There is something refreshing about Tony Esposito's casual detachment with regard to the game's golden past and more specifically his significant part in those halcyon days.
On Saturday, Esposito gave up his long-standing place as the fourth-winningest goaltender of all time to Ed Belfour, another former Chicago Blackhawk who is now the Toronto Maple Leafs' main backstopper.
Belfour passed Esposito with win No. 424.
On the phone last week from his home in St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., about as far as one can get from Esposito's hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, or The Soo, as it is simply known, Esposito's voice shrugs. He knows Belfour and likes him, is happy that he's had the success he's had and wouldn't be surprised to see 38-year-old Belfour play another two or three years.
Esposito appears not to begrudge giving up his place in hockey history, or rather seeing his place ever so slightly diminished, pushed further along the collapsing tunnel that is the past.
"He deserves it," Esposito said. "He's worked hard all those years. I was one of his idols, I guess, when he was growing up."
Esposito, 60 (although he insists he is in his "late 50s"), isn't all that interested in monitoring Belfour's assault on fourth all time and won't be glued to the television set or nightly sportscasts.
"No. I'll read it in the papers, I guess," he said.
After all, such moments have occurred in the past and will continue to happen in the future, he points out.
Curtis Joseph and Martin Brodeur likely will pass him in all-time wins early next season, although beyond that Esposito's place in the top half dozen all-time seems pretty much secure.
Last year, Esposito's seemingly untouchable modern-era record for lowest single-season goals-against average (1.77) fell to Marty Turco of the Dallas Stars (1.72). When Esposito established the mark in 1971-72, no one had posted a lower average since Dave Kerr of the New York Rangers in 1939-40 (Al Rollins of the Leafs also turned in a 1.77 average in 1950-51).
Later this year, Esposito's modern-era record of 15 shutouts in a season (1969-70) may well fall to Brodeur, who has 10 through 43 games with the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils.
Not that it really matters to him.
"I don't worry about it. What's done is done," said Esposito. "Records are made to be broken. Everything in the game is changed so dramatically."
"There are backup goaltenders with goals-against averages of 2.50. You'd like to see more scoring in the game for sure."
Still, there is something whimsical about the passage of time as it relates to players such as Esposito. He is a reminder of an era when players were intrinsically linked to one franchise and helped forge that team's identity, a time when players didn't moan about having to fly commercial or playing four games in five nights, a time when the game wasn't poked and prodded and analyzed half to death.
"It was tough," Esposito said of the travel. "Because you couldn't sleep that night. If you missed the flight, you missed the game."
After playing one year of Junior A hockey in The Soo, Esposito played three years for the Michigan Tech Huskies, winning the NCAA title in 1965, before breaking into the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens during the 1968-69 season.
In Tony's first start and second NHL appearance, brother Phil scored twice as the Bruins and Canadiens skated to a 2-2 tie.
Esposito recalls that game vividly but cannot in fact recall his first win and claims to have no special victory that stands out for him among the 423 he amassed.
"No. Not for me. I loved playing every day," Esposito said.
Exposed in the intra-league draft, Esposito was claimed by Chicago, and there he stayed from 1969-70, when he won a league-best 38 games and recorded 15 shutouts en route to both the Calder and Vezina trophies, until 1983-84, when he played just 18 regular-season games.
He played in six All-Star Games and has his name engraved on the Vezina Trophy three times (he split the award twice: once with Bernie Parent, the only time opposing goalies have shared the award, and once with teammate Gary Smith). He played a pivotal role in Canada's dramatic Summit Series victory over the Russians in 1972, posting numbers that were much better than those of No. 1 goaltender Ken Dryden. Twice he led the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup final, and in 1988 he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
But unlike many former players of the so-called Golden Age of the game, Esposito does not engage in the "what if" game. What if he played now with the lightweight (not to mention oversized) equipment, would he have had 20 shutouts? 25?
How many wins?
How much money?
"I don't look at it that way," said Esposito.
Although he played his entire career in the shadow of his larger-than-life brother and fellow Hall of Famer Phil, Esposito was in his own way an innovator. He fiddled constantly with his equipment, at one point adding a hard protective shell to the sleeve of his catching mitt that saw its width grow from 4½ inches to 8 inches. There were attempts to add webbing and then rolls of foam to the inside of his goalie pants to block his famous five-hole and to limit shooters' advantages. He also stuffed his pads with lightweight furniture stuffing to expand the width without adding additional weight.
Like today, everyone cried foul.
"They used to bitch and moan all the time," Esposito recalled of league officials. "Other teams would be bitching and moaning."
Esposito was also one of the few players to dedicate himself to off-ice and offseason conditioning. It was a critical factor in his ability to play until he was 41. For a number of years leading to his retirement, Esposito was the oldest player in the NHL.
The father of two grown boys continues to work out six days a week for several hours a day and said he has remained at his playing weight of about 185 pounds. It is one of the reasons he has refused to play in old-timers games.
"Have you been in a dressing room at an old-timers' game? It's not a pretty sight," said Esposito.
Tony and Phil remain close, and both have settled in the Tampa area. On the brothers' Web site, there's the story of how Phil referred to 10-year-old Tony as a "blind jerk" after he let in two long shots in a neighborhood game. Shortly after, it was discovered Tony needed glasses.
"Sometimes we get together and travel. He's still the same. He doesn't change," said Esposito who admits he has not read Phil's new book, "Thunder and Lightning: A No B.S. Hockey Memoir," fearful of his brother's penchant for toe-stomping.
The younger of the two by 14 months, Esposito has remained close to the sport, working with the NHLPA, then briefly as the vice president and general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins from April 1988 to December 1989. Two years later, he was on the ground floor of the Tampa Bay Lightning expansion, helping Phil bring hockey to Florida. Although he was dismissed early in the 1998 season, Esposito still has seats in the Lightning's club section and attends games often, even if he sometimes is bored silly by the low-scoring contests that dominate.
"A couple of times, I left after the second period," he admits. "And I wasn't the only person going to the parking lot."
There is something bittersweet about his connection to the Lightning. He still feels betrayed by his firing after helping build the team from nothing, but he also takes a proprietary view as the Lightning have evolved into a playoff caliber team. He, like many former Blackhawks, mourns the decay of the franchise for which he played all but 13 of his 886 regular-season games and 99 more playoff games.
Although he does some public speaking, Esposito admits he'd like to get back into the game at the administrative level.
"I wouldn't want to be just an amateur scout or something stupid like that," Esposito said. "If I got an opportunity, that's a different story."
But he's not worrying too much about that, either.
In fact, it's time he went; he has a two-hour workout ahead of him.
Scott Burnside is a freelance writer based in Atlanta and is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.