Spider-Man: Brand New Day is officially out in theatres, and one of the summer's most hyped movies coming out during FanSided NHL's lore week provides me a perfect time to be shameless and talk about the tenuous tie in that involves the New York Rangers. Steve Valiquette is known today for being a preeminent NHL analytics expert, and also for his work on the Rangers' MSG broadcast. He was a backup NHL goaltender most known for his time with the Rangers, and one of his biggest claims to fame is the mask he sported during his tenure on Broadway.
Valiquette started wearing the mask in a partnership with Marvel Comics, it made sense given Spidey's history with the city of New York. After getting rave reviews from kids at the hockey camps he attended, Valiquette went all in with the mask, and worde a few different versions over the years.
With great masks comes great responsibility 🕷️ pic.twitter.com/JfGUwFlXeo
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) July 31, 2026
Valiiquette joined the Rangers originally back in 2003-04, and he made just two appearances for the team. Then the league lost the 2004-05 season to a lockout, and he spent the 2005-06 season in the KHL as a starter for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl going 24-11-9 with a 1.95 goals against average and a .923 save percentage. That success resulted in Valiquette being back on Broadway back in 2006-07 as Henrik Lundqvist's backup. He didn't have a ton of work that year, and he went 1-2-0 in three games played.
The 2007-08 season is when business started to pickup for Valliquette, and he went 5-3-3 in 13 games while posting two shutouts along with a .916 save percentage and a 2.19 goals against average. He followed that up with a 5-5-2 showing that included a .907 save percentage and a 2.84 goals against average. It was a down year, but still a respectable showing as Lundqvist's Broadway understudy.
The gas for Vally wore out in 2009-10, as he went 2-3-0 with a .852 save percentage and a 3.74 goals against average with just one shutout. All in, Valliquette appeared in 39 games across five season with the Rangers and had a respectable 14-14-5 record with a .901 save percentage and 2.78 goals against average.
Life after playing career
Valiquette is currently the President and CEO of Clear Sight Analytics, a company that has a private proprietary method that catalogs every shot sequence that results in a shot on goal for all NHL games. There are 34 different individual points of date involved, and over the years they have analyzed over 250,000 sequences.
Valiquette shares this insight with NHL Network as an analyst, and he's also a key part of Blueshirts broadcasts on MSG. All of that said, while there are many different things Valliquette can be remembered for regarding his playing career, his role as an analyst, and his new career with CSA... nothing will has as large an impact as his Spider-Man mask... something I'd like to think served as an inspiration for other goalies to embrace movies and pop culture on their masks.
Add us as a preferred source on Google