He actually did not play any games this season and last played in the NHL during the 2008-09 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs playing his final game on April 9, 2009, witch was a 3-1 loss against the Buffalo Sabres. During the 2008/09 season he played 21 games, posting a 5-9-1 record with a 3.57 GAA and a 0.869 save percentage.

In all he played 943 career NHL games where he posted a 454-352-90-6 record, including 51 shutouts, a 2.79 GAA, and a 0.906 save percentage. Only Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Terry Sawchuk and Ed Belfour made more regular-season appearances then Joseph. His 454 regular season wins is fourth in all-time NHL wins trailing only Martin Brodeur (585 and counting), Patrick Roy (551), and Ed Belfour (484). He is currently the NHL goaltender with the most wins who has have never won a Stanley Cup. Joseph ranks second in Blues history with 137 wins and 15,987 minutes played. As a member of the Leafs, he retires with 138 wins, good enough for fourth all-time Leafs net minder behind Turk Broda, Johnny Bower and Felix Potvin.

Joseph also happens to have the NHL all-time record with the most loses, his 352 losses is the most in League history tied with Gump Worsley. The 51 recorded shutouts he got puts him 20th in all-time NHL shutouts.

He appeared in 133 post season games, posting a  63-66 record with 16 shutouts and a 2.42 goals-against average. He backstopped the Maple Leafs to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1999 against Buffalo and then again against Carolina in 2002, but was never able to bring his team to the next level. On April 13, 2008 after leading the Calgary Flames past the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Quarterfinals he became the first NHL goaltender to win a playoff game with five different teams.

Joseph was a three-time nominee for the Vezina Trophy, finishing second in the voting to Buffalo’s Dominik Hasek in 1998-99. He was awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in the 1999-2000 season, for being the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community. He played in two NHL All-Star Games, representing the St;Louis Blues in 1994 and then the  Maple Leafs in 2000. He helped Team Canada win the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Playing for Toronto was perhaps the pinnacle of his career, getting to play for his home town fans. However his hunger to win a Stanley Cup led him to sign with the dominate Detroit Redwings after Dominik Hasek retired. A move similar to Ray Bourque’s late career move from Boston Bruins to the Colorado Avalanche. Joseph’s move however never really worked out for him and he never got a cup like Bourque managed to do. It didn’t help much that Hasek then returned to play with the Red Wings giving them two of the leagues best goaltenders of witch they couldn’t afford giving Joseph the shaft.

Joseph was always a very steady and reliable goaltender throughout his lengthy career whom was extremely great under pressure and could be depended on time and time again. He kept many of his team’s competitive when perhaps they shouldn’t have been and it’s a shame he never got to win the Stanley Cup.
And although Joseph boasts some strong statistics, many people will no doubt argue that he is not Hall of Fame material because he never won a Stanley Cup, and has the most NHL loses.

We feel that he should become inducted in the Hall of Fame one day but only time will tell. Either way he was a very classy player, great goaltender to watch during his peak period and his 454 wins is certainly an impressive feat and we have to remember he did it playing on some teams that were not as competitive, compared the teams that Belfour, Brodeur or Roy (who recorded have more wins) have played for.

[photo source: Flickr - flickr.com]

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Over the past few  seasons we saw them shed a number of players in an attempt to give the team’s youth more ice time. Some of the players that were let go over the past year included Mats Sundin, Bryan McCabe, Nik Antropov, Dominik Mora, Darcy Tucker, Pavel Kubina, Martin Gerber, Brad May, Boyd Devereaux, Tim Stapleton and Curtis Joseph.  There has also been a major change with the General Manager and coaches.  Bryan Burke has come to the team to try and turn the franchise around and Ron Wilson was brought in as head coach for the 2008-09 season.

The Leafs did not just cut and trade away players, they also added some new names to the roster that include Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin, Garnet Exelby, Colin Stuart, Colton Orr, Wayne Primeau and Jonas Gustavsson.Adding players like Komisarek, Beauchemin and Exelby shows that the leafs are trying to regain a tougher image as well as a younger squad.

The Leafs also have plenty of salary cap room left to play with, so we should look forward to seeing  Burke fills that space with some players from teams like SanJose, Boston and Calgary that still need to add players but shed salary. The Leafs are therefore very well positioned to act as a salary dump  one of of those teams looking to free up some space in order to improve their team. The question is which teams are running out of cap space and still have roster spots to fill? And who will Burke find to help the team finally make it back into the playoffs.

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Ruegsegger drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs makes a slick 360 degree pass to Colborne during a Denver University Pioneers varsity hockey game

Wow the future for Leaf Fans may be bright after all

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