Curtis Joseph: Rising from the Ashes

Ladies and gentlemen, CuJo is back.

Well, let's face it—he's been back since January 17th, but with last night's win, Joseph has allowed a smidgen of his memory to enter fans' minds once again.

On a night when Rhett Warrener actually scored a goal, Kristian Huselius had three assists, and Jarome Iginla recorded his 40th goal of the season and tied Theo Fleury for 1st place on the Flames all-time goals list (364), Joseph was able to steal himself a small piece of NHL history.

With last night's win, Joseph moved past Terry Sawchuk to sit alone in fourth place on the all-time NHL wins list with 448.

Lately though, those wins have been anything but handed to Joseph.

Following the 2001-02 season—his last with the Leafs—Joseph jumped the border and landed in Detroit, where he posted solid numbers (34-19-6, 2.49 GAA, .912 save%) and led Detroit to the playoffs. The first round, however, was as far as Cujo and the winged wheel would get, as they were swept by the then-Anaheim Mighty Ducks, who were riding the coat-tails of J.S. Giguere's coming-out party.

Detroit fans were outraged at the fact that their team was ousted so early and Joseph was thrown under the bus. Fans longed for a solution in net—either perennial backup Manny Legace or Dominik Hasek, the goalie who had won the Wings the Cup just the year before.

Well, Hasek came back to play 14 games (netting 8 wins), but struggled through injury problems, much like Joseph, meaning Legace would get to take the bulk of the load. Legace went 23-10-5 with a 2.12 GAA and a .920 sv% in 41 games (at that point, a career high in games played). 

Joseph, meanwhile, was hung out to dry.

Due to mounting injury problems and a bulk of quality goaltenders, Joseph was sent back and forth between Grand Rapids (AHL) and Detroit, and at one point CuJo even played in an AHL game (going 1-0 in his AHL career). Detroit was stuck seeking a trade for one of their three goalies, and Joseph was evidently the odd man out, but no suitors could be found.

It didn't even matter that Joseph salvaged the Wings' playoff hopes and was able to lead them to the Western Conference Semifinals; his time in Motown was done.

Following the lockout, Joseph found work in a market not many expected—Phoenix.

After signing a one-year contract with the Coyotes prior to the 2005-06 season, Joseph seemingly proved that he wasn't out of the game yet, going 32-21-3 with a 2.91 GAA and a .902 sv%. Despite trade rumors and a small amount of interest from other clubs, Joseph returned to Phoenix for the 2006-07 season—a season that resulted in what was thought to be Joseph's exile from the league.

Joseph went 18-31-2 on a 'Yotes team that was expected to make a marked improvement on 2006's 12th place finish with added firepower in Ed Jovanovski, Jeremy Roenick, and Owen Nolan. Things quickly fell apart though; the Coyotes were left in the basement of the league and Joseph was out in the cold again.

By the time the 2007-08 season had rolled around, no one wanted the beleaguered goalie. Try as he might to latch on to a club, no one bit, and Joseph was left to bide his time. While players such as Scott Niedermayer, Peter Forsberg, and Teemu Selanne comfortably contemplated their careers, knowing they'd have somewhere to come back to, Curtis Joseph wanted in, but found no takers.

In fact, to turn teams into believers, it took a heroic performance at the Spengler Cup to convince teams that the old dog may have some bite after all, and after entertaining the idea of playing for the New York Rangers, San Jose Sharks, Toronto (again), and even the Ottawa Senators, Joseph settled on the Calgary Flames, returning to the province where he got his first shot to play professional hockey in Canada.

And now, he's fourth in career wins for an NHL goalie.

Congratulations Curtis, and thank you for one last sparkling memory.