Today, we’re going to play a roster-building game based on a relatively straightforward question: Which goalie can make the best six-man team out of players who scored their first career goal against them?
That’s it. Nice and simple. But first, a few ground rules™:
• Each squad will be made up of three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie. Other than that, position won’t matter.
• The forwards and defensemen must have all scored their first career goals against the same goaltender. That goalie will then complete the roster, joining the guys who scored on him.
• Once they’re on the team, you’re getting the peak version of that player.
Before we start, let’s all tap sticks for reader Billy G., who not only sent me this idea but also included a massive spreadsheet of relevant research. Folks, I can’t emphasize this strongly enough: My favorite readers are the ones who do a big chunk of the work for me. Way to go, Billy. You’re like the anti-Bryce.
We’re going to crank up Stathead’s goal finder and build out rosters for a dozen goalies, and then turn it over to you in the comments to see if you can beat them.
Team Marc-Andre Fleury
In theory, Fleury seems like a great option to start with, for two reasons. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer, which gives our squad a strong foundation. And he played forever, meaning you’d expect to see plenty of guys who got their first goal against him.
And sure enough, we have an impressive 44 names to choose from. Can we find a mini All-Star team in there? Let’s find out …
Goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury
Defense: Bowen Byram, Morgan Rielly
Forwards: John Tavares, Seth Jarvis, Brandon Dubinsky
That’s not bad. And it could have been even better, because Cale Makar got his first regular-season goal against Fleury back in 2019. But Makar is the rare case of a guy who scored his first NHL goal in the playoffs, so technically he doesn’t count. (I don’t think any of those playoff-first guys slipped into any of the teams below, but apologies in advance if they did.)
We still get some solid star power, ranging from Dubinsky in 2007 to Jarvis and Byram a few weeks apart in 2021. Team Fleury is a good one, but we can do better.
Team Henrik Lundqvist
Lundqvist didn’t stick around quite as long as Fleury, but he still gives us 29 names to choose from. And right off the bat, we can find some legitimate star power in Nikita Kucherov, who got his first of many against Lundqvist so long ago that he was wearing the number 56 when he did it, and the announcer thought his name was Dmitri.
Kucherov is only the beginning, as our forwards are so loaded that we don’t even need to use Mathew Barzal or Brayden Schenn. Other than the second blue-line spot, we’re pretty loaded.
Goalie: Henrik Lundqvist
Defense: Kris Letang, Erik Gudbranson
Forwards: Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin, Nikolaj Ehlers
This strategy of using elite goalies who played for a long time is working. Let’s try it one more time.
Team Carey Price
Price gives us 38 names to work with, one of whom is Paul Bissonnette. So … 37 names to work with.
Goalie: Carey Price
Defense: Jakob Chychrun, Alec Martinez
Forwards: Mark Stone, Ryan O’Reilly, Timo Meier
You could also swap in Alex DeBrincat if you prefer. Either way, we’ve got three solid forwards, a defenseman having a career year right now, and a second blueliner who we know can score big goals. Still, I don’t think this squad can compete with Team Lundqvist.
Let’s mix things up by switching our strategy. We’ll start with a great offensive player and see if we can build around him.
Team Pete Peeters
My first thought was to try Wayne Gretzky as our anchor, but his first goal came against Glen Hanlon, who doesn’t give us much else to work with (with apologies to Ken Baumgartner). But the second name that came to mind works a little better.
Goalie: Pete Peeters
Defense: Viacheslav Fetisov, Sylvain Côté
Forwards: Mario Lemieux, Joe Nieuwendyk, Scott Mellanby
It’s hard to beat Mario as your starting point, and we find two more Hall of Famers in Nieuwendyk and Fetisov, but this roster leaves me wanting a bit more. I won’t criticize it too much, though, since they also have access to Chris Nilan and Tie Domi.
But hey, if building around one generational center from the 1980s is good, then two would be even better. And there happen to be two superstars who both got their first against a pretty good goaltender …
Team Rogie Vachon
So yeah, Mark Messier and Bryan Trottier both scored their first goals against the same goalie. What I hadn’t realized is that so did one of the greatest defensemen ever.
Goalie: Rogie Vachon
Defense: Larry Robinson, Barry Ashbee
Forwards: Bryan Trottier, Mark Messier, Rick Vaive
As is often the case with these things, we fall just short of filling every spot with a superstar, although Vaive had three 50-goal seasons and Ashbee was a second-team All-Star once. Still, I think this is my favorite team we’ve built so far.
Now let’s all enjoy Messier’s highlight-reel first goal. Just like they drew it up.
Hey, you want to see a ridiculously good first line?
Team Sean Burke
The bad news: Burke was a good goaltender, but hardly a franchise guy, and the blue line is just OK. The good news: That stuff won’t matter, because with these three forwards, we’ll never let the other team have the puck.
Goalie: Sean Burke
Defense: Kimmo Timonen, Ed Jovanovski
Forwards: Joe Sakic, Sergei Fedorov, Marián Hossa
It’s not a deep roster. Our next best option up front would probably be Marc Savard, who makes for decent depth but won’t be allowed to coach our power play. But we only need six guys, and these six are pretty good.
OK, time to go back a bit further into the history books …
Team Ed Giacomin
The Rangers Hall of Famer gives us a great start. And with his heyday syncing up perfectly with the start of the expansion era (and the high scoring that came with it), we should get some goal scorers to choose from. Let’s see if it works.
Goalie: Ed Giacomin
Defense: Denis Potvin, Barry Gibbs
Forwards: Bobby Clarke, Jacques Lemaire, Ken Hodges
Not too shabby, with Giacomin giving us three more Hall of Famers plus two solid veterans. Not the very best top-to-bottom roster we’ve seen, but good enough that we should try one more old-timer.
Team Gump Worsley
Some of you oldies are already sitting up, because you know that in addition to being a legend in his own right, Worsley gave up the first goal of Bobby Orr’s NHL career. We have 30 other skaters to sort through, and while none of them will be at Orr’s level, I was hoping to find some star power. It’s fair to say my hopes were met.
Goalie: Gump Worsley
Defense: Bobby Orr, Al Arbour
Forwards: Stan Mikita, Johnny Bucyk, Henri Richard
I’d say that’s a decent lineup. The forwards are fantastic, obviously, and Orr was unstoppable. The only weak spot is the second blueliner, where I went with Arbour over Bob Watson or Reggie Fleming. Three reasons there: Arbour was cool, he wore glasses, and his goal (one of just two he ever scored in three seasons with the Wings) was assisted by Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay.
OK, just a few more teams to build. Let’s shift back to the modern era so you kids out there don’t get bored and start looking at your phones.
Team Kari Lehtonen
Lehtonen was one of the highest-drafted goalies ever, going second overall in 2002. He went on to win 310 games, and more importantly for our purposes, he gave up the first goals for a pair of centers who’ve gotten to know each other pretty well in recent years.
Goalie: Kari Lehtonen
Defense: Jaccob Slavin, Johnny Oduya
Forwards: Connor McDavid, Aleksander Barkov, Blake Coleman
This one is admittedly a little top-heavy, to say the least. Still, we’ll put McDavid in the offensive zone, Slavin on the defensive side, Barkov playing all 200 feet and let everyone else play a supporting role. I think it works.
Team Craig Anderson
Anderson was a better goalie than you probably remember, winning 319 games and leading the league in GAA (1.69) and save percentage (.941) in 2013. He also had an up-close seat to arguably the greatest debut of all time.
Goalie: Craig Anderson
Defense: Shea Theodore, Simon Benoit
Forwards: Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Nico Hischier
That’s a heck of a first line, featuring three high picks. And we could run out a second line of Sam Bennett, Sean Couturier and Artturi Lehkonen. It’s the second blue-line spot that trips us up yet again, though; other than Theodore, we have eight more defensemen to choose from, but Benoit is the only one who’s played more than 100 NHL games, and only he and Kyle Capobianco are even still in the league.
For our final two goalies, let’s reach back to the ’80s and ’90s for a couple of well-traveled Hall of Famers.
Team Grant Fuhr
Fuhr only gets two Hall of Famers to join him here, but it’s not a bad duo to build around. And the rest of the bunch is pretty good too. (Remember, before he was the coach with the funny mustache, Paul MacLean scored 40 goals three times.)
Goalie: Grant Fuhr
Defense: Brian Leetch, Jyrki Lumme
Forwards: Peter Forsberg, Theo Fleury, Paul MacLean
By the way, I did make sure to check the big three of Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek, but none had much to offer. Hasek peaks with Sergei Zubov, Roy’s best option is probably Brian Rolston, and Brodeur (despite giving up first goals to 54 different players) can only get us Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kreider.
So instead, let’s wrap this up with a guy who wasn’t quite on that tier, but played a long time for a lot of teams on his way to an eventual call from the Hall.
Team Tom Barrasso
OK, I’m going to be honest with you. You could make a pretty decent team out of Barrasso’s first goals, one that would include Eric Lindros and Pavel Datsyuk as well as Claude Lemieux.
But I’m not going to do that. Instead, let’s build the one lineup that absolutely none of these other teams want any part of playing against.
Goalie: Tom Barrasso
Defense: Dave Manson, Bryan Marchment
Forwards: Craig Berube, Shane Churla, Rob Ray
Depth for the inevitable suspensions: Brad May, Brent Thompson, Jay Miller, Jim Sandlak
Yeah, I have no idea what’s going on here. But when Claude Lemieux isn’t even close to being your dirtiest player, you’ve got yourself a terrifying lineup. No wonder Barrasso was so cranky all the time.
And finally, I know we said we’d do a dozen goalies, but that still leaves us with one more roster to fill out …
Team Empty Net
Goalie: n/a
Defense: Bret Hedican, Lindy Ruff
Forwards: Charlie Simmer, Vincent Trocheck, Anders Hedberg, Antoine Vermette
Well, that’s disappointing. And sure, we could technically use our goalie spot on Ron Hextall or Ilya Sorokin or any other goal-scoring goalie, but that would go against the spirit of the thing. So we’re left with this not-so-imposing crew, which I guess proves that nobody wants to get their first career goal on a cheap empty-netter.
So who you got?
You probably have to go with Team Gump, or maybe Team Rogie. Among the more recent entries, it’s hard to argue with Team Hank. But I’m open to your suggestions down in the comments. If you’ve got a Stathead account and want to try to make your own teams, you can start here. Or you could just drop by to say thanks to Billy G. for putting the wheels in motion. Just be nice about it, or else Team Barrasso will show up in a dark alley and have a little chat with you about manners.
