Recently, I posted that Bernie Parent was the greatest NHL goalie (since 1955/56, the season where the NHL started to record shots against, which I need to make the calculation of goalie production). Well leave it to an economist to provide more than one answer to one question - Who is the greatest NHL goalie?
Bernie Parent had the highest Wins Above Average (WAA) for a single season, and that is one way of evaluating who the greatest (or most productive) NHL goalie ever was.
Yet, there are other ways, and one of those is to take a look at career WAA and find out who had the highest career average WAA. Running the number since the 1955/56 season, the NHL goalie with the highest average WAA was Ken Dryden (by a large margin).
Here is a list of the Top 10 NHL goalies in terms of career WAA:
1. Ken Dryden
2. Tony Esposito
3. Dominik Hasek
4. Patrick Roy
5. Bernie Parent
6. Jacques Plante
7. Johnny Bower
8. Tim Thomas
9. Roberto Luongo
10. Glenn Hall