John Vanbiesbrouck’s career may be best described by just “missing out”. He achieved great success as a New York Ranger was but outplayed by Mike Richter who won the starting job and “Beezer” was shipped out before he could see the Rangers win that elusive Cup. His best work was with the Florida Panthers where he gave that team “legitimacy” and actually took that team to a Stanley Cup berth where he again “missed out” on winning. John Vanbiesbrouck seemingly had many very good seasons but not exactly a great one, or a career-defining moment. His total of 374 career NHL wins is impressive, but he just lacked that intangible that makes it possible for the Hall to keep him out.

From the Czech Republic, Tomas Vokoun had a fantastic career in the NHL, most notably with the Nashville Predators where he had three straight seasons where he finished in the top ten in Vezina Trophy voting with a 10^th, 8^th and 4^th place finish in the 2003/04, 04/05 and 06/07 respectively.  The year after the two-time NHL All-Star would play for the Florida Panthers and would lead the league in Goalie Point Shares.

One of the better two way defensemen in Hockey, Ed Jovanovski is not the player that will put up monster point totals, but he will contribute and consistently shut down attackers. He is also one of those great teammates that does all the little things well and makes your team automatically better. In all likelihood when his career is over, Ed Jovanovski will likely not be considered for induction in Toronto, but he has a body of work that should make him closer to consideration than just his stats show.