Who is the NHL's worst ever goaltender?

 by Brandt Corbin

             When you are thinking of the absolute worst ever goaltender in the National Hockey League who comes to mind? Trust me there have been dozens and dozens of them especially in the late 80’s and 90’s when goaltending was not a premium.  For me a few comes to mind and I mean these guys were horrible goalkeepers, how they ever made it to the big leagues is beyond me.

Peter Sidorkiewicz  

            Do you ever wonder why the Hartford Whalers were as terrible as were for so many years? One of your answers was Polish born goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz. In his rookie season, his only decent season, he finished with a 22-18-4 record, with a 3.03 gaa and .890 save percentage. In his next 3 years with the Whalers he was a combined 49-60-20 with an average gaa of 3.47 and a .870 SP%. He then was claimed by Ottawa Senators in the 1992 Expansion draft. Lets just say he did not have a career year while playing in Ottawa. He lasted one year with the Sens after a record of 8-46-3 with a 4.43 gaa and a .856%.

Andre “Red Light” Raciot

            “Red Light” Raciot served as Patrick Roy’s backup in Montreal for four seasons. How he survived four years in Montreal is a miracle in itself, he a career high 3.20 gaa with a .891%. In the 1992-93 season he actually had a good record going 17-5 but also had a 3.39 gaa. His nickname “Red Light” kind of says it all about his time in Habland. In his final year 94-95, he went 2-6-2 but was banished to minors because of his 4.44 gaa that year.

Scott Gordon

             In the early 1990’s the Quebec Nordiques went through the worst stretch any team has almost in history (48 wins in 3 seasons). Former New York Islander head coach Scott Gordon was a much better coach than he was a goaltender, but lets just say he’s never will be nominated for coach of the year. He only played 23 games during two seasons for the Nords, winning a grand total of two games, while losing 16 contests. His goals against was much better than his save percentage. In 1990 Gordon had a 5.94 gaa, but with .787 save percentage, that has to be a NHL worst in history

Ron Low

            In his 13 year career Ron Low has 2 winning seasons, in those one of those two seasons he played only 29 games. In his other 11 years he averaged 40+ per year. His lowest goals against average was 3.37 in the 1977-78 season, its a miracle he played 13 years after his two years in Washington.  In those two years he went 14-67-4 with a 5.45 goals against average. In the 75-76 season, Low let in 1.3 more goals per game then his fellow goalie Bernie Wolfe (4.16 gaa).

Michel Dion

            If Michel Dion had a choice, he would have rather stayed in the World Hockey Association (WHA). In that league Dion was a respectable netminder playing four seasons with average gaa of 3.45. When the league folded, he went to the NHL and a dream quickly turned into a nightmare. In his rookie NHL season (79-80) Dion had a average 3.70 gaa, his best ever during his six year career. His next season in Quebec his goals against went up to 5.32, he topped that off in 83-84 with a 5.33 gaa in 30 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Who’s been the worst this decade?

             Who would the NHL’s worst goalie over the last 5 years? Two names pop up automatically, one being Vesa Toskala, he was obtained from the Sharks by the Leafs. Toskala was to be the Leafs number one netminder, but instead was anything but. In his first season with the Leafs he had an average 2.74 goals against average, in his last season with the Buds he had a 3.66 gaa with a .874 save percentage. Second name that came to mind would be Tampa’s Mike Smith, who was a key component in the Brad Richards trade to Dallas. Smith has been a complete bust, he can play good one night, the next night he’d look like the second coming of Frank Caprice. His only decent year he had a 2.62 gaa, and a .916 SP%. in the past few years his gaa has ballooned to over gaa over 3 and a save percentage just below .900.

 

Worst goaltending tandem ever

           The 1992-93 San Jose Sharks, I’m trying to think of words to describe on how bad the teams goaltending was. Unbelievably atrocious , then again so was the teams defense as a whole. San Jose’s best goalie Arthurs Irbe, 7-26 with a 4.11 gaa, 886%. From there the goaltending got much worse, then rookie Jeff Hackett and get a load of this 2-30-1, with a 5.28 gaa .856%. Then veteran Brian Hayward and his 2-14-1 record, the only problem was Hayward’s 5.55 gaa .846%, which led to him retirement. I cannot recall any goaltending tandem who played 18 games or more games that had a goals against over 5, it’s just out of this world.

Worst goaltender ever to win a Stanley Cup

            Another question that needs to be asked is who was the worst goaltender to win a Stanley Cup? If the Flyers would have won the cup last year Michael Leighton would win in a landslide. No disrespect to to Leighton but its not farfetched to say he’s a flash in the pan. Now back those who did win a Cup. Online allot of people have mentioned Bill Ranford, mainly because he was 39 games under .500 and had a career goals against average of 3.41. Now to be fair to Ranford he, on the backend of his career had some terrible seasons in Detroit and in Washington just to name a few. Other candidates would have to include Anti Niemi who helped the Hawks win it all last year. Chris Osgood and Tom Barrasso are two other options, as they played on super stacked teams. Who are we kidding even the four we mentioned were above average the year they won it all, while in some games looked below average.