The Toronto Maple Leafs currently are unsure about who their top goaltender is, but in this exclusive archive story from a quarter-century ago, the Leafs had a clear-cut No. 1 netminder in veteran star Curtis Joseph.
The Toronto Maple Leafs currently are trying to figure out who their No. 1 goaltender is, but in this cover story from The Hockey News’ May 21, 1999 edition (Vol. 52, Issue 35), the Leafs knew exactly who their star goalie was: Curtis Joseph, whose road to Toronto was profiled by senior writer Mike Brophy.
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Joseph signed as a free agent with the Leafs in 1998, and he was an instant workhorse hit, playing at least 63 games in his first three seasons wearing Blue and White. He was more of an instinctual netminder, as one team’s goaltender coach told Brophy.
“He has no style,” the coach said. “He’s not very predictable; it’s an arm (save) this time, a leg (save) the next. It doesn’t matter what it is, he seems to stick something in front of the shot. He’s a gambler, but he knows the percentages. He plays with a lot of heart and that rubs off on the rest of the team.”
Joseph begged to differ with that appraisal. He was a student of the game, and that showed in his calculated gambles.
“The whole thing with my style is balance,” Joseph told Brophy. “As long as I’m in control of my balance, no matter how it looks, I know what’s happening. I basically take things as they come. If Brett Hull and Mike Modano are coming in 2-on-1 with Hull carrying the puck, I know he’s a shooter so I’ll move out a bit. If Modano is carrying the puck, he’s more of a passer so I’ll stay a little deeper in my net.”
CUJO: IN DOG LEAFS TRUST
By Mike Brophy
Curtis Joseph’s life is a delicate balance.
Star player, savior and media darling of the Toronto Maple Leafs on one hand; humble, down-to-earth family man whose greatest joy is raising his three kids with his wife Nancy, on the other.
But while the city of Toronto gets caught up in Stanley Cup fever (a little prematurely perhaps), Joseph goes about his day-to-day business like it’s the first week of training camp.
“I guess you could call me laid back,” said a relaxed Joseph, sitting in the first row of seats at Air Canada Centre-his building, much the way Maple Leaf Gardens belonged to Doug Gilmour in 1993, the last time the Leafs made a serious charge in the playoffs. “Sometimes I might be too laid back, but that’s just who I am.”
It’s a good thing, too. Because if Joseph was the nervous type, you wouldn’t want to be around him at this point in the season. Not when he’s facing his old nemesis–the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
To the Toronto faithful, Joseph represents a glimmer of hope. The weird thing is, in nine seasons, Joseph has never made it out of the second round.
“He has gained a reputation as a great first round goalie and it’s well deserved,” said one team’s pro scout. “He’s really no different than Eddie Belfour. People say, ‘Yeah, Eddie’s good, but he has never won the final.’ “
Joseph acknowledges that reality.
“I’d love to get past the second round, absolutely,” Joseph said. “Past the second round. Past the third round. Into the fourth round. A lot of people measure the success of an athlete by whether or not they win a championship. And why wouldn’t they? It determines whether a player is a winner or not a winner.”
Frankly, the main reason the St. Louis Blues, the team Joseph broke in with in 1990, made it to the second round in 1993 before losing to the Maple Leafs in seven games, was because of his play. Same thing the past two years with the Edmonton Oilers. Joseph carried them past the heavily favored Dallas Stars in seven games two years ago-who will ever forget Joseph sliding across, seemingly out of nowhere, to rob Joe Nieuwendyk in overtime of Game 7 with a glove save?–and did the same thing last year when the Oilers upset the Colorado Avalanche.
Yet when it came decision time in Edmonton, and the Oilers had to choose between keeping center Doug Weight and Joseph, both free agents, they chose the forward. They couldn’t afford Joseph.
The Leafs could, though and $24 million (U.S.) for four years later, he was theirs.
Joseph actually had his heart set on joining the Philadelphia Flyers, a team he felt was closer to winning the Cup. He even surprised his agent, Don Meehan, by answering the doorbell one summer evening wearing a Flyers’ jersey. The joke was on him, sort of.
The Flyers opted for John Vanbiesbrouck, and no matter how they paint it, they went the cheap route. Joseph got the last laugh beating them out in the first round this season.
“The (Eastern Conference) can have him,” said Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock. “What’s this, three years in a row he beats out a pretty good team in the first round? I’m not sure how he does it.”
If Dominik Hasek is the ultimate numbers goalie of the 1990s, having led the NHL in save percentage six years running, Joseph is the league’s anti-numbers stopper. Much Like Grant Fuhr during the Edmonton Oilers’ heyday, the number Joseph cares most about is wins.
So in spite of the fact he was 25th in goals-against average this season at 2.56 (above the league average of 2.47) and 15th in save percentage at .910, the fact he tied for second in wins with 35 was good enough to make him a Vezina Trophy finalist as the league’s top goalie.
“I keep an eye on the numbers and I’d like mine to be comparable to the other top goalies in the league, but I don’t dwell on it,” Joseph said. ‘T’d like to lead the league in all the goaltending categories, but that’s not possible.”
Joseph, it should be noted, was the last goalie to lead the NHL in save percentage before Hasek went on his six-year tear. That was in 1992-93 when Joseph recorded a .911 save percentage. That same year Joseph had his highest ever finish in GAA, fourth at 3.02.
Joseph’s style is best described as acrobatic. Or as one opposing team’s goalie coach suggested: “He has no style. He’s not very predictable; it’s an arm (save) this time, a leg (save) the next. It doesn’t matter what it is, he seems to stick something in front of the shot. He’s a gambler, but he knows the percentages. He plays with a lot of heart and that rubs off on the rest of the team.”
Though he often looks like he’s off balance and in trouble, Joseph claims it’s an illusion. He knows what he’s doing.
“The whole thing with my style is balance,” he said. “As long as I’m in control of my balance, no matter how it looks, I know what’s happening. I basically take things as they come. If Brett Hull and Mike Modano are coming in 2-on-l with Hull carrying the puck, I know he’s a shooter so I’ll move out a bit. If Modano is carrying the puck, he’s more of a passer so I’ll stay a little deeper in my net.”
“There are times,” said teammate Kris King, “when he wanders out of his net and you think, ‘Just stay in the goal and make the save,’ but he rarely gets burned. You just have to have faith in him.”
Joseph was one of two key off-season acquisitions for Toronto last summer. Coach Pat Quinn was the other. Quinn – bless his soul – brought a more wide-open, run-and-gun style to town, thumbing his nose to the defensive fad that has dragged hockey down to the same excitement level as lawn bowling, and the dependable Joseph allowed him to do so.
“It’s no coincidence we led the league in goals this season after not being able to score last year,” King said. “The guys had the confidence to take chances on offense knowing if it didn’t work out, and we ended up with an odd-man rush against us, he’d bale us out.”
The Leafs scored 268 goals this year, 20 more than second place New Jersey Devils and 74 more than they scored last season under coach Mike Murphy.
Could this be Joseph’s year? By all means things seemed to be falling into place for Joseph and the Leafs. The Flyers were without superstar center Eric Lindros in the first round and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto’s second round opponent, weren’t certain as the series began about the health of Jaromir Jagr, the league’s leading scorer and likely Hart Trophy winner.
“I know if we’re going to be successful, I have to be on my game,” Joseph said. “I don’t dwell on it though. We’ve got enough power up front that if I hold the fort, we can put enough goals in.”
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