Terry Sawchuk once said of goaltenders, “We are the sort of people that make health insurance popular.” Many times in the Detroit Red Wings’ history, the club’s goaltenders were insurers in and of themselves.
Some all-time great netminders have played for Detroit across the past 98 seasons of the franchise. The likes of Sawchuk, Dominik Hasek and Harry Lumley belong to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Some alumni are multi-Stanley Cup champions, such as Chris Osgood, Mike Vernon and Normie Smith. They were unbeatable, unflappable, and in the endearing way of many goalies, unhinged.
Who are the best goalies to ever play for the Detroit Red Wings? Here’s The Hockey News Detroit’s top five Red Wings goaltenders of all time.
5. Harry Lumley
The starter in five of his six seasons with Detroit, Lumley was one of the NHL’s best in the 1940s. He ranks fourth all time in wins (163), third in shutouts (26) and 10th in goals against average (2.75) among goalies who played at least 100 games for the Red Wings. In 1950, he backstopped the first Stanley Cup win of the Gordie Howe era, tallying three playoff shutouts in 14 games that postseason.
Had it not been for a certain rookie named Terry Sawchuk taking his place, Lumley might be more respected in the canon of Detroit goaltending history. Instead, he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, soon spending stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins. He won the Vezina Trophy with the Leafs in 1954 after posting 13 shutouts in the regular season, a record that stood until 1970. But it was his time in Detroit that showed his best play, including three of his four career 30-win seasons.
Lumley was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1980.
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
4. Jimmy Howard
Whether due to his relative recency, his elite predecessors or his career decline, Jimmy Howard is one of the most underrated goaltenders in Red Wings history.
Howard’s 246 wins rank third all-time, his 24 shutouts rank fourth and his eight seasons with 20 wins or more rank third among all Red Wing netminders. No Detroit goaltender has faced more than his 13,970 shots against since the statistic has been tracked, and his 15,313 lead recorded history, too.
Such dominance came quickly for Howard, who started 60 games as a rookie and won 37 of them. He placed second for the Calder (Tyler Myers won it that year), then finished eighth for the Vezina. After names like Osgood, Hasek. Manny Lagace and Curtis Joseph played for the franchise before him, Howard kept the standard and more in his era.
Unfortunately, injuries started to hold Howard back toward the end of his career, and this coincided with an overall aging of the Red Wings at the end of the franchise’s 25-year playoff streak. He played his final game in 2020 and now serves as an occasional TV analyst on Bally Sports broadcasts.
Mandatory Credit: Leon Halip-USA TODAY Sports.
3. Dominik Hasek
Before anyone gets up in arms about Hasek being ranked too low, know that he would be at the tippy top were this a list of the top NHL goaltenders of all time. But in Detroit’s history, the brevity of his Red Wings career knocks him down the ranking a bit compared to some accomplished lifers.
After winning the Vezina six times out of his eight seasons as Buffalo’s starter, Hasek joined the Red Wings in 2001-02 and won his first Stanley Cup. He added another in 2008, retiring after the season at 43. Hasek never won the Vezina with Detroit, but he did win the William M. Jennings in 2008.
The hardware doesn’t show just how good Hasek was, however. Statistically, he was dominant playing behind the 2001-02 Red Wings, a team with 10 Hall of Famers including the 2014-inducted Hasek. He won a career-high 41 games with a .915 save percentage and 2.17 goals against average that year. That’s one of just five seasons in Detroit’s history in which a goalie won 40 games or more by themselves. In his career, he finished with a .911 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average, which rank fourth and second, respectively, among goalies to play 100 games for the franchise. He retired right after that Stanley Cup win, then came back after a season and played four more years of NHL hockey, three of which came with Detroit.
In terms of his overall career, Hasek is one of the greatest to ever play goal. Hasek checks in at No. 3 on this list, though, because his time with the Red Wings was short-lived and on the tail end of his career. While he was an elite goaltender, Hasek wasn’t the Dominator he used to be when he was in Detroit. He didn’t really have to — he still won a lot, and saved a lot of goals.
As much as Hasek’s overall career achievements are better than the goalies ranked ahead of him on this list, his resume with the Red Wings isn’t as strong as a couple of other alumni.
Mandatory Credit: Leon Halip-USA TODAY Sports
2. Chris Osgood
If he played for any other team, maybe Osgood would be a Hall of Famer. He ranks 13th among all NHL goalies with 401 wins, 317 of which came with Detroit to rank second in franchise history. His three Stanley Cup rings also tie for 13th most among goaltenders. But to most people looking back, the perception is that Osgood was carried by those ‘90s and ‘00s Red Wings teams, chock full of inductees themselves.
Even if Osgood had support from his teammates, he still delivered. He was one of the most consistent, winning goaltenders Detroit has ever had.
Don’t take it from me. From a 2009 ESPN article by Pierre LeBrun, take it from former GM Ken Holland. “First of all, there’s a perception that we can put anybody in our net,” Holland told LeBrun. “We’ve always had high-profile talent. And through the years, we’ve always outshot the other team, so our goalie is in a position to only be responsible for the loss; he’s not responsible for the win. I think Dominik Hasek had a hard time when he first got here, I think Curtis Joseph had a hard time with it, because we win because of our skaters and we lose because of our goalie. It’s the perception.”
Osgood delivered, logging 10 seasons with 20 wins or more, tied only with Terry Sawchuk in franchise history. He also owns the record for consecutive games without a loss, refusing to lose in 21 straight contests in early 1996.
Throughout the course of his career, Osgood’s highs weren’t quite as high as many contemporaries — Osgood won no Vezinas, topping out at second place in his elite ‘95-’96 season. He got waived to bring in Hasek. He struggled in his only two seasons away from Detroit. Playing with so many Red Wing legends made his life incredibly easier. But, Osgood always delivered.
As the observed weak link to the lineup, if we’re going off the carried narrative, Osgood never broke. He pulled his end of the work and led Detroit to more wins than anyone besides Sawchuk. That’s rarified air, even if the Hall of Fame hasn’t given Osgood his nod yet.
Maybe Osgood would get more love if he had more hardware. Two Jennings trophies from 1996 and 2008 are his only awards. He could’ve been in the Conn Smythe conversation in 2009, but the Red Wings lost Game 7 to the Penguins. Perhaps that was the exclamation point he needed to win for his name to get proper respect outside of his peers. It doesn’t change that he’s one of the best Red Wing netminders ever.
1. Terry Sawchuk
We started this list with one Sawchuk quote. Here’s another: “The day they put me in net, I had a good game. I’ve stayed there ever since.”
That about sums up the career of one of hockey’s most historic goaltenders of all-time, a player who inspired generations of goaltenders in one of the most dangerous eras to play his position. Back when masks weren’t yet invented and pads provided minimal protection, Sawchuk used grit and sheer will to turn away the majority of the pucks he faced.
He was a mythical force at times, the kind of goalie who any good team could win it all with. Give him one goal and he could win, give him two and he should win, give him three and he would win. Even when the Red Wings were bad, he was still revered. In 1958-59, a 23-36-8 season by Sawchuk marked the most losses in the NHL. Sawchuk made the second All-Star team and placed fourth for the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP, anyway.
Sawchuk is the definitive leader among Detroit goaltenders in many ways. He leads in games played (734), wins (350) and 40-win seasons (three). It’s safe to assume he stopped the most shots, too, but that statistic wasn’t tracked in his era. Judging by his more than 43,000 minutes on the ice, though, it’s easy to see how unrivaled Sawchuk is and was.
Sawchuk is the only goaltender whose number has been retired by Detroit. He joined the Hockey Hall of Fame posthumously in 1971.
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