NHL.com’s Pete Jensen explored a fun question: which players had the best fantasy hockey seasons of all-time?
There are plenty of expected legends such as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr and Martin Brodeur on his top 16 list, yet Jensen includes a few surprises.
The biggest one might be Jonathan Quick, who was on the “bench” behind Brodeur and Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Famer Bernie Parent.
Only two goalies since the start of the expansion era (Brodeur in ’97-98 and Parent in ’73-74) have posted better single-season goals-against averages with 69-plus appearances than Quick’s G.A.A. in ’11-12. The Cup champion Kings had the second-worst goal-scoring offense in the League this past regular season, but that didn’t prevent Quick from posting 35 wins (T-5th in NHL) and a League-best 10 shutouts.
When you knock Dominik Hasek and Patrick Roy’s best statistical seasons to the “honorable mentions” section, you know you’ve had a good year.
Jensen’s list is just another reminder of the high bar Quick set for himself in 2011-12.