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Goalie Issue 2023
In our 2023 Goalie Issue, we've got you covered post-to-post with features on the state of NHL goaltending and what records have become unreachable, plus player profiles on Adin Hill, Alexandar Georgiev, Joonas Korpisalo, Spencer Knight, Filip Gustavsson and many more. In our cover story, we build the perfect goalie using the top traits of today's best keepers. In addition, we rank the best crease duos across the NHL and name the top goalie of all-time for every franchise.
KORPISALO 2.0
THEY SAY THE LIFE of a goalie is one of isolation. You’re an island unto yourself, dying on the whims of the masses, a rising and falling stock in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world. Goaltending is a game of mental gymnastics as much as physical exertion or sharpened reflexes. The mind must be as trained and sharpened as any muscle or tendon. Pressure, simply put, is part of the package. And no one knows the sink-or-swim realities of the life of a goalie in the big leagues better than Joonas Korpisalo, a second-generation pro now set to play for his third NHL club on the back signing of his most lucrative contract to date. All eyes are on the Finnish flash in Canada’s capital city. “You’re able to train everything, including the mental side…
PACIFIC DIVISION
There’s a chance John Gibson becomes the all-time wins leader among Anaheim goalies this season, but it would take several strong years for him to usurp JEAN-SEBASTIEN GIGUERE as the franchise’s all-time best. ‘Giggy’ won a Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007 and also became just the fifth NHL player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy in a Cup-final losing effort four years earlier. In Vezina Trophy voting, Giguere finished fourth, eighth and twice finished ninth as a Duck, while Gibson has finished seventh and 10th. Mike Vernon will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in November, but it’s MIIKKA KIPRUSOFF who wins the clear distinction as the Flames’ best-ever stopper. Kiprusoff was 27 and a San Jose third-stringer when Calgary acquired him for a measly second-round pick in…
10 ‘PRE-ROOKIE’ CARDS OF ’90s LEGENDS
1 > MARIO LEMIEUX 1983 Canadian National Jr. Team Postcards Lemieux is one of the game’s all-time greatest players, so it isn’t surprising he was also a phenom in the junior ranks. He played for Canada in the 1983 World Junior Championship, along with fellow future Hall of Famers Steve Yzerman, Mike Vernon and Dave Andreychuk. A team postcard set was released, which included a card of a 17-year-old Lemieux. This is Super Mario’s first hockey card, predating his Topps and O-Pee-Chee rookie cards by three years. 2 > THEO FLEURY 1988-89 Salt Lake Golden Eagles #8 Fleury spent the first half of the 1988-89 season in the minors with the IHL’s Salt Lake Golden Eagles, where he scored an impressive 37 goals and 74 points in just 40 games. After that, he was promoted…
SETTLING FOR SECOND PLACE
EIGHT VICTORIES, OR EXACTLY one-third of his total last season. That’s all it is going to take. So, barring a catastrophic injury or team performance so dire the entire Minnesota Wild coaching staff lands on the unemployment line, there is every likelihood Marc-Andre Fleury will celebrate the holidays as the second-winningest goaltender in NHL history. However, when Fleury passes Patrick Roy by earning his 552nd regular-season victory, he’ll do so knowing he’s climbed as high as he can on the all-time wins list. With retirement on the horizon for the 38-year-old, there’s simply not enough time remaining for Fleury to catch Martin Brodeur and his 691 career wins. But maybe Fleury can take some comfort in knowing that it will be years, even decades, before he loses his place on the…
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