Whatever happened to the money goalie?

One of the truest statements going into the playoffs every season is that the playoffs come down to goaltending. The team that gets the best goaltending play will usually win. And, honestly, little has happened to refute that.

What has become more difficult in the post-lockout NHL, however, is determining who those money goalies are. In the years before the lockout, it was pretty clear who the top playoff goalies were. Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur were the head of the class. Just a notch below them were Dominik Hasek and Ed Belfour. And after those four, it was a crapshoot. In fact, from 1993-2003, those four goalies won all but three Stanley Cups. Mike Richter won it 1994 and may well have continued to fall into the money goalie class, given his performance for the United States in the 1996 World Cup and 2002 Olympics, but the Rangers were so bad that we didn't get to see it in the playoffs after 1997. Mike Vernon won it for the Red Wings in 1997 but he a well-earned reputation of being a money goalie, having reached the Stanley Cup Final in 1986 with Calgary and 1995 with Detroit and winning the Cup in 1989 with the Flames. Chris Osgood won it in 1998 for the Red Wings and he was probably the great exception to the money goalie rule during this era; the Red Wings benched him for Vernon in 1997 after the two split duties in the regular season, then actively sought Hasek to replace him when Hasek became available in the summer of 2001.

Nikolai Khabibulin won the Cup in 2004 and that was really the beginning of the death of the big-time goalie. The post-lockout era has displayed it even moreso.

Look at this season's playoffs. Where are the great goalies?

Jose Theodore and Jaroslav Halak started the Washington-Montreal series. Both had been replaced by the middle of Game 4 and who knows if we'll see them again in the postseason.

The New Jersey-Philadelphia series features Brodeur and Brian Boucher. Brodeur, for all of the records he continues to set and the three Stanley Cups he won from 1995-2003, has won two playoff series since 2004, hasn't gotten past the second round since 2003, blew a 3-2 series lead to Carolina in the opening round last year by allowed eight goals in the final two games including two in the final two minutes of Game 7 to give away a series the Devils were on the verge of winning, and is down 3-1 this series. This comes on the heels of his being benched during the Olympics. Boucher, who has actually excelled in both of his playoff appearances (a decade apart, mind you, in 2000 and 2010) has been a journeyman backup his entire career, getting a chance in the 2000 and 2010 playoffs only because Philadelphia had no one better.

In Boston-Buffalo, Tuukka Rask has been arguably the best goalie in the playoffs this season. Of course, he is a first-time starter who took the job away from Tim Thomas during the season. This is the same Tim Thomas who won the Vezina Trophy last season as the league's best goaltender. So much for that. Ryan Miller, the presumed favorite to win this year's Vezina and American hero after he stole a win over Canada in the opening round of the Olympics, is down 3-1 and in two of those losses failed to protect two-goal leads. Miller reached the Eastern Conference Final in 2006 and 2007, then failed to even make the playoffs in 2008 and 2009. If the Sabres don't rally to win this series, Miller will have lost his last two playoff series and not won a series since 2007.

The Pittsburgh-Ottawa series certainly hasn't been one filled with great goaltending. Maybe Marc-Andre Fleury deserves to be considered the world's top clutch goalie right now, given that he reached the Final in 2008, won it last year and was absolutely stellar in Game 7 wins last year over Washington and Detroit. Doing so would ignore that Fleury was absolutely dreadful in Game 1 in this series and has allowed 12 goals in four games. Brian Elliott has been bombarded, mercifully being pulled in the middle of Game 4. The Senators have surrendered a whopping 17 goals in four games even though they are known for their defense. Sure, the Penguins have two of th five most skilled offensive players in the world but Elliott has been rather bad for most of the series.

The West has been a little better. San Jose-Colorado has featured Craig Anderson, the star of these playoffs. With the Sharks peppering him to the tune of nearly 50 shots every game, Anderson has kept the Avalanche alive in this series. He has allowed only nine goals in four games, with six of them coming in one performance. He even has a shutout in this series. Had you ever heard of Anderson before these playoffs? You can answer "yes" if you check the transactions everyday because Anderson has been waived by so many teams, so many times, over the course of his career that I've lost count. As for the Sharks, their goalie is Evgeni Nabokov and he has made a career of coming up small in the playoffs. He has been victimized for two fluky goals, one that deflected in off one of his defensemen's skates and another that was actually put in by his own defenseman. These two goals essentially account for both San Jose losses. But the Sharks have been this decade's biggest underachiever. Despite numerous strong seasons, the Sharks have advanced to the Western Conference Final only once. They have been known for underachieving and Nabokov is at the center of that. He hasn't been brutal in this series but neither has he been good.

Chicago-Nashville has had the best goaltending of any series thus far with Antti Niemi and Pekka Rinne both playing admirably. Of course it should be noted that neither has ever played in the postseason before. Yes, they're playing well, but they haven't earned a reputation for playoff success yet either. Maybe these guys will turn out to be great but recent history says they're just as likely to be benched in the next round or next season. Ask reigning Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas about that.

Vancouver-Los Angeles has been the most entertaining series thus far. Part of that is because of a lack of goaltending. In the first four games, each team has scored 14 goals. Jonathan Quick, making his postseason debut, is outplaying Roberto Luongo, considered by many the best goalie in the NHL. Of course, it should be noted that Luongo has never gotten to a conference final, got absolutely bombarded in the final three playoff games last season (13 goals allowed), once blew a 3-1 series lead (to the Wild in 2003) and was pulled in Game 3 of this series against the Kings.

Then there is the Phoenix-Detroit series. If you can figure out the goaltending in this series, you're better than I. Both Jimmy Howard and Ilya Bryzgalov have traded off good games and bad. Neither has displayed the sort of goaltending one would expect of a Stanley Cup winner.

So there you have it. Eight playoff series, 16 teams with goaltenders that have either failed to really step up or who have yet to prove their ability to consistently rise to the occassion in the playoffs. And that's been the story of this entire era. Goalies that are good one year are lousy the next. Goalies that excel in the regular season flop in the playoffs. Goalies that excel in the playoffs one year meltdown the next and miss the playoffs. Goalies who are the league's best one year can't keep their job the next.

Osgood has been in the last two Cup Finals and isn't even a starter this year. Many consider Henrik Lundqvist the league's top goalie but he missed the playoffs a year after botching a 3-1 series lead. Cam Ward has won a Conn Smythe Trophy and has a 6-1 record in playoff series. Of course, he has only made the playoffs twice in the five years since the lockout. Tim Thomas won the Vezina last season and isn't even a starter this season. Ray Emery and Jean-Sebastian Giguere were the goalies in the 2007 Cup Final. 2010, Emery is barely even in the NHL anymore and Gigure, having been benched by the Ducks for Jonas Hiller, is now in Toronto, playing for one of the league's worst teams.

If you can tell me who the league's top goalies are, you're lying. You can't. I can't. No one can.

Well, maybe Fleury. Maybe.