Andy Moog made his NHL debut with the Edmonton Oilers as a 20-year-old on Dec. 23, 1980, and appeared in seven regular season games. As an unproven rookie with limited professional hockey experience, he led the 74-point Oilers to a sweep of the 104-point Montreal Canadiens in one of hockey’s most shocking playoff upsets that spring. However, those heroics did not secure the starting role the following season.
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After eight games in 1981-82, Moog finally asserted himself as the Oilers’ top goalie in 1982-83, a campaign which ended in a loss to the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals. Sadly, after 66 games and a 44-13-7 record, he got bumped out by a future Hall of Famer, Grant Fuhr, who would go on to patrol the crease for the remainder of the decade. However, one of the most forgotten stories of his career occurred in the Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Islanders in 1983-84.
As the Oilers marched towards their first championship, Moog played in just four playoff games. Ultimately, the bulk of the work went to Fuhr, who unfortunately got hurt in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, forcing Moog into full-time duties again. Ultimately, the native of Penticton, British Columbia, didn’t disappoint, powering Edmonton to two consecutive wins and a Stanley Cup title on May 19, 1984. Even though Moog would win two more titles (1985 and 1987) with the franchise, fans often forget he was the man between the pipes when the Oilers clinched their first championship.
Over the next three seasons in Edmonton, Moog never played less than 35 games and won at least 22 games yearly. Additionally, he and several Oilers’ teammates also made appearances in the 1985 and 1986 All-Star Games, and he was a top-10 Vezina Trophy Finalist three times.
However, the relationship between the player and the franchise began to stray, leading to Moog asking for a trade. Although his demands were unmet, he opted to skate with Team Canada at the Calgary Winter Olympics. Surprisingly, he didn’t skate in a single NHL contest in 1987-88 until after the trade deadline, when the Oilers finally dealt him to the Boston Bruins for a 1988 second-round draft pick (Petro Koivunen), Geoff Courtnall, and Bill Ranford.
Moog Inspires A Generation of New England Kids to Become Goalies
Despite producing a 143-53-21 record over the first 235 games of his career, Moog often found himself as backup, missing out on the crucial games to his partner. After a fresh start with the Bruins in 1987-88, he helped lead the club to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1978, compiling a 4-2 regular season record. However, he didn’t start most of the playoff games, yielding the net to Rejean Lemelin thanks partly to a miserable 1-4 record in the postseason, including dropping two contests to the Oilers in the championship series.
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Eventually, the duo who led the Bruins to the cusp of a Stanley Cup title in 1988, shared duties in 1989 before Moog became the bona fide starter in 1989-90, which ended in a rematch against the Oilers in the Finals. Besides winning the William M. Jennings Trophy (with Lemelin) that year, he produced his best statistical playoff run with a 13-7 record, 2.21 goals-against average (GAA), and two shutouts. Unfortunately, Boston was no match for the Oilers (again), and Moog played all but 35:39 of the five-game series, which included a triple-overtime thriller in Game 1.
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Ultimately, Moog’s performances, highlighted by kick saves and flashy glove stops, inspired fans to believe that the Bruins were legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. Statistically, during his six seasons in Massachusetts, he led the Black and Gold to three division titles and never finished lower than second place from 1988 to 1993. Furthermore, his scrambling puck-stopping style also powered the franchise to their first Presidents’ Trophy win in 1989-90.
Additionally, Moog had a slew of future Hall of Famers in front of him, including Ray Bourque, Cam Neely, and Adam Oates. Even though their playoff nemesis during this period was Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Bruins compiled the best record (177-107-40) in the NHL during his time in Boston. Moreover, Moog and his partners gave up just 1,039 goals, which ranked third amongst non-expansion teams during the seasons in which he was the starter from 1989 to 1993.
Whether kids wanted to take a slap shot like Bourque or snipe a goal in the top corner like Neely, anyone who strapped up the pads dreamt of stopping pucks like Moog. Interestingly, he introduced the iconic bear mask he is famously associated with at this time. Despite a dozen memorable designs that debuted before his, like Gerry Cheevers’ “Stitches,” the snarling bear has always had a special place in hockey history as one of the all-time most dynamic and intimidating masks.
Unfortunately, just like his tenure with the Oilers ended on bad terms, his time with the Bruins ended similarly. Besides being a central figure during the short 1992 NHL players’ strike, as the National Hockey League Players Association Vice President, Moog didn’t gel with Boston’s new head coach Brian Sutter. After a rocky 1992-93 season, which ended with one of the most memorable overtime goals of all time by Brad May of the Buffalo Sabres, the 13-year veteran moved on to the Dallas Stars in a trade for Jon Casey. Overall, he compiled a 136-75-36 record in Black and Gold.
Moog Continues to Figure Into Historical Moments
After winning Stanley Cups with the Oilers and chasing them down with the Bruins, Moog resumed his career with the Stars, where he played the next four seasons from 1993 to 1997. Interestingly, he led Dallas to the playoffs in those first two seasons, picking up just a single series win. However, after missing the postseason in 1995-96, Moog and the Stars drew the Oilers in the opening round of the 1996-97 playoffs.
Surprisingly, the once-dominant Edmonton team hadn’t qualified for the playoffs since 1992. Coincidentally, they secured their first series win in four seasons when Todd Marchant beat Moog in another memorable overtime goal that turned out to be his last game in Texas. By the end of the tenure, he compiled a 75-64-26 record with a Stars franchise with the 12th-best record (133-120-43) in the league during his four seasons in green. Furthermore, Moog earned his fourth All-Star Game honors (1997), marking the last time he would skate in the mid-season classic.
Interestingly, as a free agent for the first time in his career, Moog opted to sign with the Montreal Canadiens. Historically, he chose to sign with a franchise he dominated throughout his career, including several memorable playoff upsets with the Oilers and Bruins in 1981, 1988, 1990, 1991, and 1992. Although his career regular season statistics (19-12-3) against the Original Six club don’t indicate those miseries, Moog was known as a “Habs Killer” throughout his time in Boston.
Ultimately, the Canadiens qualified for the playoffs by 13 points during Moog’s lone season in Montreal, meeting the Penguins, a team without archrival Lemieux (39 career points against), who retired at the end of 1996-97. Unsurprisingly, during his final playoff run, Moog led the Canadiens to a six-game upset, giving Montreal their first series victory since hoisting the Stanley Cup on June 9, 1993.
Career Retrospective
When Moog chose to retire in the summer of 1998 instead of pursuing opportunities in his home province with the Vancouver Canucks, he departed the game as the seventh-winningest goalie (372) of all time. Statistically, he was the second fastest netminder in NHL history to collect 300 wins, achieving the feat in just 543 games, a spot behind Hall of Famer Jacques Plante, who got to the plateau in 526 games.
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As we look at the all-time wins list 25 years after his retirement, Moog currently ranks 19th overall, dropping 16 spots thanks to the legendary careers of Martin Brodeur, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Henrik Lundqvist, to name a few. Still, his three Stanley Cup titles give him bragging rights over many people on the list since Roberto Luongo, Curtis Joseph, and Ryan Miller never got their names inscribed on the silver chalice.
Statistically, with a .560 win percentage, Moog is one of the best netminders yet to earn enshrinement into the Hockey Hall of Fame, sharing the honors with a fellow three-time champion, Chris Osgood. However, three years after retiring, he was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. Moreover, since hanging up his skates as a full-time goalie, he has been active in coaching and ownership, taking control of the Fort Worth (Texas) Brahmas in 1998 and maintaining franchise ownership until 2013. Meanwhile, he has served the Canucks, Stars, and Portland Winterhawks (WHL) in a variety of goaltender consultant roles.
Unfortunately, news broke in November 2023 that Moog was diagnosed with cancer. Immediately, hockey fans expressed their disbelief about the news on social media, as feeds began to fill with memories of a player who inspired a generation of kids to play goalie and paint their masks with bears. Whether you loved him or disliked him for eliminating your team, there’s no denying he’s got a special place in the heart of several fan bases where he continues to leave invaluable impressions through meet and greets. As the goalie with the third-most wins from 1980 to 1998, Moog is one of the NHL’s most under-appreciated netminders who played in many classic games, providing countless memories to fans across generations.
