So only starting goalies are NHL level? That’s ridiculous.
If a player has an NHL contract and spends the entire year on the team, he’s an NHL level professional.
Keumper’s last non NHL game was 4 years ago. McElhinney’s was 5.
Well. An NHL level goalie is one that constantly matches NHL level as his job and doesn't get easy passes. They play as much as they can in the NHL while showing true #1 abilities. They are the better goalie compared to their counterpart. They play 50-60 games in a season because they can, and because they can sustain that level of play.
If you think most backups are NHL level, that's not a slight to you, I just disagree. There's a reason why they're the backup and that's because they haven't shown that they can keep being NHL level during a long season, (or just haven't been given the chance to prove that) winning or losing while doing the needed saves, the overall body of play.
Just having a contract doesn't warrant being up to your task.