NHL Goalie: Kirk McLean Trivia Quiz

Answer: Canada

Kirk McLean was born on June 26, 1966, in Willowdale, a small town in Ontario. From a rough start to his NHL career, McLean turned it around drastically in a span of three years to be the NHLs elite.

Answer: New Jersey Devils

McLean was selected in the sixth round, 107th overall in the 1984 entry draft. The obvious would have been Vancouver, but he was never drafted there, he was traded. After six sub-par games with the Devils, Kirk McLean was traded to the Canucks with Greg Adams for a 1988 fourth round draft pick and Patrick Sundstrom.

Answer: Calgary Flames

Kirk McLean played for the Canucks from 1987-1998. After that, he was finally traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, a trade which seemed to benefit the Canucks more than the Canes. The Canucks received Geoff Sanderson, Enrico Ciccone, and Sean Burke, whereas the Hurricanes received Martin Gelinas and Kirk McLean. McLean lasted eight games with the Hurricanes before being traded to Florida for Ray Sheppard.

After 37 games with the Panthers, McLean was a free agent pick-up by the Rangers and played with them from 1999-2001.

He played as the back-up to Mike Richter, the goalie he faced in the 1994 Stanley Cup Final. Afterwards he announced his retirement from hockey.

Answer: Yes

In his mere 22 regular season shutouts, Kirk McLean recorded two consecutive ones between December 31, 1992 and January 4, 1993. He defeated the Kings 4-0 and the Lightning 7-0. He also recorded two consecutive shutouts during the 1994 playoffs. Before leading his team to within a win of the Stanley Cup, Kirk McLean defeated recorded back-to-back 4-0 shutouts against the Maple Leafs in the previous round.

Answer: 0

Despite being close to winning it twice, McLean only ended up with goose eggs. In 1989, he was eligible for the trophy and ranked third in Vezina voting. In 1992 McLean was again eligible, but fell just short, falling into second place in Vezina voting.

Answer: St. Louis Blues and Edmonton Oilers

Of Kirk McLean's 28 shutouts (regular season and playoffs), he recorded just less than a third of his shutouts against the Blues and the Oilers, shutting them both down four times each in his career. Other teams he had shut the door on included Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Winnipeg(twice), New York Islanders, San Jose, Montreal, Calgary(three times), Los Angeles(twice), Tampa Bay, Dallas, Toronto(twice), Anaheim, Buffalo, Nashville, and Ottawa.

Answer: 3-2 regulation victory for the Rangers

After defeating Calgary, Dallas, and Toronto, the Canucks faced the Rangers in the final. The Canucks got the series going with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Rangers in game one. After that, the Canucks dropped three straight games 3-1, 5-1, and 4-2 respectively. Somehow powered by determination, the Canucks came back with a 6-3 and 4-1 victory.

The final, however, was not meant to be as the Canucks fell to the Rangers by one goal. The series itself was amazing because the Rangers were clearly the superior team, truly peppering the Canucks netminder.

In the seven games, the Rangers averaged 35 shots on goals per game while the Canucks averaged 30 per game, a number that made a difference in the end. Regardless, the Cup final was a tremendous battle with both Kirk McLean and opposing goalie Mike Richter doing an admirable job.

Answer: Ted Donato

McLean's penalty shots occurred in 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, and 2000. In 1988, Brent Ashton scored on McLean. In 1992, Mike Donnelly scored on McLean. Andrei Kovalenko scored on the Canuck netminder, a year later, whereas, Brent Gilchrist was denied by McLean following Kovalenko's goal.

In 1999, Ted Donato was flashed the leather by Kirk McLean, and finally in 2000, David Legwand fired a bulls-eye over Kirk McLean.

Answer: No

The Western Conference was defeated 12-7 in the 1990 all-star game. Patrick Roy and Daren Puppa were the winning goalies, whereas, Mike Vernon and Kirk McLean were the losers. The 1992 all-star game saw the western conference defeat the east 10-6. Patrick Roy, Don Beaupre, and Mike Richter were on the losing side whereas Ed Belfour, Kirk McLean, and Tim Cheveldae were on the winning side.

Answer: McLean never played in a game where goals against for the Devils was under four

In his six games with the Devils, Kirk McLean recorded 2 wins, and 2 losses. His save percentage was weak, but by no means under 40%. He stopped 111 of 132 shots to record a weak, but fixable 0.841% save average. He never recorded a shutout with the Devils.

He never did appear in a game without four goals against on the team. His NHL debut saw the Devils fall 7-1 to the Islanders. He replaced the starter, than was replaced after allowing four goals. Kirk McLean's second game was a victory, a 9-7 victory.

The next game was a 6-4 victory, after replacing Chevrier between the pipes. The next three games were a 5-2 loss, a 7-4 loss, and a 7-2 loss.