Boston Bruins Goaltenders: A Century in the Crease

Boston Bruins goaltenders have been taking pucks to the mask since Charles Stewart first strapped on the pads in 1924. And honestly, no stat sheet in hockey tells a franchise's story better than the year-by-year goalie ledger. The club dates to November 1, 1924, with its first NHL season recorded as 1924-25. That's a century of crease dwellers, from legends with 300 wins to guys who got exactly 60 minutes and vanished. Here's the full arc, and why the record book still bends toward two names.

From Charles Stewart to Tiny Thompson

The early years belonged to survivors.

Stewart tended the first creases, posting 29 games and 21 wins in those raw expansion seasons.

Then Tiny Thompson showed up and set a bar nobody has cleared since: 468 games between 1929 and 1939, 252 wins, a 1.99 goals-against average, and 74 shutouts.

That's the most on the entire all-time Bruins list.

And it came in an era when pads were quilt and goalies were on their own.

Frank Brimsek carried the torch through the late 1930s and 1940s with 444 games, 230 wins, a 2.57 GAA, and 35 shutouts.

But the ledger has footnotes, too, and they're brutal.

George Abbott played one game for Boston in 1944 and gave up 7 goals in 60 minutes, a 7.00 GAA. Nick Damore got one game in 1942, Richard Bittner one in 1950, both at 3.00.

That's the real history of the position: one rough night and you're trivia forever.

Best Boston Bruins goaltenders ever

Rank the games-played list and the franchise's whole personality shows up.

Tuukka Rask leads with 564 games from 2007 to 2022.

Thompson's 468 sit second, then Brimsek and Eddie Johnston at 444 each. And Gerry Cheevers at 416 from 1966 to 1980.

That's the all-time leaderboard, and every name on it earned the wear.

Cheevers is my favorite entry. Because the numbers scream era: 226 wins against just 103 losses, a 2.89 GAA, and 214 penalty minutes. Goalies threw hands back then. Johnston's line reads rougher, 182 wins, 192 losses, a 3.22 GAA on a .900 save percentage. But he soaked up 25,719 minutes for teams that needed every one. Gilles Gilbert won 155 of 277 in the 1970s with a .890 mark. And Byron Dafoe bridged the turn of the century with a 2.30 GAA and 25 shutouts across five seasons.

The modern era is where the argument gets fun. Tim Thomas posted a .921 save percentage over 378 games and 196 wins in eight seasons. Rask matched that .921 across 564 games, with 308 wins, 52 shutouts, a 2.28 GAA, and 14,345 saves. Same efficiency, nearly 200 more games of proving it.

That's why Rask tops the list, and it's not particularly close.

Which Boston Bruins goaltenders hit 40 wins?

Only two ever have.

Pete Peeters won 40 in 63 games with 9 shutouts in 1982-83.

And Linus Ullmark matched the 40 in just 49 games in 2022-23, which is why the records page lists the mark the way it does. Ullmark needed 14 fewer starts to get there.

Zoom out and the near-misses tell you how hard 40 is.

Tiny Thompson's 38 wins in 44 games in 1929-30 might be the most efficient season anyone in this sweater has had. Rask peaked at 37 wins in 65 games in 2016-17 and 36 in 58 games in 2013-14. Thomas and Cheevers never got there. Wins are a team stat. But 40 in a season is still the number that separates a good year from a franchise year.

What's next for Swayman and Korpisalo?

Now the crease belongs to Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo.

And the chapter is unwritten, which is the fun part. The targets are right there on the board: 564 games and 308 wins to catch Rask, 40 in a season to join Peeters and Ullmark. A century after Charles Stewart won 21 games for a brand-new club, the job description hasn't changed one bit. Stop the puck, keep the net, outlast the ledger. So here's the question, Bruins fans: do you trust the current duo to write the next entry, or is the next Thompson still out there waiting for a call?