The top 5 NHL goaltenders of 2025

With the final days of 2025 ahead, what better way to celebrate the year than by highlighting some of the best performances that we’ve witnessed in the calendar year?

Over these last few days of the year, I’ll look at the best players at all five positions (goaltender, defense, right wing, left wing, and center) from 2025, which includes the January to April months of the 2024-25 season, the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the October to December months in the 2025-26 season, as well as some consideration from the 4 Nations Face-Off.

First up is the goaltenders. In an Olympic season where goaltending is a hot topic for Canada, more Canadians represented the top five than you’d expect to. Perhaps the gap to the United States isn’t nearly as bad as once thought.

First, a few honorable mentions:

Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers – If I were going off of performance, Bobrovsky would have been outside of the top 10. He has struggled significantly this season, and even in the playoffs, he was good but not overly impactful in the Panthers’ second-straight Stanley Cup win. But hardware certainly strengthens his case for an honorable mention, and he was excellent from January to April, when the Panthers’ playoff spot wasn’t fully secured in 2024-25.

Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers – Shesterkin himself was excellent in 2025. From January to April last season, he was sixth in 5v5 goals saved above expected. From October to December this season, he’s eighth. But the team in front of him has let him down, playing horribly, missing the playoffs last season and struggling to score at times (especially at home) this season, so that’s hurt his standing just enough to end up on the outside of the top five after finishing second last year.

Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning – There were plenty of concerns surrounding Vasilevskiy after a back surgery and a poor performance in the 2023-24 season, with many wondering if we’d seen the end of his prime. He silenced the doubters in the 2024-25 season as a Vezina finalist, and outside of a slow start this season, he’s been excellent on a Lightning team that looks like the team that won back-to-back Cups. However, that slow start, plus a horrid performance in the playoffs, leaves him just outside of the top five.

5. Spencer Knight, Florida Panthers/Chicago Blackhawks

Regular Season: 47 GP, .912 Sv%, 24.84 5v5 GSAx, 3 SO
Playoffs: N/A

Talk about a win/win trade. When the Blackhawks dealt Seth Jones to the Panthers, that gave Florida the offensive defenseman they needed in their top four after losing Brandon Montour the prior summer, and it won them a Stanley Cup. In return, one of the pieces the Blackhawks received was Knight, and his performance since arriving in Chicago has made him the goaltender of the future they desperately needed.

Knight already had an excellent performance for the Blackhawks down the stretch after the deadline, with a 4.63 5v5 GSAx. But how he’s played to start the 2025-26 season is what really put him in the top five, as his 12.47 5v5 GSAx is sixth in the league. Considering he’s playing behind a Blackhawks team that has allowed the third-most 5v5 expected goals against per 60 and had them hovering around a playoff spot for part of the season, there’s a reason why he’s a dark horse candidate for the U.S. Olympic team.

4. Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders

Regular Season: 58 GP, .913 Sv%, 26.65 5v5 GSAx, 6 SO
Playoffs: N/A

For a brief moment, it looked like Sorokin’s prime was going to end as soon as it began. The netminder established himself as one of the game’s best almost immediately after coming over from Russia, but the 2023-24 season saw a slight dip in his performance, and for the early part of the 2024-25 season, it was even worse. But as the calendar flipped, he saw a return to form: even after the Islanders sputtered out of the playoff race, Sorokin was stringing together good games with an 11.73 5v5 GSAx.

While Matthew Schaefer has caught all of the headlines for the Islanders this season (and deservedly so), Sorokin’s play has also played a significant part in New York’s third-place position in the Metropolitan Division. With a 15.84 5v5 GSAx, he sits behind only Filip Gustavsson and Logan Thompson in that stat this season, and has elevated a team that only has 46.99% of the 5v5 expected goals this season into the playoffs. The reports of Sorokin’s demise appear to be greatly exaggerated.

3. Darcy Kuemper, Los Angeles Kings

Regular Season: 56 GP, .924 Sv%, 32.36 5v5 GSAx, 6 SO, Vezina finalist
Playoffs: 6 GP, .889 Sv%, 3.17 5v5 GSAx

It’s hard to believe that Kuemper was dealt to the Kings as a salary cap dump only 18 months ago. The Capitals aren’t shaking their heads in regret with Pierre-Luc Dubois also playing well when he’s healthy (and Washington also has a goalie on this list, so they aren’t lacking there either). But Kuemper’s play since the trade makes it hard to believe that no other team wanted to take a flyer on him as a positive asset. Regardless, the Kings are reaping the rewards.

Perhaps Kuemper needed a good defensive system to find his comfort zone again, and the Kings are a marriage made in heaven for that, with a 2.23 xGA/60 since the netminder has joined the team. Los Angeles had been looking for even league-average goaltending to give them stability that they haven’t had since the prime days of Jonathan Quick. Still, Kuemper has gone above and beyond with his performance, finishing the 2024-25 season as a Vezina finalist. Some expected a return to Earth this season, but he’s put up similar numbers yet again. His playoff performance wasn’t impressive, but when have the Kings performed well against the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs? At 35 years old, age will be a concern, but for the time being, he’s been better than advertised for the Kings.

2. Logan Thompson, Washington Capitals

Regular Season: 49 GP, .914 Sv%, 30.36 5v5 GSAx, 4 SO
Playoffs: 10 GP, .917 Sv%, 6.59 5v5 GSAx

Thompson may not be good enough for Canada’s Olympic team, but he’s good enough to finish second on our best goalies list of 2025. He was always a solid goalie while with the Vegas Golden Knights, and probably should have gotten a larger share of the minutes with that team, but it wasn’t until the Capitals took a flyer on him in the 2024 offseason that he became a household name. Thompson took the starting goalie job for himself in the 2024-25 season, and even as his numbers faltered a little bit in the second half of the season, he elevated his play for the Caps in the playoffs.

Just when you thought Thompson couldn’t get any better, he stepped up his play even more so far in the 2025-26 season. With a .924 SV% and 21.83 5v5 GSAx, he’s shown up anyone who thought the 2024-25 season was an anomaly. With Hellebuyck’s injury sidelining him in the Vezina Trophy conversation for the time being, Thompson is one of the frontrunners. If Doug Armstrong, Pete DeBoer and company turn to other options in net for Canada because he wasn’t liked in Vegas, that could prove to be a costly mistake, especially when their biggest rival will have our number one pick at the other end of the ice…

1. Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets

Regular Season: 52 GP, .917 Sv%, x 5v5 GSAx, 3 SO, Vezina, Hart
Playoffs: 13 GP, .866 Sv%, -2.28 5v5 GSAx, 2 SO

Was there ever any doubt? *looks at Hellebuyck’s recent playoff performances* Ok, maybe there was some doubt. But after the year that Hellebuyck had in 2024 earned him the number one spot one on last year’s list, I couldn’t deny him the top spot again after he somehow got even better. Sure, he disappointed in the playoffs yet again, and an injury in the early parts of the 2025-26 season put him behind the eight-ball in the Vezina race. But the rest of his record in 2025 was spotless, and it gets him number one again this year.

Hellebuyck continued to show how valuable he is to the Jets this season. In 2024-25, he was elevating a solid playoff team into a Presidents’ Trophy winner. In 2025-26, he turned a horrible defensive team (2.91 5v5 xGA/60) into a playoff team. His injury only further cemented his importance to the team, as Winnipeg went 2-8-1 during his absence, and has gone 13-9-2 when he’s healthy. Performances like this year are what earned him his third Vezina Trophy and his first Hart Trophy, an award combo that makes it hard to pick anyone else here. And then there was the 4 Nations Face-Off, where he was unbeatable… at least until the championship game.

All advanced stats courtesy of Evolving Hockey.

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