Best Goalie Nation in 2021?

Best Goalie Nation ATM?


  • Total voters
    150

User9992

Registered User
Feb 27, 2016
1,399
816
Which Nation has the best Goalies at this moment?

USA: Hellebuyck, Bishop, Gibson, Demko, Quick, Petersen, Oettinger, Knight, Swayman, Wolf etc.
Canada: Price, Fleury, Binnington, Kuemper, Smith, Jarry, Blackwood, Hart, Murray, DiPietro etc.
Russia: Vasilevskiy, Varlamov, Bobrovsky, Shestyorkin, Khudobin, Sorokin, Samsonov, Askarov etc.
Finland: Rask, Saros, Rinne, Lankinen, Koskinen, Korpisalo, Kähkönen, Raanta, Luukonen etc.
Sweden: Markstrom, Lehner, Ullmark, Gustavsson, Forsberg, Wallstedt etc.
Germany: Grubauer, Greiss, Niederberger, Treutle etc.
Czech Republic: Vanecek, Mrázek, Hrubec, Dostál, Rittich etc.
Slovakia: Halak, Huska, Tomek, Hudacek, Rybar etc.
Denmark: Andersen, Sogaard, Dahm etc.
Switzerland: Genoni, Berra, Descloux, Senn etc.
Latvia: Merzlikins, Kalnins, Kivlenieks etc.
 
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amnesiac

Space Oddity
Jul 10, 2010
13,599
7,362
Montreal
USA for me

Hellebuyck is top 5 in the league, Bishop is usually top 5-6 as well, Gibson has always said to be a top talent on a horrible team, Demko did well on a bad Nucks team, Petersen and Oettinger both did very well on their non playoff teams.

Vasi may be the best, but Varlamov doesnt have the numbers he put up without Trotz. Bob is crap, Shesterkin is very good but still young, Khudobin struggled this season, Samsonov was inconsistent, Sorokin looks great but again under Trotz....
 
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Bouboumaster

Registered User
Jul 4, 2014
9,506
7,263
Price + Fleury are pretty much two of the four Conn Smythe contenders right now, so Canada.

After Canada, USA and Russia. Both of them are stacked AF
 
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MardyBum

Registered User
Jul 4, 2012
16,368
16,341
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Russia edges out USA for me, though it's very close.

Demko and Nedelkjovic were both very good last year on top of Hellebuyck of course.

Russia certainly has the potential to make it "ainec" if the younger guys like Sorokin, Shesty etc play better.

Canada had a very good year but they're all so old haha.
 
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Alexander the Gr8

Registered User
May 2, 2013
31,602
12,666
Toronto
Price + Fleury are pretty much two of the four Conn Smythe contenders right now, so Canada.

After Canada, USA and Russia. Both of them are stacked AF

Well one could argue that Vasilevskiy is the best goaltender in the world and has been for 2 years now. After him there are many great young Russian goalies like Shesty and Sorokin.

There aren’t any good Canadian goaltenders after Price and Fleury anymore. Hart was atrocious this year, same as Murray and Holtby.
 
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Xspyrit

DJ Dorion
Jun 29, 2008
30,708
9,650
Montreal, Canada
Russia
USA
Canada vs Finland
Sweden
The rest


Well one could argue that Vasilevskiy is the best goaltender in the world and has been for 2 years now. After him there are many great young Russian goalies like Shesty and Sorokin.

There aren’t any good Canadian goaltenders after Price and Fleury anymore. Hart was atrocious this year, same as Murray and Holtby.

2 years? I'd say it's the 4th season in a row he has established himself among the elite (Vezina-3, Vezina-1, Vezina-3, Vezina-1?). And overall in those 4 seasons, he's surely been the best. Hellebuyck probably 2nd. Anyway, I personally have thought that Vasilevskiy was the best for more than 2 years. Maybe I was projecting a bit beause in 2016 I was already thinking he was going to be the best and for a long time.


Also, I haven't followed Hart/Flyers closely this season so I can't comment much but to Murray's defense, the Senators just couldn't defend at a NHL level on the road for a big chunk of the season, which totally destroyed Murray (and Hogberg) numbers. It was high slot galore, they were litterally gift wrapping ~3-4 goals per game with blown defensive coverage and turnovers in high danger areas. So goalies had to stand on their head to give less than 5-6 goals per game... lol

There was a lot of factors to explain that but not going deeply on it because it's another subject (50% roster turnover, many guys who hadn't play in 10+ months, no real training camp, 2nd year head coach, 3 rookies at important positions, several personnel issues by the GM/coach that progressively got fixed...)

When the team was finally "fixed" for the last ~20 games, Murray came back from injury and in 5 games had a 0.954 SV% with a 1.37 GAA before getting injured again

Murray SV% @ home all season : 0.909
Murray SV% @ road all season : 0.875

This home vs road trend was similar for the 5 goalies who played for Ottawa in 2021. Overall 0.915 SV% at home vs 0.876 SV% on the road... Crazy stat eh?

Murray didn't start the season very hot (actually, he was very good in the first 2 games vs Toronto), but his stats this year are totally misleading. There was some games he was playing very well and making several tough saves but was still giving up 5-6 goals. The Sens D-zone was freebies galore early. Who would have thought with defensive stalwarts like Erik Gudbranson, Josh Brown. 36 y/o Braydon Coburn and Mike Reilly? :sarcasm:
 
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Bouboumaster

Registered User
Jul 4, 2014
9,506
7,263
Well one could argue that Vasilevskiy is the best goaltender in the world and has been for 2 years now. After him there are many great young Russian goalies like Shesty and Sorokin.

There aren’t any good Canadian goaltenders after Price and Fleury anymore. Hart was atrocious this year, same as Murray and Holtby.


You only need one goalie at the time tho, and Canada's goalie is Price!
They lack depth, but their 2 goaltenders (Price/Fleury) are as Elite as a goaltender can be
 

Alexander the Gr8

Registered User
May 2, 2013
31,602
12,666
Toronto
Russia
USA
Canada vs Finland
Sweden
The rest




2 years? I'd say it's the 4th season in a row he has established himself among the elite (Vezina-3, Vezina-1, Vezina-3, Vezina-1?). And overall in those 4 seasons, he's surely been the best. Hellebuyck probably 2nd. Anyway, I personally have thought that Vasilevskiy was the best for more than 2 years. Maybe I was projecting a bit beause in 2016 I was already thinking he was going to be the best and for a long time.


Also, I haven't followed Hart/Flyers closely this season so I can't comment much but to Murray's defense, the Senators just couldn't defend at a NHL level on the road for a big chunk of the season, which totally destroyed Murray (and Hogberg) numbers. It was high slot galore, they were litterally gift wrapping ~3-4 goals per game with blown defensive coverage and turnovers in high danger areas. So goalies had to stand on their head to give less than 5-6 goals per game... lol

There was a lot of factors to explain that but not going deeply on it because it's another subject (50% roster turnover, many guys who hadn't play in 10+ months, no real training camp, 2nd year head coach, 3 rookies at important positions, several personnel issues by the GM/coach that progressively got fixed...)

When the team was finally "fixed" for the last ~20 games, Murray came back from injury and in 5 games had a 0.954 SV% with a 1.37 GAA before getting injured again

Murray SV% @ home all season : 0.909
Murray SV% @ road all season : 0.875

This home vs road trend was similar for the 5 goalies who played for Ottawa in 2021. Overall 0.915 SV% at home vs 0.876 SV% on the road... Crazy stat eh?

Murray didn't start the season very hot (actually, he was very good in the first 2 games vs Toronto), but his stats this year are totally misleading. There was some games he was playing very well and making several tough saves but was still giving up 5-6 goals. The Sens D-zone was freebies galore early. Who would have thought with defensive stalwarts like Erik Gudbranson, Josh Brown. 36 y/o Braydon Coburn and Mike Reilly? :sarcasm:

I was being conservative on Vasi, it’s his 2nd year at least of being the undisputed #1.

Regarding Murray, he was awful even in his last few years with the Penguins, and they had a competent NHL level defense.
 
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Xspyrit

DJ Dorion
Jun 29, 2008
30,708
9,650
Montreal, Canada
I was being conservative on Vasi, it’s his 2nd year at least of being the undisputed #1.

Regarding Murray, he was awful even in his last few years with the Penguins, and they had a competent NHL level defense.

Well, he had 0.919 SV% in 2018-19 (second last year). It must be hard to have that at the NHL level while being awful
 
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Volica

Papa Shango
May 15, 2012
21,391
11,074
It's Russia.
Then, I think I like the US here, after that, Canada.

My mental gymnastics:
Lots of the names on the Russian side had incredible seasons; in addition there's lots of youth there.
USA I think draws a deeper pool, guys like Knight and Oettinger had great little showings and both guys have more room to grow.
Canada had three of the best goalies in the league this year in Price, Flower and Smitty... but man, those guys are all back-9 (some would say there's some twilight for one or two there too). Nothing jumps off the page as 'this guy was really good!' Outside of that.

Moving forward outside of 2021, I also don't think there's a Canadian goaltender that has the 'He's the next great one' yet.
Like, Knight, Wolf, Primeau, Oettinger are all American.
Askarov, Sorokin are both Russian and really young.
 
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Xspyrit

DJ Dorion
Jun 29, 2008
30,708
9,650
Montreal, Canada
And in 2020 he was sub .900 and with a GAA closer to 3. The goals he was giving up weren’t pretty either. I’d say awful is an accurate description.

You said "he was awful even in his last few years with the Penguins" which was factually erroneous.

I'm not arguing, you can have whatever opinion you like. I have just rectified your statement.
 
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