This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
Outside of the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers, the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Islanders were arguably the two most successful franchises of the 1970s and 1980s with two and four Stanley Cup titles, respectively. While each team had its share of great forwards and defensemen, both also had Hall of Fame goalies in Bernie Parent (Flyers) and Billy Smith (Islanders); in their primes, each goalie was a Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe winner who elevated his game in the postseason – as two of the best netminders of this era, it is a natural comparison to ask the question:
Who was better – Bernie Parent or Billy Smith?
The Beginning
Both Parent and Smith initially struggled with the NHL teams that first signed them and were thus left unprotected in expansion drafts, where they would eventually join the teams they made their marks with.
The youngest of seven children, Parent grew up in Montreal and idolized Jacques Plante as a youngster. After starring with the Niagara Falls Flyers of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) Junior A league and twice winning the Dave Pinkney Trophy for lowest GAA while leading his team to the OHA title and Memorial Cup, he joined the Boston Bruins for the 1965-1966 season and finished fourth for the Calder Trophy as top rookie with a 12-20-3 record, 3.69 GAA (106 GA%-, which is a relative measure vs. league-wide scoring indexed to 100; lower is better), and .898 SV% with 1 shutout. However, after bouncing back and forth between Boston and its minor league team the next year, Parent was left unprotected in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft and selected by the Flyers.
As for Smith, he grew up in Ontario and played for the Cornwall Royals of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), later going in the fifth round of the 1970 NHL Draft to the Los Angeles Kings. Following two seasons with the team’s minor league affiliate, he made his NHL debut during the 1971-1972 season, making five appearances. However, the next year, he was selected by New York in the 1972 NHL Expansion Draft and struggled mightily while sharing the net with Gerry Desjardins, going 7-24-3 for the moribund Islanders with a 4.16 GAA (117 GA%-) and .878 SV%.
Career Comparison
During their respective primes with the Flyers and Islanders, Parent and Smith were consistently good, at times dominant netminders who each won both individual and team hardware en route to the Hall of Fame.
In his first stint with the Flyers, Parent quickly took over as the team’s top goalie and posted impressive SV% numbers (three straight years of .920+), though did not have a winning record in any season. Overall, his inaugural year in Philadelphia may have been his best: in 1967-1968, he went 15-17-5 with a 2.49 GAA (82 GA%-), .926 SV%, and 4 shutouts. After three-and-a-half seasons, Parent was dealt in 1971 to the Toronto Maple Leafs with a second-round draft pick (later used on Rick Kehoe) for Bruce Gamble and a first-round pick (Pierre Plante) as part of a three-team deal that also involved the Bruins.
Playing alongside his idol Plante, Parent continued to be good, but not great, going 17-18-9 with a 2.57 GAA (87 GA%-), .915 SV%, and 3 shutouts in his lone full season in Toronto. At the end of the 1971-1972 season, he opted to sign with the Miami Screaming Eagles of the new World Hockey Association (WHA), thus becoming the first NHL player to make the jump to the fledgling league. Unfortunately, Miami never fielded a team and Parent instead joined the Philadelphia Blazers, where he led the league in wins in 1972-1973 (33 wins). However, he lasted only one season in the WHA before seeking a return to the NHL; Parent was able to stay in Philadelphia and re-join the Flyers when the Maple Leafs traded him for fellow goalie Doug Favell and a first-round draft pick.
The second time around, Parent finally put everything together and had the two best seasons of his career, winning the Vezina Trophy in back-to-back years while leading the league in wins, shutouts, and GAA both seasons.
- 1973-1974: career-best 47-13-12 with a 1.89 GAA (65 GA%-), a league-best and career-high .932 SV%, and 12 shutouts; shared the Vezina with Tony Esposito and also finished second for the Hart Trophy as league MVP behind Tony’s brother Phil
- 1974-1975: 44-14-9 with a 2.04 GAA (75 GA%-), .918 SV%, and 12 shutouts; fourth for the Hart
As an encore, however, a neck injury limited him to just 11 games played in 1975-1976 and he could never regain his dominant form. He still had a couple of good seasons left, including a 35-13-12 record in 1976-1977 and a 29-6-13 record with a 2.22 GAA (79 GA%-), .912 SV%, and a league-high 7 shutouts in his penultimate season. Sadly, after suffering an eye injury in 1979, Parent was forced to retire at the relatively young age of 33, arguably the last great “stand-up” goalie in NHL history.
Though he struggled with the Islanders for a couple of seasons, Smith’s fortunes rose as New York improved as a team, posting his first winning record in 1974-1975 with a 21-18-17 record, 2.78 GAA (87 GA%-), .905 SV%, and 3 shutouts. Nominally the team’s #1 goalie, he split time with Chico Resch to form a potent duo in net – from 1975-1976 to 1978-1979, Smith never played more than 40 games in a season, but had three seasons of 20+ wins and less than 10 losses (he was 19-10-9 in the other year). Notably, in a 1979 game vs. the then-Colorado Rockies, he became the first goalie in NHL history to score a goal.
Finally, following his postseason heroics (more on that later), Smith became the unquestioned #1 option in net with Resch being traded to Colorado. Smith responded in turn by winning the Vezina Trophy in 1981-1982 on the strength of a league-best 32-9-4 record with a 2.97 GAA (80 GA%-) and .898 SV%. The next year, he was 18-14-7 with a 2.87 GAA (75 GA%-), .906 SV%, and a shutout to place fourth for the Vezina while winning the Jennings Trophy together with backup Roland Melanson. This was followed by a third consecutive top-10 Vezina showing in 1983-1984: 23-13-2 with a 3.43 GAA (82 GA%-), .896 SV%, and 2 shutouts.
Never a workhorse goalie in terms of games played, Smith continued to average around 40 games per season over the next few years, though saw his peripheral numbers deteriorate (i.e. higher GAA, lower SV%), as scoring in the NHL reached unprecedented levels during the 1980s. At the end of the 1987-1988 season, Smith reached the career milestone of 300 career wins and would play one more year before retiring at the age of 38.
Even though Smith played half a decade longer in the NHL, he actually only made about 50 more regular season starts than Parent, a testament both to the latter’s workhorse nature in his prime and the former’s frequent timeshares in net throughout his career. Overall, Smith won (and lost) more games, while Parent notched significantly more shutouts and had better peripheral numbers on both an absolute and relative basis; at first glance, Smith’s 3.18 career GAA looks far inferior to Parent’s 2.55 career GAA, but remember that the 1980s were the highest-scoring era in NHL history, so that 3.18 GAA actually translates to a 90 GA%-, which is well above average. On a season by season basis, Parent was more dominant in his prime with four 30-win seasons (including a pair of 40+ win campaigns) to Smith’s lone 30-win season, an advantage of five All-Star Game selections to one, and two Vezina Trophies to Smith’s one, though the longtime Islanders goalie also took home a Jennings Trophy. As two of the best goalies of their respective eras, both netminders were quickly inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame post-retirement (1984 for Parent and 1993 for Smith).
Regular Season Statistics
| Bernie Parent | Player | Billy Smith |
| 13 (1965-1972, 1973-1979) | Seasons | 18 (1971-1989) |
| 608 | Games Played | 679 |
| 271-198-119 | W-L-T Record | 305-233-105 |
| 54 | Shutouts | 22 |
| 2.55 | GAA | 3.18 |
| .915 | SV% | .895 |
| 82 | GA%- | 90 |
| 5x | All-Star Games | 1x |
| 2x | Vezina Trophies | 1x |
| – | Jennings Trophies | 1x |
| 2x | Stanley Cups | 4x |
| 2x | Conn Smythes | 1x |
| – | Other Awards | – |
| 1984 | Hall of Fame Induction | 1993 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
As good as each goalie was in the regular season, both Parent and Smith were arguably even better in the postseason, not only leading their teams to multiple Stanley Cups, but also taking home individual hardware as Conn Smythe winners.
Overall, Parent was a postseason participant in nine NHL seasons (7x with the Flyers), highlighted by three straight Stanley Cup Finals appearances in the mid-1970s:
- 1973-1974: beat the Bruins in six games, as Parent won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP with a postseason-best 12-5 record with a 2.02 GAA (75 GA%-), .933 SV%, and 2 shutouts; Philadelphia was the first expansion team in league history to win the Cup
- 1974-1975: repeated as Stanley Cup champions by defeating the Buffalo Sabres in six games; again won the Conn Smythe with playoff-bests of a 10-5 record with a 1.89 GAA (77 GA%-), .924 SV%, and 4 shutouts
- 1975-1976: going for a three-peat, but were swept by the Canadiens dynasty as Parent struggled to the tune of a 4-4 record, 3.40 GAA (113 GA%-), and .892 SV%
Similarly, Smith played in the postseason 13x with the Islanders and was consistently excellent during the teams’ four straight Cup championships, not surprisingly leading the playoffs in wins each time:
- 1979-1980: beat the Flyers in six games to win their first-ever Stanley Cup; 15-4 with a 2.70 GAA (91 GA%-), .903 SV%, and a shutout
- 1980-1981: beat the then-Minnesota North Stars in five games; 14-3 with a 2.54 GAA (78 GA%-), and .903 SV%
- 1981-1982: swept the Vancouver Canucks; 15-3 with a 2.51 GAA (82 GA%-), .906 SV%, and a shutout
- 1982-1983: swept Edmonton; Smith captured the Conn Smythe with a 13-3 record, 2.69 GAA (73 GA%-), .913 SV%, and a pair of shutouts
Going for their fifth consecutive title in 1983-1984, the Islanders fell to the Oilers in a Finals rematch in five games, breaking a record-streak of 19 straight playoff series won; this would effectively mark the end of one dynasty on Long Island and the beginning of a new one in Edmonton spearheaded by Hall of Famers like Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, and Grant Fuhr.
Playoff Statistics
| Bernie Parent | Player | Billy Smith |
| 71 | Games Played | 132 |
| 38-33 | W-L-T Record | 88-36 |
| 6 | Shutouts | 5 |
| 2.44 | GAA | 2.72 |
| .916 | SV% | .905 |
| 82 | GA%- | 79 |
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; in addition to each goalie having a rough start to his NHL career, Parent had a relatively brief, though brilliant prime, while Smith seemingly spent as many years in platoons vs. being an unquestioned #1 option. 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
| Bernie Parent | Player | Billy Smith |
| 1968-1975, 1976-1979 | Decade of Dominance | 1974-1984 |
| 565 | Games Played | 418 |
| 267-175-107 | W-L-T Record | 216-122-72 |
| 51 | Shutouts | 18 |
| 2.58 | GAA | 2.90 |
| .917 | SV% | .903 |
| 85 | GA%- | 83 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Over their respective decades of dominance, Parent was far more of a true workhorse goalie, winning significantly more games with generally better supporting numbers; however, as average as Smith’s 2.90 GAA looks, it actually translates to an 83 GA%- (vs. 85 for Parent).
My Thoughts
As good as they each were in the regular season, Bernie Parent and Billy Smith stand out as two of the greatest postseason goalies ever; in fact, other than Patrick Roy (3x), Parent is the only goalie to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP multiple times. While their peripheral numbers are harder to compare due to the vastly different eras they played in just a decade apart, I think the advantage ultimately goes to Parent for a couple of reasons – yes, Smith had the longer career and reached 300 career wins while winning more Stanley Cups, but Parent was far more dominant in his prime. He was a true workhorse goalie (compared to Smith often platooning with other capable netminders) and his zenith from 1973 to 1975, in which he took home both the Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophies and won Stanley Cups each year, is arguably the greatest two-year run ever by a goalie. Moreover, when it comes to team importance, it can be argued that Smith was anywhere from the second to the fifth-best player on those Islanders teams, whereas Parent might be the MVP of the 1970s Flyers or at worst, second-best behind only Bobby Clarke.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Bernie Parent
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
More Good Stuff
- Watch: Get tickets to see the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders, or any other NHL team in action
- Wear: Buy sports apparel for the Flyers, Islanders, or any other NHL team
- Collect: Buy unique sports memorabilia for Bernie Parent, Billy Smith, or your favorite NHL player(s) or team(s)
- Play: Show off your hockey knowledge by playing daily fantasy hockey
- Build: Start your own sports website/blog
Previous
H2H 171: George Foster vs. Dale Murphy
