Post by Bob McKenzie on Jul 1, 2020 9:08:32 GMT -5
4. Jean-Sebastien Giguere - Goaltender - Canada - Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
Jean-Sébastien Giguère is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey goaltender. He played at the junior ice hockey Major junior major level with the Verdun Collège Français and Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), where he was drafted 13th overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. He played in the Calgary Flames organization for three seasons before joining the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2000.
In the 2003 NHL playoffs, Giguère anchored the seventh-seeded Mighty Ducks into the Stanley Cup Finals, where he became the fifth and most recent player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy despite not simultaneously winning the Stanley Cup. Giguere ultimately won the Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007.
His later career included stints in Toronto and Colorado. Giguère holds the Anaheim Ducks' franchise record for career wins and shutouts; and was the last active NHL player who had played for the Hartford Whalers.
Giguère's first winning season in the NHL helped the Mighty Ducks enter the 2003 playoffs as the seventh seed in the Western Conference. From that point, Giguere delivered one of the greatest playoff performances in NHL history as he helped lead the team on a Cinderella run to their first Stanley Cup Finals. Facing the defending Stanley Cup champions and second-seeded Detroit Red Wings in the opening round, Giguère set an NHL record for most saves by a goaltender in their playoff debut with 63 in the Mighty Ducks' 2–1 triple overtime win in Game 1, surpassing Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jiří Crha's mark by two saves. This record would later be broken by the Vancouver Canucks' Roberto Luongo, who stopped 72 shots in his playoff debut against the Dallas Stars in 2007.
The Ducks would proceed to shock the hockey world by sweeping the Red Wings in four games, with Giguère labelled as the star of the series. The Mighty Ducks then faced Dallas. Giguère stopped 60 of 63 Dallas shots in the series opener, a five-overtime Anaheim win. He recorded his first shutout of the playoffs in Game 4, stopping 28 shots. The Mighty Ducks eventually eliminated the Stars in six games, and moved on to the Western Conference Finals to face the Minnesota Wild. Giguère held the Wild to an all-time, best-of-seven-series low of one goal in the entire series, which included a franchise-record shutout streak of 217 minutes and 54 seconds (later surpassed by Ilya Bryzgalov in 2006).
However, the Mighty Ducks' dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup were stopped by the New Jersey Devils, to whom Anaheim lost in a seven-game series. Giguère finished the playoffs undefeated in seven overtime games, setting a record for the longest playoff overtime shutout streak at 168 minutes and 27 seconds. He finished with a 15–6 record overall, a 1.62 GAA and .945 save percentage, as well as fewer losses than Finals counterpart Martin Brodeur. He was the fifth player to receive the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP as part of the losing team and the first since Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall won in 1987. Along with the Conn Smythe, he received the 2003 ESPY award for Best Hockey Player. The only other goalie ever to do so is Dominik Hašek.
AWARDS
QMJHL
Second All-Star Team 1997
AHL
Hap Holmes Memorial Award 1998
NHL
Conn Smythe Trophy 2003
Best NHL Player ESPY Award 2003
Stanley Cup champion 2007
NHL All-Star Game 2009
PROS AND CONS
PRO:
Giguere was part of a goalie group that wore equipment far too big, with levers built into the shoulders so when he would go down into the butterfly, it would push poles up and create a barrier around his neck. His jersey was also 2-3 sizes too big which would act as a parachute underneath his arms and trap gloves as if it was a pair of catcher gloves.
CONS:
The league cracked down, shrinking goalie pads and jersey sizes and suddenly really good goaltenders were not really good anymore.
