The Way Of Roy

Patrick Roy: the modern NHL’s most influential player?

But there is no player who has had the impact on hockey like Patrick Roy has during the last three decades. If you watch any game, on any night, you will see Roy hallmarks more than any you might associate with Orr or Gretzky, and it is not even close.

For the simple reason that Roy, you might say, brought modern goalies to their knees. In a good way. From an efficacy standpoint. Aesthetically—well, there might be some grumbling there.

Roy's game is now essentially the game of every goalie in the league, and if you want to score, you better love yourself some deflections, some dirty goals, rebounds and scrambles, and have a knack for putting the puck just under the bar, because shots have a hard time gaining sweet ingress otherwise. Goalies, the criticism goes, don’t make saves any more, they let the puck hit them. And they’re better at that than ever.

(SI.com)