Monday, March 21, 2011

#125 - Mike Vernon

Mike Vernon (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #125)

Adjusted Stats

1982-1983   Cgy     2 GP, 0-2-0, .000 win%, 103 min, 9 GA, 5.25 GAA
1983-1984   Cgy     1 GP, 0-1-0, .000 win%, 11 min, 3 GA, 17.01 GAA
1985-1986   Cgy     18 GP, 9-3-3, .700 win%, 944 min, 41 GA, 2.62 GAA
1986-1987   Cgy     55 GP, 31-22-1, .583 win%, 3031 min, 153 GA, 3.03 GAA
1987-1988   Cgy     66 GP, 40-16-7, .690 win%, 3654 min, 178 GA, 2.93 GAA
1988-1989   Cgy*   53 GP, 38-6-5, .827 win%, 3011 min, 110 GA, 2.18 GAA
1989-1990   Cgy     48 GP, 24-14-9, .606 win%, 2865 min, 125 GA, 2.62 GAA
1990-1991   Cgy     55 GP, 32-19-3, .620 win%, 3199 min, 157 GA, 2.94 GAA
1991-1992   Cgy     65 GP, 25-31-9, .454 win%, 3731 min, 197 GA, 3.16 GAA
1992-1993   Cgy     62 GP, 28-25-9, .524 win%, 3643 min, 168 GA, 2.77 GAA
1993-1994   Cgy     47 GP, 25-17-5, .585 win%, 2731 min, 121 GA, 2.67 GAA
1994-1995   Det      51 GP, 32-10-7, .724 win%, 3087 min, 134 GA, 2.60 GAA
1995-1996   Det      32 GP, 21-7-2, .733 win%, 1855 min, 68 GA, 2.21 GAA
1996-1997   Det*    33 GP, 13-11-8, .531 win%, 1952 min, 83 GA, 2.56 GAA
1997-1998   SJ        62 GP, 30-22-8, .567 win%, 3564 min, 170 GA, 2.86 GAA
1998-1999   SJ       49 GP, 16-22-10, .438 win%, 2831 min, 125 GA, 2.65 GAA
1999-2000   SJ/Fla  49 GP, 24-18-3, .567 win%, 2791 min, 129 GA, 2.77 GAA
2000-2001   Cgy      41 GP, 12-23-5, .363 win%, 2246 min, 135 GA, 3.61 GAA
2001-2002   Cgy      18 GP, 2-9-1, .208 win%, 825 min, 45 GA, 3.24 GAA

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1985-1986   Cgy       21 GP, 12-9, .571 win%, 1229 min, 52 GA, 2.53 GAA
1986-1987   Cgy       5 GP, 2-3, .400 win%, 263 min, 14 GA, 3.27 GAA
1987-1988   Cgy       9 GP, 4-4, .500 win%, 515 min, 26 GA, 2.98 GAA
1988-1989   Cgy*     22 GP, 16-5, .762 win%, 1381 min, 45 GA, 1.94 GAA
1989-1990   Cgy       6 GP, 2-3, .400 win%, 342 min, 16 GA, 2.82 GAA
1990-1991   Cgy       7 GP, 3-4, .429 win%, 427 min, 18 GA, 2.52 GAA
1992-1993   Cgy       4 GP, 1-1, .500 win%, 150 min, 12 GA, 4.93 GAA
1993-1994   Cgy       7 GP, 3-4, .429 win%, 466 min, 23 GA, 2.91 GAA
1994-1995   Det        18 GP, 12-6, .667 win%, 1063 min, 36 GA, 2.04 GAA
1995-1996   Det        4 GP, 2-2, .500 win%, 243 min, 11 GA, 2.60 GAA
1996-1997   Det*      20 GP, 16-4, .800 win%, 1229 min, 38 GA, 1.85 GAA
1997-1998   SJ          6 GP, 2-4, .333 win%, 348 min, 16 GA, 2.69 GAA
1998-1999   SJ          5 GP, 2-3, .400 win%, 321 min, 14 GA, 2.67 GAA
1999-2000   Fla         4 GP, 0-4, .000 win%, 237 min, 14 GA, 3.66 GAA

Career - 807 GP, 402-278-95, .580 win%, 46074 min, 2151 GA, 2.80 GAA
Career-Highs - 66 GP (87-88); 40 wins (87-88); .827 win% (88-89); 3654 min (87-88); 2.18 GAA (88-89)
Avg. (16 seasons) - 49 GP, 25-15-6, .580 win%, 2814 min, 131 GA, 2.80 GAA
Peak Avg. (87-95) - 56 GP, 31-17-7, .622 win%, 3240 min, 149 GA, 2.76 GAA, 1 Cup

Playoff Career - 138 GP, 77-56, .579 win%, 8214 min, 335 GA, 2.45 GAA
Playoff-Highs - 16 wins (twice); .800 win% (96-97); 1.85 GAA (96-97)

Accolades - Jennings Trophy, Conn Smythe
All-Star Teams - 1-time 2nd-team
2-time Stanley Cup Champion

It's funny that Mike Vernon and Chris Osgood were the goaltending tandem for the Red Wings in the mid-1990s, and that they are ranked right beside each other on my Pyramid, because essentially Osgood's career is Vernon's shifted ten years later. Go ahead, look for yourself. The similarities are there, both in the rhythm of their careers and in the ways in which they were viewed.

Both played for teams that were stacked and suffered from the "well anyone could win with those teams" syndrome (lest we forget, the 1989 Flames team is one of the greatest ever assembled...they're just not often discussed because they came after the Oilers dynasty). Both earned second all-star team honours during a season in which their teams went apeshit and tore through the league (the '89 Flames in Vernon's case, the '96 Red Wings in Osgood's). Despite winning a Stanley Cup early in their careers, both Vernon and Osgood were criticized for subsequent early playoff exits. And both battled through towards the end of their careers to earn the respect of fans with postseason runs that made people think "Hey, maybe this old dude wasn't such a bad goalie after all".

If you want to earn a free pint from a drunk who knows hockey but not in the encyclopedic sense, bet him that he won't be able to guess the Conn Smythe winner for the Red Wings' 1997 Cup (their first of the modern era). They get only one guess. He won't guess Yzerman, because he'll know that since you've made the bet, it can't be the obvious one. Fedorov? Nope. Shanahan? No. Lidstrom? No. That's right...it was Mike Vernon, the beleaguered goaltender who wasn't even the team's #1 option heading into the playoffs. Mike Vernon, who just two years earlier had been criticized for his playoff performance as the Red Wings were swept in the Stanley Cup final by a less-talented Devils' squad, with Martin Brodeur soundly outplaying him. Vernon made up for all of his past shortcomings in the postseason by going 16-4 with a sparkling .927 save percentage.

Again, the comparisons to Osgood are hard to ignore. Both goaltenders have won two Stanley Cups as a starter, one in which they were integral, another in which they were merely passable. And both played well in leading their team to the Cup finals in a losing cause...in Vernon's case, he led the Flames to the 1986 Cup finals as a rookie, matching up with his longtime rival Patrick Roy in the first of what was to be many classic head-to-head duels (Vernon bested Roy in 1989, then again in 1997 as the Red Wings defeated their rivals the Avalanche). Of course, the most famous Roy/Vernon battle was this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5D7iHruPFI. You had to love those Wings/Avs games.

Again, as with Osgood, I say this: Mike Vernon wasn't a goaltender who made your jaw drop at his excellence. He wasn't as remarkably acrobatic as Curtis Joseph or as positionally sound as Roberto Luongo, nor was he a workhorse like those two. Like Osgood and some of the other goaltenders on this Pyramid, he was lucky to play for some excellent teams. But as his 77-56 career postseason record attests, despite his shortcomings, Vernon came through when it mattered. He won, and in the end, that's what a goaltender's job is.

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