What do Filip Gustafsson, Ilya Samsonov, Stuart Skinner and Addin Hill have in common? Each was in the top half of the NHL in goals saved above average per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 last season. was ranked. Each finished the 2022-23 season as the team’s clear starting netminder. And no one started the season as No. 1.
Hockey goaltending is perhaps the most volatile position in major professional sports. There’s a reason why there have been six consecutive first-time Vezina Trophy winners. Being a good goalie doesn’t grow on trees per se. That means there are only 32 starting spots in the world’s top leagues, but 33 players can play.rd or 43rd or 53rd The best netminder on the planet is still great.
Therefore, we can expect to see more goalie usurpers in the NHL’s crease this season. Which one has the best chance of stealing your opponent’s work? List these names in alphabetical order.
Jack Campbell, Edmonton Oilers
Will the usurper be the usurper this season? The Oilers signed Campbell to a five-year, $25 million contract in the summer of 2022, but turned to Skinner, a rookie last year, as Campbell struggled under the weight of expectations. Skinner started 48 games and posted a .913 save percentage, which was second in the league. Calder Trophy voting. Momentum began to shift when Skinner was pulled four times in 12 starts by coach Jay Woodcroft in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, posting a below-average 0.883 SV% and averaging 6.9 saves. It was a time when I was struggling. The change continued into this fall’s preseason, when Campbell posted a .971 SV%, and Woodcroft declared the net an open contest. So far in 2023-24, the Oilers have alternated starting roles between the two. Each struggled in their first appearances, but Campbell shined in Tuesday’s win over the Nashville Predators. The Oilers weren’t going to completely hold off on a $5 million annual investment, so it was expected that the hot hand situation would play out throughout the year.
Lucas Dostal, Anaheim Ducks
Remember when John Gibson regularly appeared in “world’s best goalkeeper” discussions? It feels like a long time ago. He hasn’t been a league-average goaltender since the 2018-19 season. The eight-year extension he signed in 2018 at a $6.4 million AAV went down the drain, making his contract one of the most difficult to trade in the league, with word in the offseason that he wanted to be released. This creates an annual news cycle in which no team catches on. And his camp has to save face for him by insisting he wants to remain a Duck.
The Ducks will have four more years with Gibson, but that doesn’t mean they need to keep him as a big starter. No goaltender has faced a more difficult task over the past three years, but Gibson easily leads the NHL in expected goals while playing against a busy Ducks D-corps in front of him. , which seems to have exhausted him. For him, just keeping his save percentage above .900 is a yearly battle.
But do you know the statistics on workload difficulty? I lied. One goalie faces an even tougher workload with his xGA 60 base, if you include only goaltenders in the NHL who have played more than 20 games. It’s Gibson’s teammate Lucas his Dostal. Despite hitting an NHL-high 36.22 points per 60 at 5-on-5 in his first 23 NHL games, Dostal had 0.15 goals saved. On top of that Average of 60 points, scored within 71 pointscent percentile. Dostal, a Czech import, is the Ducks’ top puck-stopping prospect and earned the full backup job in camp after honing his skills in the AHL with small NHL stints sprinkled in over the past few seasons. When the Ducks paid big money for veterans Radko Gudas and Alex Killorn this summer, GM Pat Verbeek sent a message that he wanted his rebuilding team to start moving up. The 23-year-old Dostal could give him a chance to win not only in the future but also in the present.
Joel Hofer, St. Louis Blues
If you map Jordan Binnington’s save percentages since the 2018-19 season, when he won an incredible Stanley Cup as a rookie, it’s like staring at a slide of .927, .912, .910. 901, .894. The mercurial puck-stopper has struggled to maintain his level of play and composure as his career has progressed, and it’s no wonder the Blues team in front of him has looked weaker defensively each year. It can’t be helped.
Two seasons ago, Binnington lost the No. 1 spot to the in-form Ville Husso, but regained the No. 1 spot during the playoffs. Husso’s temporary appointment is a reminder that the Blues, led by general manager Doug Armstrong and coach Craig Berube, are a meritocracy. When Husso was hot, they handed over the keys without any hesitation. Heck, even Binnington was a usurper when he was a rookie, stealing the net from Jake Allen. So if young Joel Hofer continues to show promise, we can’t rule out the Blues shifting to him. He has a big frame at 6 feet 5 inches and excelled in AHL Springfield and last year’s World Championship with Canada. Hofer also outperformed Binnington in a six-game NHL sample last season. Binnington was rated as one of the worst starting netminders in the league a year ago, if not the worst. The Blues are hoping to get back to the playoffs this season, and if Hofer continues to perform well in his spot start, his days may be short.
Akira Schmidt, New Jersey Devils
Schmidt technically already usurped Devils starter Vitek Vanecek last spring. After Vanecek struggled early in the series against the New York Rangers, Schmidt parachuted in and played a grueling five-game series, posting a 4-1 record, two shutouts, and a .951 SV%. However, he didn’t perform as well in Game 2, when New Jersey lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, opening the door for Vanecek to re-emerge as the team’s starter for the 2023-24 season and beyond. As it turns out, Vanecek had a very solid performance in his first regular season after being traded to the Devils, finishing in the top 10 in the league in wins and points average. Although his 1A job still feels like a loss to him, Schmidt graduated from prospect because he needs more AHL reps to become a legitimate 1B and needs to threaten Vanecek’s playing time. . He has posted a .921 SV% in 25 regular season games (including 19 starts) since the beginning of last season.
Joseph Wall, Toronto Maple Leafs
Ilya Samsonov quietly overtook Matt Murray and actually posted top-10 goalie numbers last season. seriously. Samsonov ranked among the league leaders in GSAA/60 and posted a career-high .919 SV%. But after a shaky and inconsistent postseason, he left a strange aftertaste and ended up going to arbitration, where he received a one-year contract that led to free agency. That meant little confidence from new general manager Brad Treliving and the Leafs team.
Meanwhile, Woll, long considered Toronto’s best goaltender, was a star at the AHL level last year and has since looked like a star at the NHL level, posting a 6-1 record with a .932 SV%. . He also relieved the injured Samsonov in Game 2 of the playoffs and looked calm, confident and athletic. Earlier this season, Wal looked smoother in the crease than Samsonov. It feels like it’s only a matter of time before the 1A/1B roles are reversed and Wal eventually starts heading toward a playoff starter position.
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