Daren Puppa was one of the best goalies of his era
Ben Oakley
6,660 views
Drafted sight unseen by the Buffalo Sabres, Daren Puppa carved out a spectacular NHL career when not hampered by injuries. He dethroned a hall of famer and became the first star in Tampa Bay Lightning history. He was the most underrated goalie of his era.
Follow Daren: @Daren_Puppa on here and on all platforms
Check out his shirts: https://www.bonfire.com/puppa-man-t-s...
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Big thanks to @BillsSabresVids for most of the footage and Daren's daughter @isabelle41 for the Sabres Alumni Game video. As always thanks to all the archive channels on YouTube.
20 Comments
He might be one of my new favourite goalies of all time.
What people underestimate about 1980s goaltending was that it was incredibly difficult on the body, and without 21st-century sports medicine, the attrition was too much to really sustain true peaks like guys like Esposito could and then guys like Roy. Even Fuhr was kinda bad for large stretches of his career for that reason.
There’s actually a gap in the birth cohorts of HOF goalies between Billy Smith in 1950 and Grant Fuhr in 1962. There isn’t a gap like that among HOF goalies that played in the post-expansion NHL — from Sawchuk and Johnny Bower to Hebron Lundqvist (b 1982), no such gap exists. That gap is like if Henrik Lundqvist were the last goalie inducted until Andrei Vasilevskiy (b.1994)— and while almost everyone between those birth years have arguments against their inclusion, (1) I think some of those guys are too good to keep out, (2) others are too popular, and (3) Connor Hellebuyck could retire tomorrow and have a sure fire case (but maybe not because those folks kept Bure out for ??? Reasons).
So, again, from 1951-1961 (inclusive in both directions), no NHL HOF goaltenders were born (in North America). Is that due to demographic pressures? Obviously not. It was the baby boom.
It must have been on-ice cause-and-effect. My pet theory is that players finally had grasped the full effect of the curved stick only in the 80s — the same way it took nearly 15-20 years for composite sticks to fully revolutionize offence in the NHL.
Daren Puppa was one of the best goalies of his era
Ben Oakley
6,660 views
Drafted sight unseen by the Buffalo Sabres, Daren Puppa carved out a spectacular NHL career when not hampered by injuries. He dethroned a hall of famer and became the first star in Tampa Bay Lightning history. He was the most underrated goalie of his era.
Follow Daren: @Daren_Puppa on here and on all platforms
Check out his shirts: https://www.bonfire.com/puppa-man-t-s...
If you like my stuff, first, subscribe! After that:
Twitter:
https://x.com/oakley22610
TikTok:
TikTok: oakley22610
My Music:
@NoLuckAtAllPA
Big thanks to @BillsSabresVids for most of the footage and Daren's daughter @isabelle41 for the Sabres Alumni Game video. As always thanks to all the archive channels on YouTube.