At the beginning and midway point of the 2024-25 season, The Hockey Writers put together lists of the top 10 players for each position, as well as coaches. It goes without saying that it is a very tough list to do given how subjective it is, but nevertheless, we are going to take another shot at it, this time at the preseason mark of the 2025-26 season.
These lists are based on a mixture of how these goalies played last season, mixed with how they’ve fared over the course of their respective careers. While the top-tier names always seem to stay in place, there are always newcomers who seem to earn spots on this list, while others fall off of it. With that said, here are the top 10 goalies in the NHL entering the 2025-26 season.
10. Dustin Wolf
What a season it was for the Calgary Flames rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf. Having an inexperienced goaltending partner in Dan Vladar, there was a lot of pressure on Wolf entering the 2024-25 season, but it didn’t seem to phase him whatsoever.
After three-straight seasons of dominating the American Hockey League (AHL) Wolf came into the NHL and was able to finish second in Calder Trophy voting. He had a 29-16-8 record on an underwhelming Flames team while ranking sixth in goals saved above average (GSAA) at 15.68.
9. Ilya Sorokin
Do I truly believe that there are eight goalies in the NHL who are better than Ilya Sorokin? No, I absolutely do not. In fact, I think there’s an argument to be made that he is capable of being a top-three goalie in the world, but his stats the past two seasons, while not pathetic, haven’t suggested he’s elite.
A big portion of that comes due to the fact that Ilya Sorokin is tasked with playing behind a bad New York Islanders team. Though his .907 save percentage (SV%) in his 61 appearances in 2024-25 don’t look pretty, he still finished 10th among all goalies with a goals saved above expected (GSAx) of 21.24
8. Linus Ullmark
The Ottawa Senators chose to trade for Linus Ullmark in hopes that he would be the missing piece to get them into the playoffs, and the 32-year-old proved to be just that. Despite getting off to a slow start in the regular season, Ullmark finished with a respectable 2.70 goals against average (GAA) and a .910 SV% in 44 appearances.
Other Positional Rankings
Ullmark is capable of greatness, as proven by his Vezina Trophy win in 2022-23. He was more inconsistent than great with the Senators in year one, but should be a whole lot better in 2025-26 now that he’s more comfortable in his new surroundings.
7. Logan Thompson
The Washington Capitals have to be beside themselves at the fact they were able to grab Logan Thompson from the Vegas Golden Knights for just two third-round picks. This was an addition many felt could pay off in a big way for the Capitals, and it certainly did in the first season.
Thompson never got full control of the reigns having made 43 appearances, but was as good as you could have asked over that span. He finished the season with a 31-6-6 record, and was eighth in GSAx at a whopping 24.9.
6. Jake Oettinger
The Dallas Stars seemingly had a decision to make between Jake Oettinger and Pete DeBoer after the latter called out his goalie after they were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final. As you would expect, it was a pretty easy choice, with DeBoer being removed from head coaching duties just days later.
Though Oettinger isn’t quite in that ‘elite’ category, he is in the very next tier and is still young at 26. He has great size at 6-foot-6, and moves around the crease with ease. He put up a 14.32 GSAA in 58 appearances this past season, which was seventh in the league.
5. Darcy Kuemper
It turns out Darcy Kuemper isn’t washed up, after all. Kuemper’s game had fallen off a cliff in 2022-23 and 2023-24 with the Capitals, but an offseason trade that sent him to the LA Kings seemingly restored his confidence. He looked much more like the goalie we saw for years with the Arizona Coyotes, and was able to finish the season as a Vezina finalist for the first time in his career.
What will be interesting to see is how Kuemper performs this coming season, as the Kings undoubtedly got weaker on the blue liner this summer. While he may struggle to post a 26.02 GSAA and a 29.45 GSAx again, Kings fans should feel confident that he can remain a top-10 goalie regardless of how the team plays in front of him.
4. Igor Shesterkin
Based on last season alone, does Igor Shesterkin deserve to be in the top five on this list? No, he certainly doesn’t. In fact, he doesn’t deserve to be on it at all based on that merit. That said, you’d be hard pressed to find any individual, outside of perhaps a petty Islanders fan, who would tell you he isn’t one of the very best on the planet.
There’s no getting by the fact that Shesterkin struggled in 2024-25, though so did the Rangers as a whole, as they were wrapped up in drama from the start of the season to the finish. Getting away for the summer to refresh should allow Shesterkin to get back to being arguably the best goalie in the NHL.
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy
So much for Andrei Vasilevskiy being washed up. Questions began to circle around the Russian goalie after a disappointing 2023-24 season, with some attributing it to the amount of wear and tear on his body after so much lengthy playoff runs. It turns out, however, it was simply just a rough season, as he was back to his dominant self in 2024-25.
Vasilevskiy was second amongst all NHL goalies this past season with a ridiculous 28.84 GSAx, while his 34.17 GSAA was also the second in the league. Despite his struggles in the playoffs over the last three years, there is no doubt that the future Hall-of-Famer remains one of the best in the business.
2. Connor Hellebuyck
What a confusing goalie Connor Hellebuyck is to rank. If it were just down to the regular season, he would be head and shoulders above everybody. He was recently able to pick up his second-straight Vezina Trophy and the third of his career, while also winning his first Hart Trophy. Well deserved for a goalie who led the NHL with a 49.48 GSAx and a 41.11 GSAA.
The issue for Hellebuyck is the playoffs. It’s been a storyline for the last few years, but it was these past playoffs where things really imploded. He nearly collapsed to the point that the Winnipeg Jets were eliminated in the first round. While they were able to come out on top of that series, he struggled in the second round against the Stars in a series his team lost in six games. He finished this year’s playoffs with a cringe-inducing 3.08 GAA and a .866 SV% in 13 games.
1. Sergei Bobrovsky
He may not have had nearly the best regular season of the goalies on this list, but Sergei Bobrovsky has proven for the third-straight year that he can dial things up to a level better than anybody else when the stakes are at their highest. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner helped lead the Florida Panthers to their second-straight Stanley Cup championship earlier this year.
Bobrovsky’s time in the regular season with the Panthers has been just OK at best. In fact, you could argue it’s been disappointing considering his $10 million cap hit. The way he’s been able to ramp it up in the playoffs, however, makes him worth every penny, as there isn’t a goalie on the planet you’d take over him right now in a win-or-go-home game.
