NHL Top Players: Top 10 Goalies
NHL Network reveals best of current crop
© Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images and Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
From Stanley Cup champions to Vezina Trophy winners to All-Stars, the NHL has many great goalies. NHL Network producers and analysts on Thursday revealed their list of the top 10 goalies in the League right now in the first of a nine-part series. Here is the list:
10. Linus Ullmark, Ottawa Senators
Ullmark, who was traded to the Senators from the Boston Bruins on June 24, was 22-10-7 with a 2.57 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and two shutouts in 40 regular-season games (39 starts) for the Bruins last season. This came one season after he won the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL; he went 40-6-1, tied Alexandar Georgiev of the Colorado Avalanche for the League lead in wins, and finished first in GAA (1.89) and save percentage (.938) in 49 games (48 starts). The 31-year-old leads the NHL in save percentage (.924) and is second in GAA (2.28; Frederik Andersen, Carolina Hurricanes, 2.22) over the past three seasons among goalies to play at least 50 games.
Senators’ Linus Ullmark ranked 10th best goaltender
9. Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators
Saros has won at least 33 games each of the past three seasons, going 35-24-5 with a 2.86 GAA, .906 save percentage and three shutouts in 64 games last season. The 29-year-old led goalies in games played last season, faced the most shots (1,845) and made the most saves (1,672). With 106 wins over the past three seasons, he ranks second behind Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers in that span (109). Saros finished fifth in Vezina voting last season and has finished in the top six each of the past four seasons.
Predators’ Juuse Saros ranked as 9th best goaltender
8. Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars
Oettinger was 35-14-4 with a 2.72 GAA, .905 save percentage and three shutouts in 54 games (53 starts) last season and helped Dallas reach the Western Conference Final for the second straight season. The 25-year-old had 37 wins in 2022-23 and 30 in 2021-22. Oettinger has 20 playoff wins the past two seasons, ranking second behind Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers (28).
Stars’ Jake Oettinger ranked as 8th best goaltender
7. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers
Last season was one to remember for Bobrovsky, who finished third in Vezina voting after going 36-17-4 with a 2.37 GAA, .915 save percentage and a League-high tying six shutouts in 58 games. Among goalies to play at least 25 games, the 35-year-old was third in GAA and tied with Ullmark for seventh in save percentage. He also allowed two goals or fewer in 32 starts. Bobrovsky helped the Panthers to a Stanley Cup championship, winning all 16 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to go with a 2.32 GAA, .906 save percentage and two shutouts.
Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky ranked as 7th best goalie
6. Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks
Demko (35-14-2, 2.45 GAA, .918 save percentage, five shutouts in 51 games) tied Saros and Oettinger for sixth in wins and finished fifth in GAA among goalies to play at least 25 games. He also was leading the NHL in wins when he sustained a knee injury March 9 that sidelined him for 14 games. Despite missing time, he finished as the runner-up for the Vezina, won by Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets. The 28-year-old also helped the Canucks win the Pacific Division, finish with 109 points — 26 more than in 2022-23 — and allow 2.70 goals per game, tied with the Bruins for the fifth-fewest.
Canucks’ Thatcher Demko ranked as 6th best goalie
5. Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders
Despite having the highest GAA (3.01) and lowest save percentage (.909) of his NHL career last season, Sorokin was the Islanders’ best player and a big reason they qualified for the playoffs; the 29-year-old was 25-19-12 with two shutouts in 56 games (55 starts). He leads the NHL with 18 shutouts since entering the League in the 2020-21 season and is tied for third with a .919 save percentage in that span among goalies to play at least 50 games (Ullmark, .923; Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers, .920).
4. Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins
Swayman was one of the top goalies in the League last season despite not being a full-time starter, having split games with Ullmark. He was 25-10-8 with a 2.53 GAA, .916 save percentage and three shutouts in 44 games (43 starts) and is 79-33-15 in his NHL career. The 25-year-old has a 2.34 GAA since entering the NHL in 2020-21, second behind Ullmark (2.32) among goalies to play at least 50 games.
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Vasilevskiy, who was the No. 1-ranked goalie on this list each of the past five years, won 30 games last season, the seventh straight time he’s won at least that many. He was 30-20-2 with a 2.90 GAA, .900 save percentage and two shutouts in 52 games after being sidelined for the first 20 games of the season because of offseason back surgery. The 30-year-old won the Vezina in 2019 and has finished in the top five in voting in five of the past seven seasons. He leads the NHL with 286 wins since 2015-16. Vasilevskiy helped the Lightning win the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons, playing every minute in the 2020 and 2021 playoffs. He was 16-7 with a 1.90 GAA, .937 save percentage and five shutouts in 23 games to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2021.
2. Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
The reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Hellebuyck went 37-19-4 with a 2.39 GAA with a .921 save percentage and five shutouts in 60 games last season. He ranked second in the NHL in wins (Georgiev, 38). Among goalies to play at least 25 games, he was second in save percentage (Anthony Stolarz, Panthers, .925) and fourth in GAA. He also made the second-most saves overall (1,656), behind Saros. Hellebuyck won the William M. Jennings Trophy, presented annually to the goalies who play a minimum of 25 games for the team allowing the fewest goals during the regular season. Winnipeg allowed an NHL-low 199 goals (including shootout-deciding goals) and finished second in the Central Division (52-24-6). The 31-year-old also won the Vezina in 2020 and has been a finalist four times in the past seven seasons.
1. Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers
After ranking No. 2 on the list last year, Shesterkin moves into the top spot. The 28-year-old was 36-17-2 with a 2.58 GAA, .913 save percentage and four shutouts in 55 games last season and was among the best players in the postseason, finishing with a 2.34 GAA and .927 save percentage in 16 games. Shesterkin leads the NHL with 109 wins over the past three seasons and is tied with Hellebuyck for second in shutouts with 13 in that span, behind Sorokin (15). He won the Vezina in 2022, when he also was a finalist for the Hart Trophy, awarded to the NHL MVP. Shesterkin is 135-59-17 with a 2.43 GAA, .921 save percentage and 15 shutouts in 213 regular-season games (208 starts).