St Louis Blues: Top 30 Goaltenders in Franchise History

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

14. Rick Wamsley

1984-88; 154 games, 75-59-15 record, .888 save percentage, 3.41 GAA, 3 shutouts; 14 postseason games, 5-9 record

Because of the era he played in, Wamsley’s numbers make him look like he was extremely ineffective, but in reality, he was quite effective, as is evidenced by his well-above-.500 record while with the Blues. He never played more than 42 games in a season for the St Louis Blues, had save percentages below .900 every year, and had goals-against averages well above 3.00 in every season that he was in St. Louis.

With that said, Wamsley kept his team in the game, and he was particularly strong during the 1985-86 season when he went 22-16-3 in 42 games.

According to Hockey Reference’s “goalie saves against average”, an advanced statistic that is intended to provide context to a traditional save percentage based on the quality of offense during the era when the goalie played, Wamsley had 26.23 more saves than the average goalie in 85-86, good for fifth-best in the NHL.

That was the only season during which Wamsley was used extensively in the playoffs, splitting duties with Greg Millen. In a season where the Blues fell just one game short of advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals, Wamsley started ten postseason contests, going 4-6 with an .879 save percentage and 3.90 GAA.

Wamsley obviously did enough to help his team get to a Game 7 in the Campbell Conference Finals, though his numbers didn’t quite match up to Millen’s .912 save percentage and 2.97 GAA.

Wamsley exited St. Louis in March of 1988 as part of arguably the most impactful trade in St Louis Blues history, which sent he and Rob Ramage to the Calgary Flames for winger Steve Bozek and a talented young sharp-shooter named Brett Hull. The rest, they say, is history.

Next: 13. Greg Millen