Masked Men: Peter Budaj

Welcome once again to my spotlight blog post entitled "Masked Men". Within these threads I will be talking about various masked men around the league. In essence, a mask is a goalies identity. They can add their own personalities to their mask. A self portrait in a way.

Today we are looking at the former Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadian, and Winnipeg Jet goaltender Peter Budaj. Budaj is currently playing for the Los Angeles Kings, and is taking advantage of Jonathan Quick being injured. Budaj currently has a record of 13 W 7 L 2 OTL 2 SO 2.77 GAA and .907 SV%. Pretty decent for a player that many thought his career was over.

Budaj has always been a big fan of "The Simpsons", especially Ned Flanders. So he has already found a way to incorporate that into his masks. For instance:

His Colorado Avalanche mask:

His Montreal Canadian mask:

Another mask he wore while with the Canadians:

Then the mask he wore for his brief time with the Winnipeg Jets

So it is no surprise that he has incorporated Ned Flanders into his Los Angeles Kings mask.

This is the mask he wore last year. When he was playing with the Kings AHL team Ontario Reign

And this is his latest mask, to commemorate the Kings 50th anniversary

That is King's goalie legend Rogie Vachon on the right side of the mask. And on the left side a little picture of Ned Flanders again.

I am very happy to see that Budaj is getting his time to shine this year for the Kings. Yes, once Jonathan Quick is healthy, Budaj will see less playing time. However, Budaj is taking advantage of the situation. He is a great guy in the locker room as well. Budaj is still only 34 years old, so he still has some years left in him, and hopefully a few more masks as well.

****NOTE*****: Once again, the majority of these picture came from Dave Gunnarsson. The top hockey mask artist in the NHL. If you like his work, please check out his site here: