With respect to some hardcore analysts, it’s more or less accepted hockey fact that goaltending is as unpredictable as it is critical. And, just like 1999 Dominik Hasek in the blue paint, goalies are once again all over the place this season.
Really, the idea that goaltending is as knowable as the wind might be blowing to another level in 2024-25.
Connor Hellebuyck — increasingly, the gold standard for puck-stopping on Earth — and Jacob Markstrom are the only goalies with top-10 salary cap hits who also have top-10 save percentages: Hellebuyck is first (.929) and Markstrom is 10th (.913).
No. 2 in save percentage among goalies with at least 15 games this season is currently injured Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz (.927). He was a backup last year and inked a modest two-year free agent deal in the summer.
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Darcy Kuemper (.923) is next up. He’s a 34-year-old who was basically in a “Give me your problem for my problem” swap involving the Los Angeles Kings and Pierre-Luc Dubois in the summer that’s working out wonderfully for everybody.
The guy the Washington Capitals acquired to help replace Kuemper, Logan Thompson, has the fourth-best save percentage in the NHL at .921. He was had for a song because the Vegas Golden Knights wanted his $767,000 cap hit off the books ahead of the final year in his contract. Spoiler alert: the pending-UFA’s salary is going to be a whole lot higher next October.
Rounding out the top 5 is Colorado’s Mackenzie Blackwood, a goalie New Jersey and San Jose were both happy to move on from in the past year-and-a-half. Blackwood (.920) has been in Denver less than two months and has a chance to become one of the most critical in-season acquisitions in some time. Shades of Miikka Kiprusoff to Calgary from San Jose in the season Calgary went to the 2004 Stanley Cup final? Avs fans hope so.
We better watch ourselves, though, because the moment you start making goalie-related predictions is also the precise time you expose yourself to looking like an idiot. Instead, let’s just use this week’s power rankings to explore the current — and slightly long-term — crease situation for all 32 clubs.
1. Washington Capitals (29-10-5) The Capitals’ all-lefty battery of Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren was one of the best tandems going before Lindgren got injured last week. We’ll see how an increased workload does or does not affect Thompson. And, of course, there’s long-term intrigue here because both goalies can become UFAs in the summer.
2. Winnipeg Jets (30-12-3) Connor Hellebuyck has used the last season-and-a-half to cement himself as the gold standard of goaltending. He’s cruising toward a third career Vezina and will be in the Hart conversation again, as he was in 2024. The only goalies in the past 45 years with three Vezinas on their resume are Dominik Hasek (six), Martin Brodeur (four) and Patrick Roy (three).
3. Edmonton Oilers (28-13-3) The Oilers are kind of like an undersized prospect who has out-of-this-world skill, but is ranked as a late first-rounder due to a lack of size. Inevitably, there’s the conversation about how, if the prospect was six-foot-two, he’d be going first overall. If the Oilers had high-end goaltending, everyone else in the league would be playing for second place. But — fair or not — until Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard show they can take this team all the way, questions will linger.
4. Vegas Golden Knights (29-12-3) After a rough first five weeks or so, Adin Hill has — for the most part — been solid in Vegas. Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off goalie has flatlined a little in his past eight outings, posting a .902 save percentage. For a goalie on a one-year, $1.8-million deal, Ilya Samsonov has done his job as a backup. Both Hill and Samsonov can hit the open market in July.
5. Dallas Stars (28-14-1) The Stars are finally cooking and, not surprisingly, Jake Oetinger is a part of that. The goalie who inked a monster eight-year, $66-million extension earlier this season has a .930 SP in his past six outings. His play needs to stay at that level — or close to it — to justify that money and, clearly, the Stars believe in his ability. Casey DeSmith has been a quality No. 2 with a .913 SP on the year, one point better than Oettinger’s overall mark of .912.
6. Los Angeles Kings (24-12-5) Since returning from an injury on Dec. 7, Darcy Kuemper has a spectacular .940 mark. Nobody who’s played 10 games in that time has a better SP. Kuemper’s bugaboo has always been health and he’s signed at a $5.25-million cap hit for two more years through his age-36 season. If you’re the Kings, though, you’re just hoping his healthy stretches last as long as possible and look like the way he’s playing now.
7. Colorado Avalanche (27-17-1) How often do you see a team completely change its battery in-season? First, the Avs acquired Scott Wedgewood from the Preds in a goalie swap that sent Justus Annunen to Nashville. Then, they made the big move, getting Mackenzie Blackwood from San Jose on Dec. 9 for a package that included goalie Alexandar Georgiev. Both Wedgewood and Blackwood have been terrific. Since the latter’s first game with the club, the Avs have the third-best all-situations SP (.921) in the league.
8. Toronto Maple Leafs (27-16-2) It feels like Leaf fans have already run the full gamut of emotions with their goalies, from “These guys are the best!” to “I knew he’d get hurt!” Anthony Stolarz and his .927 save percentage was a huge story before having knee surgery in December. Joseph Woll — not exactly an ironman himself — has done well, and sometimes very well, holding the fort. The goal for Toronto is finding a way to have both guys healthy and rested for Game 1 of the playoffs so it can tap the goalie with the hot hand and change course fast if Option No. 1 falters.
9. Minnesota Wild (27-14-4) Filip Gustavsson, who was on the trade market last summer, is sixth in Moneypuck’s goals save above expected (12.8). Though he’s scuffled a bit of late, it’s a wonderful surprise story for the Wild. Meanwhile, Marc-Andre Fleury — the oldest player in the NHL — is having a strong farewell season as a backup, posting a .910 SP in 14 outings. He’s one of the best No. 2s in the league.
10. Carolina Hurricanes (26-16-3) And now, we arrive at the “time is a flat circle” portion of this exercise. It’s not that the Hurricanes never get good goaltending; it’s just that they never get it for that long and their crease situation feels perpetually unsettled. Once again, Frederik Andersen has a great save percentage when he plays (.932), which is not much of the time. Pyotr Kochetkov is fine, but has yet to make the leap many anticipated for him. Since the start of last season, six goalies have suited up for the Hurricanes.
11. Florida Panthers (26-16-3) It really feels like the most important development for the Panthers crease would be Spencer Knight showing he can shoulder a significant workload. He’s got a .913 SP in his past four outings, so maybe that’s starting to be the case. Regardless, Florida needs 36-year-old Sergei Bobrovsky — a Vezina finalist last year, but an .899 netminder today — as rested as possible for the post-season.
12. New Jersey Devils (26-15-5) The Devils had clearly identified Jacob Markstrom as their man heading into the off-season — New Jersey tried to get him before last year’s deadline — and the move to acquire the large Swede is paying off. Markstrom, who turns 35 in a couple weeks, is fifth in goals save above expected this season (14.1).
13. Tampa Bay Lightning (23-16-3) Andrei Vasilevskiy is having a bit of a bounce-back campaign after the previous season began with him on the shelf thanks to back surgery. His pedigree and resume still give him a lot of grace, but it’s worth noting he’s a .912 goalie who hasn’t finished with a save percentage higher than .915 since playing 42 games in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.
14. Calgary Flames (21-15-7) Dustin Wolf is making good on the promise he showed in the AHL, having the kind of season that could end with him being a finalist for the Calder Trophy. He’s also carrying the torch for “small” goalies; At six feet tall, only Juuse Saros (five-foot-11) is listed as shorter than Wolf.
15. Columbus Blue Jackets (21-17-6) It’s rare a team projected to be a bottom-feeder contends for a playoff spot without good goaltending, but that’s what’s happening in Columbus. The Jackets have an .880 all-situations SP, the second-worst mark in the league.
16. Ottawa Senators (22-18-3) Leevi Merilainen is fast becoming the goaltending story of 2025. In three starts in 2025, the 22-year-old has a .942 SP, which ranks behind only Darcy Kuemper (.974) and Marc-Andre Fleury (.952) for goalies with at least three games played in that time. It may be no exaggeration to say Merilainen saved the Sens’ season by backstopping them to three straight wins on the heels of a four-game losing streak while Linus Ullmark was injured. Given how well Ullmark was playing before getting hurt, the hope in Ottawa has to be that the club has found both a great starter and strong backup this season.
17. Montreal Canadiens (21-18-4) Sam Montembeault is in Year 3 of being a quality NHL goalie. His selection to Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off squad validates his status as a No. 1 guy who was a waiver claim at the start of the 2021-22 season. Where Cayden Primeau floundered in the backup role, Jakub Dobes has been sensational since being called up from the AHL at Christmas, posting a 3-0-0 record and .959 SP in three road victories over heavyweights Florida, Colorado and Washington. Welcome to the show, kid!
18. Detroit Red Wings (20-19-4) The Wings have had three goalies — Alex Lyon, Cam Talbot and Ville Husso — start at least six games since Dec. 1, and the best SP among them is Lyon’s .885. Lyon was playing well since coach Todd McLellan took over after Christmas, but in keeping with an all-too-familiar theme for the 32-year-old, he’s back on the shelf with an upper-body ailment.
19. Vancouver Canucks (19-14-10) It’s a testament to how much other noise there is in the market that Thatcher Demko’s injury — he’s played just eight games this season — has, if not flown under the radar, not received the amount of ink three other stories have. It will be fascinating to see how things play out for him and the team in the next 18 months before he’s eligible to become a UFA at age 30 in 2026. Kevin Lankinen has done as much as anyone could have hoped for and more, posting a .903 SP in 29 starts for Vancouver after being signed as goalie insurance at the start of training camp.
20. New York Rangers (20-20-3) Igor Shesterkin will have the highest cap hit of any goalie in NHL history beginning next October, at $11.5 million. (By the way, next season will be the final one this year’s highest goalie hit — the $10. 5 million belonging to ostensibly retired Carey Price — will be on an NHL team’s books.) Shesterkin hasn’t finished with an SP above .916 since winning the Vezina and finishing third for the Hart in 2021-22. He was nails in the second half for the Rangers last year and will have to soar once again through April to get New York’s season back on track.
21. Boston Bruins (22-19-5) Oh, how good the Bruins had it. The duo of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman was the envy of the league until something had to give, and that something was Ullmark being traded to the Senators, a team Boston is currently scrapping it out with for a playoff spot. Swayman then had a drawn-out negotiation for a new contract and has not been the stopper Boston needs him to be. That said, he’s young, reasonably battle-tested and nobody questions his ability. It’s time to put together 12 good weeks of goaltending, though.
22. St. Louis Blues (21-20-4) We’ve all sort of assumed Jordan Binnington will be the default starter for Canada at the 4 Nations, but neither his traditional nor his underlying numbers suggest he should be handed anything. Joel Hofer is only 24 and the Blues must hope he can make a leap in the next year or so.
23. Philadelphia Flyers (19-20-6) Meet the team with the worst all-situations SP in the league (.871). None of Samuel Ersson (.871), Aleksei Kolosov (.847) or Ivan Fedotov (.870) have been able to get it done.
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25. New York Islanders (17-19-7) Many of us assumed Ilya Sorokin, who’s been dinged-up this year, would rebound from the .908 SP he posted in 2023-24, but that hasn’t been the case. He’s at .902, a far cry from the .924 he posted through the first three years of his career. Marcus Hogberg is doing all he can to hold it down in the Isles crease, though it appears Sorokin will draw back in on Thursday night.
25. Anaheim Ducks (18-21-5) Last week we did our MVPs at the half for each squad and the only co-MVPs we allowed ourselves were John Gibson and Lukas Dostal. The veteran Gibson is third in goals save above expected/60 in the NHL among guys with 15 games and on-the-rise Dostal ranks fourth.
26. Pittsburgh Penguins (18-20-8) Tristan Jarry passed through waivers this week, which tells you all you need to know about the Pens’ goalie situation. Alex Nedeljkovic has the same .886 SP as Jarry, which is why promising youngster Joel Blomqvist is about to get a real rip in the NHL.
27. Nashville Predators (14-22-7) Juuse Saros hasn’t placed lower than sixth in Vezina voting in the past four seasons. He’s also played more games than any goalie (228) since the start of 2021-22, so if the Preds want this eight-year extension that kicks in next summer and takes Saros through his 30s to age well, they need to get him some rest. On that note, 24-year-old Justus Annunen has looked good since coming over from Colorado, posting a .923 SP in seven games. He also ensures Nashville is abiding by the little-known hockey law that dictates the Preds must, at all times, have an all-Finnish battery.
28. Buffalo Sabres (17-22-5) It really felt like Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was poised to become a reliable goalie this season. Like so many things in Buffalo, though, that’s just not exactly how it’s played out. The big Finn had a really strong second half last year, so let’s see if he can pull that off again.
29. Utah Hockey Club (18-18-7) Karel Vejmelka has done all he can shouldering a big load in the Utah HC crease this year. Connor Ingram has just returned to the team after an extended absence to be near his mother, who passed in December. For the sake of Ingram and everyone around him in Utah, let’s hope the second half is a good one for HC’s goalies.
30. Seattle Kraken (19-23-3) Don’t pin the Kraken’s struggles on Joey Daccord; he’s 10th in goals saved above expected this season and it feels like Seattle has no hope of climbing the standings unless he can stay healthy and busy.
31. San Jose Sharks (14-26-6) It’s all about hope in San Jose and 22-year-old Yaroslav Askarov — picked up from Nashville in the off-season to help with the ground-up rebuild — is providing that with a .917 SP in eight games.
32. Chicago Blackhawks (14-28-2) It’s easy to forget the Hawks hoped to avoid some of this misery by signing Laurent Brossoit in the off-season. However, two knee surgeries later, we still haven’t seen the 31-year-old play a game for Chicago and it’s unclear when that could happen. Even when Brossoit returns, it’s difficult to imagine he’ll swoop into the crease and play like the guy who posted a .927 SP in 34 games with Vegas and Winnipeg during the past two seasons.
