuk made zero first-team all-star teams and just two second...in a league with six fucking teams for all but three of those fifteen years! Now of course, it's not fair to Sawchuk's legacy to just remove those incredible first five seasons (if you do the same to Plante, he suffers similarly, although he still has his MVP year left), but it's worth doing for comparisons sake to notice how clearly Glenn Hall comes out ahead of him, as does (this hurts to say) Hasek.

Sawchuk is clearly a cut above the next level of goaltenders on the Pyramid, but of the six who stand above the fray in NHL history (Roy, Brodeur, Plante, Hall, Hasek, Sawchuk), he has to be ranked lowest. The facts tells the story. His five transcendent years are among the lowest-scoring leaguewide in NHL history, and after them, Sawchuk was the 3rd-best goaltender in a six-team league. If you're going with success on great teams, Brodeur and Plante have him beat. If you're going with last-line-of-defence excellence, you have to hand it to Roy, Hall and Hasek. Whichever way it is sliced, Sawchuk, while still undoubtably one of the greatest goaltenders to play the game, takes a bit of a hit.