THN: The Great Goalie Debate: Ranking the NHL’s 31 starting netminders in 2018-19

[Blackhawkswincup]

Its amazing Crawford gets injured showing just how important he is to Hawks as they fell apart without him and somehow he is back to being shit on by media/fans around league

Crawford at time of injury was one of the best goalies in NHL last year

Crawford has been a top 5 goalie for several years now and is the most consistent netminder in NHL (Only 1 down season in his career as a sophomore player in 11-12)

 

[Beville]

Only 2 I agree with are Anderson/Darling

 

[North Cole]

What happened to Henrik Lundqvist?

Not sure. Is he on the list? I got to 15 and didn't see him, so I started reading back up to number 1.

Maybe he was injured because he surely cant be sub 20.

 

[maacoshark]

Here are the 2017-2018 post-season stats alone, showing how much better/worse the goalie performed to an average goalie, when facing the same shot quality:

Rinne was facing lower quality shots than Bobrovsky.

I warmly recommend getting acquainted with the expected save% statistics, combined with save% I consider it a far superior statistic compared to save% alone.


edit: looking at a several season average, Rinne indeed has performed better.

I'm not talking about one season. Do you not remember Rinne got Nashville to the finals the season before. He had a great playoff run until the finals. Bobrovsky has never win a playoff round.

 

[The S5]

LOL Lundqvist at 25? Yikes.

Yea he's not in his prime anymore but he's still easily top 10-15. The whole list is pretty brutal.

I think Hank is a rated a bit low according to this list, but he isn't easily top 10-15.
I watched every RAnger game last year and while he had good games, as every NHL goalie does, he was plagued by "softies" which just deflated the team.
The Hank era is over. Let's hope Shesty or Huska can step in and take over.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Lol Carey price has one bad year and he’s worse then rantaa, Andersen etc... he’s still a top 3 goalie in the nhl

In 11 seasons Price has 1 great season, 3 very good seasons, and the rest range from bad to fairly average for a starter.

Somehow the Canadian hype machine was able to parlay that into something much greater than it actually is.

They do the same with Crosby and Toews, and whatever other Canadian player is the flavor of the Month.

His stats and history do not warrant a grace period where he is anointed top 3. No more so than Lundqvist.

 

[MardyBum]

What I don't understand is we get some people saying the Leafs defence is garbage and the reason they had they had their GA #'s was because of Andersen and then lists like this come out and people put Andersen in the 10 - 15 range. Which is it? Seems to me to be a convenient excuse.

People don't just point to Andersen, they also point to McBackup.

Also, are those "people" the same ones doing both things? Leafs fans both defend and shit on Andersen, but it's different people doing each.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

This is truly one of the worst lists I've seen.


Crawford at 23 is maybe the single worst ranking of a player this entire summer.

 

[Viqsi]

I'm not talking about one season. Do you not remember Rinne got Nashville to the finals the season before. He had a great playoff run until the finals. Bobrovsky has never win a playoff round.

"Yes, yes, stats are all nifty and such, but what about my selection bias?"

 

[Seanaconda]

21. Brian Elliott, Philadelphia Flyers.

22. Jacob Markstrom, Vancouver Canucks

23. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks

24. Cory Schneider, New Jersey Devils

25. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

Absurd order. Schneider's been awful for two years straight, Lundqvist's been average. Who else in their right mind would rank Markstrom, and even worse Elliott, above Crawford? I know he missed a lot of games last year, but he was excellent up to that point.

Crawford without vetigo is a top five goalie , with it he may not play again . Ludq should be ranked higher tho unless the list is taking in ages into account

 

[MardyBum]

This is truly one of the worst lists I've seen.


Crawford at 23 is maybe the single worst ranking of a player this entire summer.

They must be over-emphasizing his medical issues.

Or they're morons.

Really only two answers lol.

 

[Dustin]

People don't just point to Andersen, they also point to McBackup.

Also, are those "people" the same ones doing both things? Leafs fans both defend and **** on Andersen, but it's different people doing each.

Agreed. Some Leafs fans make it hard too. When you get a large group of people who will always crap all over the Leafs and a large group of people who will only praise anything the Leafs do, it makes it hard to make proper evaluations.

As for Andersen in particular I remember quite well at the beginning of the season last year the multitude of threads asking about Andersen's value from Leafs fans who had basically given up on him. I know it's the nature of sports with the what have you done recently mentality but in general teams with larger fanbase have their players value all over the place. There were/are more than enough people who have claimed the Leafs defence is garbage and that Andersen was the only reason it was even as good as it was and yet I don't see any of those posters in here praising Andersen. I know who the posters are as do others. This is just one of many "Ah ha" moments when you realize some of the people on this site are disingenuous.

 

[DanM]

THN has this absurd love of all things Winnipeg, but Hellebuyck at 3 might be as funny as Byfuglien over Doughty.

Agreed

Didn't he have like the one good season last year?

He was garbage the year before. He needs to have another solid season, if he does that, I can see a top 5 rating.

 

[BiolaRunner]

"13. John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks: He sits third among NHL goalies in save percentage (.925) since taking over as the Ducks’ full-time starter a couple years ago."

All I really need to see. Don't need to look at the rest of the list to know it's trash, given that ranking with that explanation.

 

[Zach Hoglund]

If your best goalie list doesn’t start with the Vezina winner, it’s not a list.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Crawford without vetigo is a top five goalie , with it he may not play again . Ludq should be ranked higher tho unless the list is taking in ages into account

Crawford with vertigo is better than Markstrom

 

[Sojourn]

Much more of the former. Andersen deserved a high position in the Vezina voting last season based on workload and relative success. But the Leafs goaltending was also helped by an insane season by McBackup.

People who say that Andersen is a bad goalie are wrong. Anyone who says that he's not above average is also wrong. Last season he was one of the goalies who didn't quite reach the level of the top 3 (Bob, Rinne, and Gibson), and based on his consistency he will likely be top 10 again next year.

I also think there is an important distinction between a team that tries to win games by scoring more goals than the opposition, and teams that can actually defend and/or rely on their goaltender to win games.

To me, Toronto is the former. They aren't a team that I feel is comfortable being forced to defend, whether we're talking goaltending or defense. I don't think Gibson is getting the accolades he deserves(by the media, at least), and a large part of that is just how much Anaheim needed to lean on him to accomplish anything this last season. They had a rough season, and it's pretty remarkable that they still finished 2nd in the Pacific. I don't think anyone deserves more credit for that than Gibson.

 

[neXis]

Gibson and Crawford should be in the top 10. Sure we have no idea if Crawford is gonna be 100% healthy next season, but he's easily one the best goalies right now. I'd take out Dubnyk, Fleury and Hellebuyck out of the top 10.