Colorado Avalanche — and likely Montreal Canadiens fans — will all tell you Patrick Roy is the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) of goalies. If you ask your average NHL fan who was the greatest, though, the big debate is between Roy and longtime New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur. Every now and again you’ll get an outlier for Dominik Hasek, but usually it’s between Roy and Brodeur.
For me the truth of Patrick Roy’s superiority has always been self-evident. Twenty-three years ago, when I first became a hockey fan, the only man who could shut down my Pittsburgh Penguins consistently was Roy.