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When you look at the NHL’s all-time wins leaderboard for goalies, the first two names come as no surprise – Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy, two of the greatest goalies in league history. Go down to the third and fourth spots, however, and you may be a little surprised by the names – Roberto Luongo and Ed Belfour (as of the end of the 2018-2019 season). Though both were excellent goalies for nearly two decades, most fans would not consider them among the greatest (i.e. top 5-10) goalies in NHL history and in fact, Luongo never even won a Vezina Trophy! Nevertheless, wins are wins and only two goalies in NHL history had more wins than these two, which begs the question:
Who was better – Ed Belfour or Roberto Luongo?
The Beginning
The NHL careers of Belfour and Luongo started in diametrically opposing directions – on one hand, Belfour was an unheralded NHL prospect who took the league by storm, whereas on the other hand, Luongo was a highly touted draft pick who initially struggled to find his footing in the NHL.
Belfour grew up in Manitoba, Canada and originally played junior hockey with the Winkler Flyers before attending the University of North Dakota and leading the team to the NCAA Championship in 1986-1987. However, he went undrafted that year in the NHL Entry Draft and subsequently signed as a free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks. After spending time with the Saginaw Hawks of the International Hockey League (IHL), he only went 4-12-3 in 23 games played in his NHL debut in 1988-1989, and was only recalled in time for the 1990 NHL playoffs. The next season, in 1990-1991, Belfour became the Blackhawk’ starting goaltender and put together a historic rookie season (on-par with Tony Esposito’s rookie year with Chicago in 1969-1970) – with a record of 43-19-7 with a 2.47 GAA, .910 SV%, and 4 shutouts, good for a 79 GA%- (which is a relative measure vs. league-wide scoring indexed to 100; lower is better), Belfour led the NHL in wins, GAA, and SV%, and took home the Calder Trophy for top rookie, was an All-Star selection, won the Vezina Trophy for top goaltender, won the Jennings Trophy (awarded annually to the “goalkeeper(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it”), and was third in the Hart Trophy race for MVP (won by Brett Hull).
As for Luongo, he was born and raised in Montreal to an Italian father and Irish-Canadian mother, living only four blocks away from Martin Brodeur as a kid. Originally a soccer player and a hockey forward before converting to goalie as a teenager, he was drafted second overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) draft by the Val-d’Or Foreurs (the highest pick ever for a goalie) and proceeded to win the Mike Bossy Trophy as the league’s best professional prospect. As a result of his stellar play, Luongo was drafted fourth overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders, making him at the time the highest drafted goalie in NHL history; since then, both Rick DiPietro and Marc-Andre Fleury have been drafted number one overall. Nevertheless, Luongo continued to play in the QMJHL until signing with the Islanders in 1999, upon which he played with their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Lowell Lock Monsters until making his NHL debut in 1999-2000 and going 7-14-1 in 24 games played. In the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, however, the Islanders drafted the aforementioned Rick DiPietro number one overall and traded Luongo and Olli Jokinen to the Florida Panthers for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha. In his first season in Florida in 2000-2001, Luongo only went 12-24-7, but posted a 2.44 GAA (83 GA%-), .920 SV%, and 5 shutouts to finish ninth in the Calder Trophy voting.
Career Comparison
Though both Belfour and Luongo would bounce around with a few teams during their respective careers, each goalie was nevertheless outstanding in net at each stop and would establish himself as one of the league’s premier and most consistent netminders.
Belfour’s historic rookie season would also mark the beginning of his most dominant stretch in the NHL. The next season, he led the league in shutouts, the first of four straight years doing so, en route to a fourth-place Vezina finish. This was followed by another Vezina Trophy, Jennings Trophy, and 40-win season in 1992-1993, when he went 41-18-11 with a 2.59 GAA (82 GA%-), .906 SV%, and 7 shutouts. Two years later, Belfour would win his third Jennings Trophy and nearly earn a third Vezina, finishing second overall for top goalie honors. However, despite being one of the NHL’s best goalies during his time with Chicago, Belfour was set to become a free agent after the 1996-1997 season and rather than risk losing him for nothing, the Blackhawks traded him midway through the season to the San Jose Sharks for an underwhelming haul: Ulf Dahlen, Michal Sykora, Chris Terreri, and a second-round pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. Belfour’s half-season with the Sharks was an unmitigated disaster, though, as he played in 13 games total and compiled a 3-9 record with an ugly 3.41 GAA.
Following his forgettable half-season in San Jose, Belfour signed with the Dallas Stars as a free agent and quickly saw a return to his former greatness. In his first season with the Stars, he went 37-12-10 and led the NHL with a miniscule 1.88 GAA (89 GA%), while also posting a .905 SV% and 9 shutouts to finish fourth for the Vezina. As a follow-up, Belfour posted a second straight season with a sub-2.00 GAA (1.99) and thus won his fourth and final Jennings Trophy. Overall, in his first four seasons with Dallas (out of five), he won 30+ games each season and garnered two top-five Vezina finishes. In his fifth and last season, however, Belfour would struggle and post only the second losing season of his career (the first being his split season between Chicago and San Jose), once again becoming a free agent after the season.
This time, Belfour joined the Toronto Maple Leafs and continued to be a strong presence in net for his new team. In his inaugural campaign in 2002-2003, he finished third for the Vezina Trophy with 37 wins and the next year, would have a career-high 10 shutouts. Post the lockout, Belfour played one more season with Toronto, where he passed legendary goalie Terry Sawchuk for then-second on the all-time wins list in 2005, before joining the Florida Panthers for a final year and then retiring after the 2006-2007 season at age 41.
Despite playing on mediocre Florida teams for many years, Luongo continued to be a strong presence in net for the Panthers. In fact, in five seasons with Florida (the first time around), he had a losing record the first four years and led the NHL in losses in the fifth season. Nevertheless, even though he only had a record of 25-33-14 in 2003-2004, Luongo posted a 2.43 GAA (78 GA%-), .931 SV%, and 7 shutouts while leading the league in shots faced and saves to finish third for the Vezina Trophy and sixth for the Hart Trophy. Post the lockout in 2005-2006, he once again led the league in shots faced and saves and also posted the most losses (record of 35-30-9), though became the winningest goalie in Panthers history and was seventh for the Vezina. Set to become a free agent, Luongo was surprisingly traded along with Lukas Krajicek and a sixth-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen, and Alex Auld.
Playing on a strong Vancouver team that included offensive stars such as Markus Naslund and the Sedin twins, Luongo soared to new heights north of the border – in his seventh-and-half seasons with the Canucks, he began with six consecutive 30-win seasons and five straight top-10 Vezina finishes. Notably, in his first season with Vancouver, Luongo compiled a career-best 47-22-6 record with a 2.28 GAA (83 GA%-), .921 SV%, and 5 shutouts to finish second in both the Vezina and Hart voting; as he never won that elusive Vezina, this would be his highest career finish. With Naslund’s retirement in 2008, Luongo was named team captain, an unusual honor since league rules forbade goalies from being captains and practically, the alternate captains had to fulfill many of the typical captain responsibilities; in fact, he was only the seventh goalie to be named captain and the first since Bill Durnan for the Montreal Canadiens in 1947-1948. During the 2010-2011 season, Luongo led the NHL in wins for the first time (after twice being the league leader in losses) with a 38-15-7 record, 2.11 GAA (83 GA%-), .928 SV%, and 4 shutouts to claim the Jennings Trophy, his first and only major goalie award, while also finishing third for the Vezina Trophy. Midway through the 2013-2014 season, in the midst of a goalie timeshare, he was traded back to the Florida Panthers with prospect Steven Anthony for Jacob Markstrom and Shawn Matthias.
In his second go-around with Florida, Luongo remained a consistent performer even in the twilight of his career – his best season was 2015-2016, when he finished fourth for the Vezina with a 35-19-6 record, 2.35 GAA (92 GA%), .922 SV%, and 4 shutouts. In 2017-2018, he joined Brodeur and Roy as the only goalies to play 1,000 games and the next season, passed Belfour for third in all-time wins before retiring after the season at age 39.
Across their long careers, both Belfour and Luongo played roughly 1,000 games, and are separated by only five career wins (489 for Luongo vs. 484 for Belfour). Digging a little deeper into these wins, Belfour had nine 30-win seasons and two 40-win seasons vs. eight and two, respectively, for Luongo; overall, Luongo actually won less than 50% of his games, which in part speaks to the mediocre Florida teams he toiled on for many years. In terms of their peripherals, Belfour had a slightly lower career GAA (2.50 vs. 2.52), but Luongo had a far better SV% (.919 vs. 9.06; as mentioned before, he was always among the league leaders in shots faced and saves, particularly in Florida) and also had a better GA%- (92 vs. 96), which implies he was actually better than Belfour at preventing goals on a normalized basis. Belfour does have the distinct edge in honors and awards – both goalies appeared in six All-Star Games, but Belfour has two Vezinas, four Jennings Trophies, a Calder Trophy, and a Stanley Cup to only one Jennings Trophy for Luongo. Given his achievements, Belfour was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011; on the other hand, with his recent retirement, debate is sure to rage over whether or not Luongo deserves to be immortalized in the Hall.
Regular Season Statistics
| Ed Belfour | Player | Roberto Luongo |
| 17 (1988-1989, 1990-2007) | Seasons | 19 (1999-2019) |
| 963 | Games Played | 1,044 |
| 484-320-125 | W-L-T Record | 489-392-124 |
| 76 | Shutouts | 77 |
| 2.50 | GAA | 2.52 |
| .906 | SV% | .919 |
| 96 | GA%- | 92 |
| 6x | All-Star Games | 6x |
| 2x | Vezina Trophies | – |
| 4x | Jennings Trophies | 1x |
| 1x | Stanley Cups | – |
| – | Conn Smythes | – |
| ROY | Other Awards | – |
| 2011 | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
In part because Luongo spent a large part of his career with a mediocre Florida Panthers franchise, Belfour had more than double the career playoff experience of his counterpart and appeared in three Stanley Cup Finals, winning the Cup once in thrilling fashion, vs. Luongo losing his only Finals in heartbreaking fashion.
In addition to his strong regular season play, Belfour was a playoff stalwart, appearing in the postseason in 13 of his 17 career seasons, including three trips to the Stanley Cup Finals. The first appearance came in the 1991-1992 season, when he led the playoffs with a 2.47 GAA and helped propel the Blackhawks to the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins; however, Chicago was swept and in his three games played (backup Dominik Hasek started one of the games), Belfour allowed 11 goals on 88 shots. Later on, as a member of the Dallas Stars, Belfour would pace the postseason in shutouts and face-off vs. the Buffalo Sabres and his former backup Hasek in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals – this time, Belfour and the Stars would prevail in six games, with the title clinched by Brett Hull’s controversial Game 6 game-winner in the third overtime. The next year, Dallas would return to the Stanley Cup Finals, but fell in six games to Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils; Belfour played well, though, leading the postseason in shots faced and saves, as well as shutouts once again.
On the other hand, in his many years toiling in Florida, Luongo only made one playoff appearance (during his second stint in 2015-2016); however, as a Canuck, he made six trips to the playoffs, with his best chance to win a Stanley Cup coming in 2010-2011. During that particular postseason, he led all goalies in shutouts and guided Vancouver to the Stanley Cup Finals vs. the Boston Bruins – despite Luongo pitching 1-0 shutouts in both Games 1 and 5, Vancouver was ultimately blanked 4-0 by Bruins goalie Tim Thomas in the decisive Game 7.
Both Belfour and Luongo were highly decorated in representing Team Canada on the international stage. Belfour won gold at both the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (making him one of only two hockey players to win an NCAA title, a Stanley Cup, and an Olympic gold; the other is Neal Broten) and the 1991 Canada Cup, while Luongo had even greater success for his country – in addition to gold medals at both the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, he took home the gold at the 2003 World Championships, 2004 World Championships, and the 2004 World Cup, and a silver at the 2005 World Championships.
Playoff Statistics
| Ed Belfour | Player | Roberto Luongo |
| 161 | Games Played | 70 |
| 88-68 | W-L-T Record | 34-35 |
| 14 | Shutouts | 5 |
| 2.17 | GAA | 2.49 |
| .920 | SV% | .918 |
| 92 | GA%- | 94 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; though both goalies were excellent well into their mid to late 30s, both Belfour and Luongo eventually slowed down at the end of their career and interestingly, each one spent his final season in Florida with the Panthers. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete, though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Ed Belfour | Player | Roberto Luongo |
| 1990-1991, 1992-1995, 1997-2001, 2002-2004 | Decade of Dominance | 2003-2004, 2006-2012, 2013-2016 |
| 625 | Games Played | 637 |
| 353-183-71 | W-L-T Record | 337-209-80 |
| 66 | Shutouts | 50 |
| 2.21 | GAA | 2.30 |
| .912 | SV% | .921 |
| 88 | GA%- | 89 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Looking at their respective decades of dominance, Belfour’s numbers really shine – with the exception of SV% (Luongo was always among the league leaders in shots faced and saves), Belfour has the clear edge in essentially every major category.
My Thoughts
In reflecting upon the careers of Ed Belfour and Roberto Luongo, Luongo was arguably one of the more underrated goalies in recent NHL history – had he played on better teams throughout his career (e.g. more seasons with Vancouver), would he have achieved even more (more wins, more awards, a Stanley Cup)? However, because he played on the Panthers for so many years, he was often overlooked and outside of his save numbers, his statistics were never considered elite. In contrast, Belfour was the backbone of some very strong Blackhawks and Stars teams, and helped guide multiple teams to the Stanley Cup Finals while racking up numerous individual accomplishments; throughout much of the 1990s, he was arguably one of the top two or three goalies in the NHL. Ultimately, we cannot judge athletes on what could have been, but rather, what they accomplished under whatever circumstances and environments they were in.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Ed Belfour
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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