I enjoyed your article in the 1999 SIHR Journal very much.
Your conclusion that Plante rates at or near the top was nice to see. He has always been my personal favourite and his return from a three-year retirement is a great hockey story (as was pointed out by Jeff and Karl in the book).
I have often wondered if we could get a measure of a goaltenders value by looking at his best five consecutive years (minimum)in the league compared to his peers over the same timeframe. That may allow for the difference in career lengths and allow us to measure the greats of different eras in relation to each other.
Unfortunately nothing we can present statistically would ever demostrate the value of a goalie like Gilles Meloche.
He's a Gump Worsley who never got traded to a contender and therefore will never get his due. I'd go so far to say that he's HHoF material but I suppose I could never convince many others of that.
Stu
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Replying to:
Jeff,
Thanks for the input. I think it a good thing there are parts of hockey a person can't quantify. That being said, I don't think people, asid from you and Karl HAVE quantified many really essential parts. But, hey, we'll produce a revolution eventually, won't we?
