Curtis Shayne "Cujo" Joseph

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BIOGRAPHY

BORN: Keswick, Ontario, April 29, 1967.
HOME:
HEIGHT: 5'10"-5'11".
WEIGHT: 182-190 lbs.
UNIFORM #: 31 (St. Louis, Edmonton, Toronto, Detroit, Phoenix, Calgary, Canada), 30 (Grand Rapids).
CATCHES: Left
HIGH SCHOOL: Huron Heights, Newmarket, Ontario.
COLLEGE: University of Wisconsin.
SALARY (1996-97): $2,300,000

STYLE: Combination standup - butterfly.
STRENGTHS: Has a reputation for being a clutch performer. Plays angles well. Very good breakaway goaltender. Recovers well for rebounds. Strong stickhandler. Good skater.
WEAKNESSES: Vulnerable to shots along either post. Poor lateral movement. Has a hot head at times.

HIS MASK: "The St. Bernard comes from Stephen King's novel, Cujo. My nickname is Cujo. So I just let the artist do his thing, and I gave suggestions until we agreed on a design. I've used eight different masks since I've been a pro. They represent different stages of my career. After I use them, I hang them up in my basement pool room." ESPN The Magazine, 1/21/02, p. 104

OTHER CURTIS JOSEPH SITES:

Curtis Joseph - The Man
Curtis "Cujo" Joseph - A Very Unofficial Fanpage

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:

"Solid goalie with right stuff for locker room desperately in need of direction." (ESPN Hockey 96, p. 107)

"[Oilers GM Glen] Sather says he won't allow Joseph to finish the season unsigned the way [defenseman Luke] Richardson did last year. If he can afford Joseph, Edmonton could win two playoffs rounds. But if Sather trades away his No. 1 goalie at the trading deadline for purely financial reasons, the tremors through the dressing rom could be enough for the Oilers to miss the playoffs altogether." (The Hockey News 1997-98 Yearbook, p. 113)

"Joseph allows Edmonton to continue the tradition of having a top-five goalie in the pipes." (The Hockey News 1997-98 Yearbook, p. 113)

"Curtis Joseph is still one of the league's elite netminders and will almost certainly see less time in goal this year." (The Sports Forecaster Hockey '97-'98, p. 209)

"Curtis Joseph is among the best in the league. He was outstanding in the regular season and even better in the first round of the playoffs. The problem was that by the end of the Dallas series he had played in 79 games. Bob Essensa should have been given more games in the regular season." (The Sports Forecaster Hockey '97-'98, p. 209)

"Competely different than Grant (Fuhr). What sets Cujo apart, from what I've seen and what the guys in Edmonton tell me, is his competitiveness. He just never believes he's beaten. Curtis fluctuates between stand-up and butterfly. So you can't really get a read on what he's going to do." (Mark Messier, ESPN Sportszone, April 1998)

"His statistics didn't compare with Dominik Hasek's, but it can be argued that Joseph was the best goalie in the league during the regular season. Set a personal best with a 2.56 GAA. Allowed a mediocre defense corps to freewheel knowing he would be there to back them up. The free-agent acquisition must have led the league in odd-man rushes against. Good angles, great reflexes. Makes the key save in tight games. A spectacular regular season was sullied by a mediocre performance versus Buffalo in the Eastern Conference final. May start fewer games to keep him fresh for playoff run." (The Sports Forecaster 1999-2000, p. 94)

"A finalist for the Vezina Trophy for the third time, Joseph is still looking for his first win. However, he remains the backbone of the Maple Leafs. He set a franchise record in wins last year and topped the 25-shutouts plateau for his career. Overworked during the regular season, Joseph has struggled at times in his two postseasons with Toronto. Still, he remains among the game's elite netminders. The Leafs need to lighten the load on the veteran goalkeeper so that Joseph can be at his best come playoff time." (The Sports Forecaster 2000-01, p. 83)

"Olaf Kolzig has a Vezina, Patrick Roy a plethora of records and Martin Brodeur a Stanley Cup, but only Ed Belfour and Dominik Hasek have tended goal over the last few years at a higher level than the trophy-less Maple Leaf netminder." (The Hockey News 2000-01 Yearbook, p. 12)

"One of hockey's nicest people is a weird goalie to watch. Joseph guesses a lot, stays deep in his net and handles the puck like it's a live grenade. Furthermore, he has to turn his stick around to handle the puck and has developed an "Alley Oop" of a breakout pass. Most importantly to Leafs fans, he stops pucks. "Cujo" had a so-so regular season statistically, by his own standards, but was phenomenal in the 2000-01 playoffs. Without Joseph, the Leafs would have missed the playoffs by 10-20 points. Joseph is still by far the Leafs' best defensive player. A probable Olympian, he wants to play well in the early going in order to get the starting nod for Canada." (The Sports Forecaster 2001-02, p. 85)

""CuJo" completed his Maple Leafs career with a spectacular playoff performance against Carolina in the Eastern Conference finals. Joseph's 2.23 goals-against average last season was the best of his career. Unfortunately, his season was marred by a bad performance against Sweden in the Winter Olympics and the inability to take his hometown team to the Stanley Cup final. Joseph's job won't get any easier in Detroit as he tries to replace the retired Dominik Hasek and win his first championship in the Motor City. As long as he doesn't put any undue pressure on his own shoulders, he should have a fine campaign." (The Sports Forecaster 2002-03, p. 151)

"Will 'CuJo' ever return to elite form? The Coyotes hope so, after inking the veteran to a one-year contract. Partly hampered by injury, Joseph wasn't great in the 2003-04 regular season but enjoyed a fine postseason. New Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky may go with the hot hand, between Joseph and Brian Boucher." (The Sports Forecaster 2005-06, p. 101)


TRANSACTIONS:

ACCOLADES:

VEZINA TROPHY BALLOTING:

PTS1st2nd3rdRANKSHARE
1992-932724530.23
1993-941011240.08
1994-953010110.02
1996-97200250.02
1998-9964104220.47
1999-002323430.16
2000-01401180.03
2001-021001100.01

ALL-STAR TEAM BALLOTING:

PTS1st2nd3rdRANKSHARE
1991-92300370.01
1992-933635640.14
1993-94100180.00
1996-97100180.00
1998-994663740.16
1999-003225750.11

INJURIES:

MILESTONES:

RECORDS:

FIRSTS:

PENALTY SHOTS:

NHL SHOOTOUTS:

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SEASON RECORDS:

REGULAR SEASON
Year  Team                        GP    Min   W   L   T  OL     GA    GAA   Shots    Sv%   ShO   G   A   PiM     S/60    PERS
84-85 Newmarket Flyers OJHL        2    120   1   1   0         16   8.00                    0
      King City Dukes OJHLB       18    947                     76   4.82                    0
85-86 Richmond Hill Dynes OJHL    33   1716  12  18   0        156   5.45                    1 
86-87 Richmond Hill Dynes OJHL    30   1764  14   7   6        128   4.35                    1  
87-88 Notre Dame Hounds SJHL      36   2174  25   4   7         94   2.59                    1
      Notre Dame Hounds CEN CUP    5    321   4   1   0         17   3.17                    0
88-89 Univ. of Wisconsin WCHA     38   2267  21  11   5         94   2.49                    1   0   1    15
89-90 Peoria Rivermen IHL         23   1241  10   8   2         80   3.87                    0   0   0     0
      St. Louis Blues NHL         15    852   9   5   1         48   3.38     435   .890     0   0   1     0    30.63  940.71
90-91 St. Louis Blues NHL         30   1710  16  10   2         89   3.12     874   .898     0   0   1     0    30.67  949.28
91-92 St. Louis Blues NHL         60   3494  27  20  10        175   3.01    1953   .910     2   0   9    12    33.54  966.29
92-93 St. Louis Blues NHL         68   3890  29  28   9        196   3.02    2202   .911     1   0   2     8    33.96  967.60
93-94 St. Louis Blues NHL         71   4127  36  23  11        213   3.10    2390   .911     1   0   3     4    34.75  968.79
94-95 St. Louis Blues NHL         36   1914  20  10   1         89   2.79     904   .902     1   0   1     0    28.34  948.78
95-96 Las Vegas Thunder IHL       15    873  12   2   1         29   1.99     406   .929     1   0   0     0    27.90  975.08
      Edmonton Oilers NHL         34   1935  15  16   2        111   3.44     971   .886     0   0   1     4    30.11  935.87
      Canada WORLD                 8    409                     12   1.94                    2
96-97 Canada WORLD CUP             7    468   5   2   0         18   2.00                    1
      Edmonton Oilers NHL         72   4089  32  29   9        200   2.93    2144   .907     6   0   2    20    31.46  959.15
97-98 Edmonton Oilers NHL         71   4132  29  31   9        181   2.63    1901   .905     8   0   2     4    27.60  950.79
      Canada OLYMPICS             SPARE GOALTENDER
98-99 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL     67   4001  35  24   7        171   2.56    1903   .910     3   0   5     6    28.54  957.70
99-00 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL     63   3801  36  20   7        158   2.49    1854   .915     4   0   1    14    29.27  963.56
00-01 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL     68   4100  33  27   8        163   2.39    1907   .915     6   0   1     8    27.91  961.04
01-02 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL     51   3065  29  17   5        114   2.23    1210   .906     4   0   1    10    23.69  945.26
      Canada OLYMPICS              1     60   0   1   0          5   5.00      25   .800     0   0   0     0    25.00  841.67
02-03 Detroit Red Wings NHL       61   3566  34  19   6        148   2.49    1676   .912     5   0   0     4
03-04 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL    1     60   1   0   0          1   1.00      21   .952     0   0   0     0
      Detroit Red Wings NHL       31   1708  16  10   3         68   2.39     744   .909     2   0   0     2
05-06 Phoenix Coyotes NHL         60   3424  32  21       3    166   2.91    1690   .902     4   0   1    18
06-07 Phoenix Coyotes NHL         55   2993  18  31       2    159   3.19    1481   .893     4   0   0    10
SEVENTEEN (17) NHL SEASONS       913  52802 446 341  90   5   2449   2.78   26231  0.907    51   0  31   124

POST-SEASON
Year  Team                        GP    Min   W   L   GA    GAA   Shots    Sv%   ShO   G   A   PiM     S/60    PERS
89-90 St. Louis Blues NHL          6    327   4   1   18   3.30     167   .892     0   0   0     2    30.64  943.29
91-92 St. Louis Blues NHL          6    379   2   4   23   3.64     217   .894     0   0   1     0    34.35  951.27
92-93 St. Louis Blues NHL         11    715   7   4   27   2.27     438   .938     2   0   0     2    36.76  999.61
93-94 St. Louis Blues NHL          4    246   0   4   15   3.66     158   .905     0   0   0     0    38.54  969.29
94-95 St. Louis Blues NHL          7    392   3   3   24   3.67     178   .865     0   0   1     0    27.24  910.58
96-97 Edmonton Oilers NHL         12    767   5   7   36   2.82     405   .911     2   0   0     2    31.68  963.91
97-98 Edmonton Oilers NHL         12    715   5   7   23   1.93     319   .928     3   0   0     2    26.77  972.52
98-99 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL     17   1011   9   8   41   2.43     440   .907     1   0   0     2    26.11  950.34
99-00 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL     12    729   6   6   25   2.06     369   .932     1   0   0    10    30.37  982.87
00-01 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL     11    685   7   4   24   2.10     329   .927     3   0   0     4    28.82  975.08
01-02 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL     20   1253  10  10   48   2.30     557   .914     3   0   0     4    26.67  958.28
02-03 Detroit Red Wings NHL        4    289   0   4   10   2.08     120   .917     0   0   0     0
03-04 Detroit Red Wings NHL        9    518   4   4   12   1.39     197   .939     1   0   0     2
THIRTEEN (13) NHL POSTSEASONS    131   8027  62  66  326   2.44    3894  0.916    16   0   2    30

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