best goalies in NHL history

If you go by the numbers and the numbers alone goaltender Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils is the best goalie of all time.  He has played for the Devils and the Devils only since 1991 and still continues to play to this day.  Honorable mention would go to Patrick Roy who played with the Montreal Canadiens from 1985-86 until 1995 and then the Colorado Avalanche from 1995-2003 and Terry Sawchuk who played for the Detroit Red Wings from 1949-1955 then the Boston Bruins from 1955-1957 then back to the Red Wings from 1957-1964 after that the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1964-1967 and he concluded his career with one year stints in Los Angeles, Detroit, and finally the New York Rangers in 1969-70.

I'm going to concentrate on the best.  And the best is still playing in the NHL as we speak.

Let's look into the stats, Martin Brodeur.  Sixteen full seasons.  Regular Season, 1076 games played, 602 wins, 324 losses and 105 ties(ties no longer exist as new rules came into play after the lockout  in 2004-05 that brought the shootout into the game), 2.21 career goals against average, .914 save percentage and 110 shutouts.  Playoffs, 181 games played, 99 wins, 82 losses, 2.01 goals against average and .919 save percentage and 23 shutouts.

Now lets look at his records, most regular seasons wins, most shutouts, most shutouts regular season/playoffs combined, most overtime wins, most consecutive 30 win seasons, most consecutive 35 win seasons, most 40 win seasons, youngest goalie to reach 300, 400, 500 and only goalie ever to reach 600 wins.  Most games played by an NHL goalie, most total minutes played by an NHL goalie, only NHL goalie to score a game winning goal and one of two goalies(Ron Hextall) to score a goal in the regular season and playoffs.  All these records are from the Regular Season.  let's look at the playoffs, most shutouts in a playoff (8 in 2002-03), most shutouts in a Stanley Cup final(3 in 2002-03), 2nd place with 99 wins, 3rd goalie to win Cup with a game seven shoutout and the first goalie in history to have 3 shutouts in two different playoff series 1995 vs Boston and 2003 Cup final vs Anaheim.

He has also won his share of hardware, Calder Trophy 1994(best rookie), Olympic Gold Medal 2002 and 2010, Stanley Cup 1995, 2000 and 2003, William Jennings Trophy 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2010(best goaltending tandem) and the World Cup of Hockey in 2004.

As you can see the numbers do not lie.  The NHL also made a rule specifically targeted to hinder one of Brodeur's best gifts, playing the puck.  After the lockout the NHl put a rule into place making it illegal for a goaltender to play the puck in the corners near his own goal, they put a trapezoid behind the goal line from the boards to about 2 feet from the net on both sides, goaltenders are not allowed to play the puck in that area.  Bodeur was a specialist at grabbing pucks shot into the zone effectively terminating the other teams 'dump and chase'