By Alexander Monaghan
Editor-in-chief
As you all know, there are 30 NHL starting goalies in the League. Of those 30, about five or 10 backups have a legitimate shot at overthrowing their counterpart. While we normally discuss starting goalie controversies on Saturdays, that will not be our focus today. We want to know: Who are the elite starting goalies in the NHL? Below (in no particular order) are my top five, please feel free to add yours to the comments or tell me how dumb my choices are.
Henrik Lundqvist
‘King Henry’ hit the ground running this season, jumping out to an excellent 2.18 GAA and .932 SV%. Over his first six NHL seasons, he posted at least 30 wins while posting no higher than a 2.43 GAA and no lower than a .912 save percentage. In his first three seasons he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy but his inability to win 40+ games likely hindered his chances of winning the position’s top prize. He not only deserves discussion as a top starting goalie because of his supporting cast, he’s elite in spite of the team surrounding him. If he wore a Detroit Red Wings sweater, he probably would have three Stanley Cups by now.
Tim Thomas
Two Vezina Trophies in three seasons defines elite. The
newly-minted DIGR statistic granted Thomas the elite status as well. While his remaining time may be shortlived at age 37, who are we to downplay his current achievements? His Boston Bruins have won all of four games over their 11 chances with Thomas winning every one of them. His counting stats of 2.25 GAA and .924 SV% may not lead the League but they remain solid nonetheless. Any contender would be lucky to have a warrior like Thomas manning the pipes both in the stretch run and in the playoffs.
Ryan Miller
Miller was hurt most of last season but still managed to play 66 games. When the Buffalo Sabres looked out of the playoff picture in December, he helped carry his team back to respectability and almost stole the first round away from the Philadelphia Flyers. In addition, he sported one of the more dominating seasons in the post-lockout era back in 2009-2010, finishing the year with 41 wins, a 2.22 GAA and .929 SV%. He also sandwiched a captivating Olympic performance in between which saw Team USA lose in overtime against the heavily favored Team Canada. The Sabres are in excellent position to take their Division with Miller at the helm, expect yet another inspiring performance this season.
Pekka Rinne
When the Nashville Predators re-signed Rinne earlier this week, they made a statement to the rest of their team: he’s their MVP. The only reason why the Kempele, Finland native failed to win the Vezina Trophy last season was due to Thomas’s record-breaking season. This season he continues to allow a stingy amount of goals, posting a 2.28 GAA, .929 SV% and League-leading three shutouts. As the only Predator to win a playoff series, Rinne is a keeper in Smashville. In fantasy hockey he also should be regarded as a high-end keeper.
Jonathan Quick
The wildcard on my list but definitely a player who deserves some merit. Quick posted three consecutive shutouts earlier in the season, becoming the first netminder to accomplish such a feat since Brian Boucher posted five consecutive blanks. In the preseason, I
touched on some outliers that make him more than a stopgap in Los Angeles. If the Los Angeles Kings were to move him in favor of the unproven Jonathan Bernier, they would be making a big mistake. Furthermore, he places in the top five in wins, shutouts, goals against and save percentage. If you took him the third-fifth round, you should be one very happy fantasy hockey owner.
Honorable Mentions: Roberto Luongo, Carey Price, Marc-Andre Fleury, Tomas Vokoun, Ilya Bryzgalov
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Since this is a discussion, we end our feature with a vote.
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We hope you enjoyed our latest as much as we enjoyed writing it. If there are glaring omissions let your voice be heard in the comments. Regardless, make sure to take all of the advice in and continue to check our renowned starting goalies section, which is updated all day until game time and follow us on Twitter @DailyFaceoff
