Forrest Gump wrote: ↑Thu May 05, 2022 4:03 pm
I was wondering where's Terry Sawchuk or Glenn Hall. After googling found out that Sawchuk died at 40 and Hall retired at 39.
There was a real shortage of goalies around 1970 when Sawchuck, Hall, Worsley, Plante, and Bower were hitting 40, which is probably why they were among the oldest goalies to ever play in the NHL. If you think about it, these guys started when you had to be the top 6 in the world to make the NHL. Later teams doubled the number of goalies in the league by using two per team. Then expansion in 1968 doubled the number of goalies again. Then the WHA came along and even more expansion such that the number of goalies needed for major professional hockey doubled again. Plante was over 46 when he retired from the Edmonton Oilers, and only did so because he took career ending puck in the temple.
Georges Vezina died of pneumonia while active at the age of 38 in 1925/26, and for the next 45 years only two goalies managed to retire at an older age: Vancouver Millionaires legend Hughie Lehman (retired in 1928 at the age of 42) and George Hainsworth (retired in 1937 at age 41).
Next up was Johnny Bower who retired at1969/70 at age 45. Sawchuck died after that same season at age 40. Plante, Sawchuck, and Worsley were all born in 1929, and they all played past 40. Only one goalie in the 1980s and 1990s played into his 40s and that was Tony Esposito.
The other year that saw a huge talent pool of goalies born was 1965 when Roy, Hasek, Belfour, and Barrasso were born. Roy retired at 39, but Hasek, Belfour along with Joseph and Sean Burke played into their 40s.