There’s no argument: we’re in a golden age of goaltending in the National Hockey League right now, but it’s a world of haves and have-nots. The gap between the greats in the game and everybody else feels bigger than it ever has before, and teams that don’t have one of the reliable studs are often scrounging for help (or suffering under an unwise contract handed out too soon).
It’s also a world where the hot hand dominates. Rookies can suddenly look unbeatable, and the goaltending greats can suddenly look like a sieve. We often now see teams make it deep into the playoffs relying heavily on a goalie who wasn’t their starter to start the postseason. Occasionally, that goalie wasn’t even on the roster entering the season.
At The Hockey Writers, we evaluate goaltenders several times a season, accounting for the instability of the position. Goalies change teams and lose their jobs more frequently than many others. Because of changes like that, we regrade goalies regularly. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the methodology for our evaluation.
Methodology
Because of the fleeting nature of goaltender success, our rankings prioritize numbers from the most recent season, in this case, the 2024-25 season. With that said, it would be silly to ignore history or overemphasize a three-month run. Where two goalies are more or less equal, their track record will become a factor in determining a final position. Goalies who have performed at a high level for longer will receive the benefit of the doubt, whereas goalies with great numbers who are relative newcomers may sink a spot or two accordingly. With that said, in this article, you will see many top goalies from recent years further down than you might expect.
A number of statistics are considered. Two metrics were given primary emphasis:
- Save Percentage (SV%): The percentage of shots on net that a goalie stops from becoming a goal
- Goals-Against Average (GAA): The average number of goals the goaltender allows per 60 minute game
- Goalie Point Shares (GPS): An attempt to calculate a goalie’s impact on his team’s place in the standings, where the final number reflects the number of standings points the goalie helped his team gain (not dissimilar from baseball’s “wins above replacement,” aka WAR)
- Quality Start Percentage (QS%): Quality starts are those starts where the goalie’s save percentage surpasses the average save percentage from the league this season. The QS% takes the percentage of games started that are “quality.” Generally, 53% or .530 is considered “average” in this stat. Anything below 50% is poor, and anything above 60% is outstanding.
- Really Bad Starts (RBS): More or less the inverse of a quality start, these are games where the goalie’s SV% doesn’t surpass 85%
- Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA): An advanced statistic measuring a goalie’s performance against league average on the same number of shots. The higher your GSAA, the better your season has been.
Of these statistics, QS% and GSAA have been given particular emphasis, but all will be considered in evaluating goaltenders.
Related: Adjusting How We Evaluate and Analyze Goaltenders
Keep in mind that these rankings are, by nature, fleeting. A few goaltenders, especially those near the top, have cemented their place in goaltending history. But many of these goalies are still fighting to build a reputation. So, without further ado, let’s see who shakes out as the best goaltenders of the 2024-25 season so far.
32) Elvis Merzlikins: Columbus Blue Jackets
Previous Rank: 32
Elvis Merzlikins still has two seasons on his expensive contract, which is bad news for a Columbus Blue Jackets franchise that hasn’t had a steady goaltender since Sergei Bobrovsky left for the Florida Panthers. Last season, even while the Blue Jackets clawed for a playoff spot, Merzlikins dragged the team down, with a 3.18 GAA and .892 SV%.
Late in the offseason, Columbus traded for Ivan Fedotov from the Philadelphia Flyers. Either he or Jet Greaves might supplant Merzlikins as the starter this season. Certainly, Columbus needs to look for another solution. But right now, Merzlikins holds the ignoble honor of coming in the 32nd spot on this list.
31) Samuel Ersson: Philadelphia Flyers
Previous Rank: 29
Samuel Ersson is in an unenviable situation. Thrust into a starting role for a team that thought they had their long-term starter, the 25-year-old Falun, Sweden native drafted in the fifth round in 2018 is arguably doing his best. But his best isn’t at the level of an NHL starter. He had an .883 SV%, a 3.14 GAA, and a QS% well below .500 at .422. He also had minus-19.6 GSAA. Ersson might be able to be a decent goalie behind a team with better defense, but the Flyers leave a lot to be desired in that category.
30) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: Buffalo Sabres
Previous Rank: 27
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was outstanding with the Buffalo Sabres for much of the 2023-24 season. So maybe it’s unfair for him to fall all the way to 30th, but his 2024-25 season was abysmal. And for a franchise that seems to be perpetually stuck as Charlie Brown trying to kick Lucy’s football, having one of the worst goaltenders in the league statistically, and once again being stuck near the bottom of the NHL’s standings, has to be devastating.
The Espoo, Finland native had an .887 SV% and a 3.20 GAA, along with minus-19.9 GSAA and .509 QS%. They’re all bad numbers, and for the Sabres, who thought they finally had their goaltender of the future in either Luukkonen or Devon Levi, the fact that both struggled last season is devastating.
29) Stuart Skinner: Edmonton Oilers
Previous Rank: 26
Not only is Stuart Skinner a bad goaltender most of the time, but he’s also arguably the single most important goaltender in the NHL right now. Connor McDavid’s ongoing contract negotiations hinge on the Edmonton Oilers’ ability to compete over the long term, and most people recognize that Skinner is the chief obstacle to the Oilers winning multiple Stanley Cups during McDavid’s tenure there. Many fans defend Skinner — he is a hometown talent, after all — but he simply hasn’t been good enough. In his career in the playoffs, he has an .893 SV%, .440 QS%, 18 RBS in 50 starts, and minus-12.5 GSAA. If you gave the best player in the world even league-average goaltending, he would probably already be a Stanley Cup Champion. And if he leaves because he feels Edmonton can’t compete, many fans will blame Skinner.
28) Tristan Jarry: Pittsburgh Penguins
Previous Rank: 30
Speaking of poor goaltending holding down generational players, we move on to the Pittsburgh Penguins. There will be a goaltending competition in training camp for the Penguins this season, but Tristan Jarry probably has the early lead based on his contract and experience with the team.
Jarry was so poor last season that he was even sent through waivers down to the American Hockey League (AHL), and he finished the season with minus-6.4 GSAA, a .894 SV% and 3.12 GAA. Still, Jarry is only entering season three of a five-year, $26.87 million contract he signed back in 2023. The Penguins are clearly in rebuilding mode, and over time, former second-round pick Joel Blomqvist will probably see more playing time. But for now, it’s Jarry’s job to lose, although that might not take much this season.
27) Pyotr Kochetkov: Carolina Hurricanes
Previous Rank: 24
Yet another goaltender holding a great team back from competing, we turn to the Carolina Hurricanes and Pyotr Kochetkov. The Hurricanes have made a lot of bold moves to try and win in recent seasons, but they simply cannot find a permanent solution between the pipes. With Frederik Andersen’s perpetual injury issues, Kochetkov seems like the most likely candidate to start the lion’s share of games, despite 11 RBS last season and minus-3.6 GSAA. If the Hurricanes hope to compete come postseason, they will likely need to find a better option, whatever the cost.
26) Yaroslav Askarov: San Jose Sharks
Previous Rank: 23
Here’s a goalie that could shoot up the list very quickly in the coming season. Yaroslav Askarov has been the goalie of the future for many seasons in the NHL, and the Sharks made a big vote of confidence in him when they paid a hefty price to acquire him from the Nashville Predators last summer. After that, though, Askarov only managed to feature in 13 games.
Entering this season, with the Sharks looking to take the next step in theirrebuild, the Sharks are likely to give Askarov the starter designation. They acquired Alex Nedeljkovic from Pittsburgh to be his backup. It remains to be seen whether they will split work evenly or whether Askarov will have a lion’s share of the responsibility, but if the Russian netminder lives up to his potential, it won’t be long until he’s ranked much more highly on this list.
25) Spencer Kight: Chicago Blackhawks
Previous Rank: Unranked
The Chicago Blackhawks are also hoping their goaltender will live up to his previous potential. They traded Seth Jones for Spencer Knight last season and then gave him a pricey three-year contract extension, cementing him as their goaltender entering the next phase of their rebuild. Knight was drafted 13th overall in 2019, but never established himself as the starter for the Florida Panthers, and spent time in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Now with a new home as the clear starter, he’ll be an easy goaltender to root for going forward.
24) Juuse Saros: Nashville Predators
Previous Rank: 13
Everything went wrong for the Nashville Predators last season, but a return to form for goaltender Juuse Saros would go a long way towards fixing what ails them. The season after the Predators gave him a costly eight-year extension, then traded Askarov to San Jose, Saros rewarded them with by far the worst season of his career: a .895 SV%, 2.98 GAA, minus-7.6 GSAA, and a .483 QS%. Nashville needs much better or that new contract is going to be an albatross before the ink is completely dry.
23) Sam Montembeault: Montreal Canadiens
Previous Rank: 31
Sam Montembeault was asked to take on an incredible workload for the Montreal Canadiens last season, and did pretty well with the task. He started in 60 games, posting a .901 SV% and a 2.82 GAA, along with a .533 QS%, which is just above average. He even earned a spot on Team Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster, though this decision earned criticism at the time.
Now that Montembeault has established himself as a bell cow goaltender, he has to also prove he’s got the talent to be one of the league’s best options. The Canadiens clearly have big aspirations going forward. Montembeault had a breakout season in 2024-25. Can he repeat it again in 2025-26, and put himself in the top tier of goaltending options in the NHL? With a spot on the Team Canada Olympic roster at large, he will certainly have plenty of motivation.
22) John Gibson: Detroit Red Wings
Previous Rank: Unranked
We’ve been talking about John Gibson in trade rumors for years, and it finally happened, with the Detroit Red Wings acquiring the veteran netminder over the offseason. It’s hard to get as excited about the move as one once could have, when Gibson was widely viewed as one of the best goalies in the league. But in fairness to the 32-year-old Pittsburgh native, he’s coming off a fantastic rebound season that saw him post a .911 SV%, a 2.77 GAA, 9.2 GSAA, and .679 QS% in 28 starts. The question now is whether he can carry forward those fantastic numbers into a full-time starter’s workload. If he can, he’ll move right up the list in no time.
21) Lukáš Dostál: Anaheim Ducks
Previous Rank: 21
After years of Gibson’s uncertain future with the Ducks, they now have Lukáš Dostál as the goaltender of the future. The 25-year-old native of Czechia is entering his third season as the primary starter in Orange County, where he had a .903 SV% and 3.10 GAA last season, with a .551 QS% and 4.7 GSAA. Those numbers are above average in any circumstances, but with the not-so-mighty Ducks, they are especially impressive. Now that Gibson has finally moved on, this pair of goalies will be one of the most interesting to watch going forward. Can either goalie lead his team to the new heights they seek?
20) Jordan Binnington: St. Louis Blues
Previous Rank: 22
At a notoriously inconsistent position, there may be no goalie more unpredictable than Jordan Binnington. At his very best, he is arguably one of the best goaltenders in the league, who is one of just five rookies to win a Stanley Cup as the starting netminder. At his worst, he’s virtually unplayable, with his notorious on-ice antics adding another layer of chaos to the enigma from Richmond Hill, Ontario.
With that said, the last two seasons have been much steadier. In 2023-24, many said he deserved consideration for the Vezina Trophy, and was robbed of a slot as a finalist. The 2024-25 season wasn’t quite as good, but was still largely positive, with 0.9 GSAA and a .574 QS%. He helped the Blues reach the postseason last year, and performed well there, despite the team’s brutal Game 7 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Now, with the team aiming higher going forward, they’ll need the best version of Binnington to get them there.
19) Thatcher Demko: Vancouver Canucks
Previous Rank: 9
There’s no question that at his best and at his healthiest, Thatcher Demko has the tools to be one of the best goaltenders in the league. But he hasn’t been at his healthiest much recently. Demko only started 23 games last season, and had poor numbers in those games: an .889 SV% and minus-6 GSAA, among other disappointing stats. In July, Demko’s agent said he is healthy and feeling great. The Canucks had better hope he is, because they need Demko’s best entering a crucial season for the franchise.
18) Jeremy Swayman: Boston Bruins
Previous Rank: 9
Last season was an utter trainwreck for Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins. There really isn’t much more that needs to be said. After sitting out of camp and signing an eight-year contract extension two days before the season started, Swayman was awful and led the Bruins to one of their worst results in ages. Both Bruins and Team USA brass hope that it was a one-season anomaly for the Anchorage, Alaska native. Before this blip on the radar, he was unquestionably one of the best goalies in the NHL.
17) Adin Hill: Vegas Golden Knights
Previous Rank: 20
Adin Hill is a good lesson on the fleeting nature of goaltending success, and the risks for a franchise of trusting a small sample size. He set the world on fire in the 2022-23 postseason, ultimately helping the Vegas Golden Knights capture the Stanley Cup. Approaching free agency, the Golden Knights capitalized and offered Hill a two-year, $9.8 million contract, which forced them in turn to trade Thompson to the Washington Capitals last summer. Hill has been fine, but, as you can probably guess by not having his name read yet, Thompson appears to be the better long-term option (though Hill did make the Team Canada roster for the Face-Off).
Hill was pretty good last season, with a .906 SV% and 2.47 GAA, plus 8.5 GSAA. But on a franchise that is ruthless in pursuing Stanley Cup glory, Vegas may move on quickly from Hill if a better option opens up again. They’ve already done it repeatedly to netminders in the past.
16) Karel Vejmelka: Utah Mammoth
Previous Rank: 18
New city. New name. And the Utah Mammoth seemed to have a whole new goaltender last year in Karel Vejmelka, who had the best season of his career statistically. The Trebic, Czechia native had a .904 SV%, 2.58 GAA, .527 QS%, and 5.9 GSAA. Those still aren’t world-beating numbers, but they’re far better than what Vejmelka put together in Arizona. Now that the team is established in its new home, the Mammoth will expect to fight for a postseason spot this season. If they get there, Vejmelka will be a big part of the reason why.
15) Joey Daccord: Seattle Kraken
Previous Rank: 16
You probably didn’t know that Joey Daccord’s legal first name is “Joel.” You also likely didn’t expect him to be the hottest goaltending commodity on the international market, as the tri-national holds American, Canadian, and Swiss citizenship, which led to some hopes that he could be Team Canada’s savior between the pipes at last season’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Daccord ultimately didn’t make the roster due to not having a Canadian passport, but his final season numbers were still strong: .906 SV%, 2.75 GAA, and 9.1 GSAA. This season, he’ll start a five-year, $25 million contract with Seattle, who might finally have found a solution to their goaltending woes.
14) Jacob Markström: New Jersey Devils
Previous Rank: 4
Jacob Markström was fine last season. But “fine” isn’t what the New Jersey Devils hoped they were acquiring when they traded a first-round draft pick and defensive prospect Kevin Bahl to Calgary to acquire him before the season. He had a good start in the Garden State, but trailed off late in the season, particularly in April, where he posted a .863 SV% and 3.47 GAA in 10 games.
A season that started full of hope became a trainwreck for the Devils, losing Jack Hughes to shoulder surgery on March 2 and struggling to win games at home en route to their 10th playoff miss in 12 seasons. Markström wasn’t the main problem. But he wasn’t the solution the Devils acquired him to be, either. He’ll need to be much better in his sophomore season at The Rock.
13) Sergei Bobrovsky: Florida Panthers
Previous Rank: 12
We’ve now reached our first cut-and-dried future Hall of Fame inductee on the list — and make no mistake, Sergei Bobrovsky will unquestionably enter the Hall of Fame when his career is over. He spent most of a decade as the only active two-time Vezina Trophy winner until Connor Hellebuyck joined him in 2024, and he now has 400 wins and two straight Stanley Cups under his belt. 30 wins this season will tie him with Henrik Lundqvist for sixth on the all-time wins leaderboard as well. His resume is without many equals among goaltenders currently playing.
Related: Sergei Bobrovsky Cements Hall of Fame Case with Stanley Cup Win
He is also a shining example of what the Oilers are missing in Skinner. Last season wasn’t incredible, but the Russian saved his best for the postseason, where he had a .914 SV%, a 2.20 GAA and 3 shutouts to help steer his team to the mountaintop for the second time in a row. Now 37, and entering the final season of the seven-year, $70 million contract he signed in 2019 — a massive gamble by the Panthers that paid off magnificently — the only questions that remain are: will Bobrovsky remain in Florida, how many more seasons will he play, and how many more Cups can he win before all is said and done.
12) Anthony Stolarz: Toronto Maple Leafs
Previous Rank: 19
=Now we turn to Bobrovsky’s former backup, Anthony Stolarz, who burst onto the scene last season after signing a two-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In limited starts (just 33) he had phenomenal numbers, leading the league with a .926 SV% and posting an incredible 24.6 GSAA. He was also very solid in the playoffs, though the Maple Leafs came up short again. Now, entering the final season of his short contract, the question is whether Stolarz will re-sign and whether he can play as well with a full workload in 2025-26. If he can, he will certainly climb into the top 10 of this list.
11) Linus Ullmark: Ottawa Senators
Previous Rank: 6
The Ottawa Senators have been desperately trying to escape irrelevance and finish their rebuilding era, and trading for Linus Ullmark last summer might have been the final piece of that puzzle. He was very strong last season, with a .909 SV% and 2.72 GAA plus 11.1 GSAA, all without the safety net of Swayman, with whom he had formed one of the best tandems in the NHL for several seasons in Boston. The 2022-23 Vezina and Jennings Trophy winner helped steer the Senators back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season, and he’s just starting the four-year contract he signed at the start of last season. He’ll be in Ottawa for a good amount of time to come.
10) Logan Thompson: Washington Capitals
Previous Rank: 8
Ullmark wasn’t the only goaltender to move to a nation’s capital and become an immediate sensation. Just a few days after the Senators acquired him, the Washington Capitals made another hugely consequential trade for a goaltender, grabbing Logan Thompson from the Vegas Golden Knights. Thompson immediately stole the show in the District and earned himself a pricey contract extension this offseason.
Thompson had a signature season, with a .910 SV%, 2.49 GAA, 12.4 GSAA and .643 QS%, steering the Capitals to first in the Eastern Conference and Presidents’ Trophy runners-up. He also finished fourth in Vezina Trophy voting. Notably, Thompson was snubbed from the 4 Nations Face-Off at midseason, a decision that drew plenty of criticism. But now that he’s settled in Washington and has his contract situation locked up, he can set his sights on the Olympics as the major career accomplishment for the season ahead.
9) Mackenzie Blackwood: Colorado Avalanche
Previous Rank: 10
What a turnaround for Mackenzie Blackwood. Entering last season, he looked to be on the bench behind Askarov. Then, in early December, the Colorado Avalanche traded for Blackwood. To go from an arguable backup on one of the worst teams in the league to the unquestioned starter on one of the best is quite a turnaround, but Blackwood’s numbers justified the move. He finished with a .912 SV%, 2.55 GAA, and a towering 18.1 GSAA. The Avalanche have made a habit of recycling goaltenders in recent seasons, but they were impressed enough with Blackwood to give him a five-year contract extension in December. Now, the 28-year-old has one goal: to steer the Avs back to a Stanley Cup.
8) Darcy Kuemper: Los Angeles Kings
Previous Rank: 17
And speak of the devil: it’s one of the goaltenders the Avalanche have recycled, one who knows all about helping them win Stanley Cups. Darcy Kuemper’s time with the Washington Capitals wasn’t pretty, and the Los Angeles Kings also took a big gamble to acquire him. They let Cam Talbot walk after a terrific season, and traded the troublesome contract of Pierre-Luc Dubois to Washington in exchange for the former Cup winner Kuemper.
The gamble paid off magnificently, with Kuemper having one of the best seasons of his storied career: a .921 SV%, 2.02, and 26.8 GSAA helped propel him to a Vezina Finalist finish. Kuemper has two seasons left on his current deal. When it expires, he’ll be 37. But before then, his focus will be on getting the Kings out of the first round for the first time since they won the Stanley Cup in 2014.
7) Dustin Wolf: Calgary Flames
Previous Rank: 11
What a revelation Dustin Wolf was for the Calgary Flames last season. Entering the season expecting to rebuild, he almost single-handedly kept them in the midst of the playoff race. The 24-year-old native of Gilroy, California, drafted in the seventh round in 2019, has probably surpassed Askarov (at least temporarily) as the most promising young goalie in the league. He had a .910 SV%, 2.64 GAA, and an incredibly impressive 15.1 GSAA. He paired those with a .566 QS%. And those numbers were even more impressive before he flagged at the end of a long season. He made a strong case to win the Calder Trophy, which hasn’t been won by a goaltender since Steve Mason in the 2008-09 season, but ultimately fell short to Lane Hutson. But silverware or not, he locked up his spot as one of the top goalies in the league.
6) Ilya Sorokin: New York Islanders
Previous Rank: 14
Ilya Sorokin had a really rough start during the first year of his eight-season contract with the New York Islanders. And maybe he deserves to be lower on this list based solely on last season’s numbers. But he’s established himself as one of the best goaltenders in the league and that’s a reputation that’s hard to lose. Plus, by season’s end, his stats were ok: a .907 SV%, 2.71 GAA, and 11.7 GSAA that would be very strong for anyone not named Sorokin. With the Islanders trying to solve all sorts of problems, some speculate that the Oilers should pounce and trade for Sorokin to make the kind of all-out winning move that might convince McDavid to put pen to paper. But as of right now, those rumors seem to be just smoke.
5) Igor Shesterkin: New York Rangers
Previous Rank: 5
Like many other goalies on this list, Igor Shesterkin finally inked a long contract extension with the New York Rangers last season, after months of dyspepsia about getting a deal done. Unlike any other goaltender on this list, though, the average annual value (AAV) of the deal, north of $11.5 million, will make him the highest-paid goalie in the NHL. But it’s hard to argue that he doesn’t deserve it.
In what was inarguably a “down” season for the Muscovite, he still had a .907 SV%, 2.71 GAA, and accomplished a quality start 61.7% of the time as he managed 11.7 GSAA. As with Sorokin, it is only because the bar has been set so incredibly high that those numbers feel anything less than fantastic. There are problems in the Big Apple, but Shesterkin isn’t one of them. And now, thanks to his shiny new extension, his looming UFA status isn’t one of them, either.
4) Jake Oettinger: Dallas Stars
Previous Rank: 7
Jake Oettinger has quietly become one of the best goaltenders in the league, posting several fantastic seasons already in his young career. Just 26, the Lakeville, Minnesota native had a .909 SV% with a 2.59 GAA, to go along with 14.3 GSAA. He also became the Stars’ postseason hero at times, though he still wasn’t enough to get them into the Stanley Cup Final. Entering the first season of the eight-year, $66 million extension he signed back in October of 2024, he will have a chance not only to get the Stars to the finish line, but also to represent the United States at the Olympics. He might have a tough time seeing the ice in Italy given that his teammate is yet to come on this list, but Oettinger has al the tools to get recognized as the besst goalie in the world before his career is done.
3) Filip Gustavsson: Minnesota Wild
Previous Rank: 3
The last three seasons have been quite a roller coaster for Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild. During the 2022-23 season, he looked unbeatable, managing an unbelievable 31.3 GSAA in 37 starts while splitting time with Marc-André Fleury. The 2023-24 season was a disaster, with Gustavsson carrying a .899 SV% and minus-5 GSAA. So which version was the real Gustavsson?
The 27-year-old answered that question emphatically last season, finishing with a .914 SV%, 2.56 GAA, .a towering .690 QS%, and 23.4 GSAA. The Wild still have questions about their future, with top goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt waiting in the wings to potentially replace Gustavsson. But that ascension becomes more and more difficult to imagine with Gustavsson playing the way he’s playing.
2) Andrei Vasilevskiy: Tampa Bay Lightning
Previous Rank: 2
The king is back. Andrei Vasilevskiy led the NHL in wins five seasons in a row, won back-to-back Stanley Cups, and took his team to three Stanley Cup Finals in a row. For many seasons, he was the unquestioned best goaltender in the world. Then he hit a roadblock in the 2023-24 season, recovering from a major injury, and he had his first poor season since his sophomore campaign, finishing with minus-5.2 GSAA and just a .900 SV%.
If there was any concern that the towering Russian might be entering a long-term decline, he put those to rest last season, returning to top form. He finished with a .921 SV%, a 2.18 GAA, and an incredible 35.8 GSAA. Few goalies have ever built the resume that Vasilevskiy has, and he’s still just 31 years old. If he continues to play this well, there’s no telling the legacy he’ll have when he retires, but it will begin with a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame and a statue outside the newly named Benchmark International Arena in Tampa.
1) Connor Hellebuyck: Winnipeg Jets
Previous Rank: 1
When you pull up Connor Hellebuyck’s stats page on Hockey-Reference, your eyes are instantly drawn to a sea of bold numbers, marking the times he’s led the league in a category. Whether it’s the four straight seasons he led the league in shots against and saves, the five total seasons he’s led the league in games played, his two times (counting last season) as the wins leader, or his four seasons (including 2024-25) at the top of the list in goalie point shares (GPS), Hellebuyck has been one of the best goaltenders in the league for his entire career.
It’s difficult to provide enough superlatives for a goalie who has also led the league two straight seasons in GSAA, with 73.4 in that time. Last season, he became the first goaltender since Carey Price to capture the Hart Trophy, a fitting tribute to a goaltender who has been nonpareil over the last several seasons. He also became the first netminder to claim back-to-back Vezina Trophies since Martin Brodeur in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Yes, Hellebuyck has had his struggles in the playoffs. They are incredibly well-documented. And last postseason was a total disaster. But it simply isn’t enough to dethrone him as the top goaltender in the world. He is the NHL’s gold standard between the pipes. And in a few months, he’ll be looking to chase gold as the lead goalie for Team U.S.A. in Italy.
What Do You Think?
Who did we get right? Who did we get wrong? Who is going to surprise us this season? Like we said at the start, goaltending is fickle by its very nature, and these numbers are a momentary snapshot of years-long fight to be the top goaltender in the league. We’ll see who rises and falls this season, which names climb like Wolf, and which ones fall like Swayman. And we’ll see which of these goaltenders lifts the 2025-26 Vezina Trophy and the Stanley Cup when all is said and done.
