Originally Posted by jpv  Tretiak was a product of playing for an unbelievable team. I've seen him play a number of times (on tape of course) and he doesn't impress me from a goaltending standpoint. I should add the caveat that he played in a very different era where goalies played a very different, stand-up, style. He very rarely saw more than 15-20 shots in a game, and most of those were not high-quality scoring chances. I'm not talking smack, obviously those around him revered him, people who did a lot more in their hockey career than 2 years playing JV goalie at a private college (like me) :-D. It's just my opinion.
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I watched Tretiak as a young kid in the late 1970's so I don't have the same perspective or hockey analyzing skills as you appear to, so my statement about the best ever may be hyperbole. But the Soviet national team of that ear was unbelievable. I was a NHL fan and thought I was watching the best in the world play, then the Soviets came in and playing a completely different style of hockey proved that there were as good if not better than the NHL. This blew my mind and made the 1980 US hockey gold that much sweeter, which I saw rated as the #1 US sports moment in history.