Quoting: Chopper02
You're correct. Blues cant win with Allen. Yes, teams have won the Cup with "average" goaltenders, but they didn't give up the goals they shouldn't allow, and stopped the ones they should. See Chris Osgood
Yup, even the average goalies that did win, won on either pure luck/they played out of their minds and/or had incredible teams in front of them that made up heavily for that goalie and/or lastly they are big game goalies. (Play great in playoffs but not so much in regular season)
-Matt Murray had Malkin, Kessell and Crosby and the rest of the gang leading the charge with Fleury there to rely on if he falters.
-Cam Ward was a flash in the pan. He won the cup one year and hasn't been able to replicate that type of success in either the regular season or playoffs ever again.
-Antti Niemi played for a Blackhawks team that was stacked with great players all in their prime or close to prime. Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabrook, Sharp, Hossa, Ladd, Campbell, Byfuglien, Brouwer, Bolland, versteeg, Hjalmarsson, etc etc
-Fleury might win this year with Vegas but I think its become obvious he's not a bad goalie everyone thought he was. Still capable of being a #1 goalie.
You have to go back a long time to find another team that won with a goalie that was considered an average goalie. I'm really not sure where this idea of being able to win with an average goalie comes from. In the grand scheme of things its a rarity and the minority. 95% of Cup winners had a #1 undisputed starting goalie as their guy.