One of the most well known phrases in all of sports is “defense wins championships!” This phrase holds true for almost every team sport, but defense is one of the most ignored aspects in a lot of fans. But when teams are successful, most of the time it is due to a strong defense… or strong goaltending.
In hockey, having a strong defense is crucial to winning games, as one small mistake can lead to a game losing goal. These defensive breakdowns are fairly common as the sport moves very quickly, but a lot of the time, these breakdowns can be prevented.
That is where goaltending comes in. The goaltender is the last resort for saving a goal against, and it is the defensemen’s job to keep the puck as far away from the net as possible. But this is no easy task, which makes the goaltender’s job all the more important.
When you look back at recent successful NHL teams and teams that have won the Stanley Cup, they all have one thing in common: elite goaltending.
Let’s take a look at six of the top goaltenders in the NHL right now, what makes them so great, and why they are going to be so important to their respective teams throughout the 2024-25 season.
Connor Hellebuyck - Winnipeg Jets
Who better to start with than the most recent Vezina trophy winner, Connor Hellebuyck. The Vezina trophy is awarded to the top goaltender of the league at the end of each season, and Hellebuyck has been honored with this trophy twice now throughout his career.
Hellebuyck ended the 2023-24 regular season with a 2.39 goals against average (GAA) and a .927 save percentage. He also finished 37-19-4 in the regular season. These phenomenal stats unfortunately did not translate to the playoffs, as the Winnipeg Jets were eliminated in round one by the Colorado Avalanche. Hellebuyck finished the playoffs with a .870 save percentage and an unfortunate 5.23 goals against average.
Although these stats look a little rough, they don’t paint the entire picture. Hellebuyck played as well as he could have, but the Jets had far too many defensive breakdowns and had to rely on him far too often for them to be successful.
This season will be crucial for Hellebuyck and the rest of the Winnipeg Jets team, as they have been sitting in the middle of the standings and have been “average” for a few years now. This will be a big season for them to prove that they can be elite, or will have to risk going through a rebuilding period. Hellebuyck is capable of stealing games that the Jets shouldn’t necessarily win, and it will be important that he does so again this season to keep them afloat. It is also vital for the Jets to find a more solid defense and not have to rely on him at crucial times too often. Even the best goaltenders get tired eventually.
Igor Shesterkin - New York Rangers
Courtesy of NHLI via Getty Images
If you were able to watch any of the New York Rangers playoff games during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, you should be very familiar with the chants of “Igor” that rang down from the stands at Madison Square Garden after each miraculous save that Igor Shesterkin made to keep the Rangers in the playoffs for as long as possible.
The New York Rangers made it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals before being eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers. But this was hardly the fault of goaltending, as Shesterkin finished the playoffs with an astounding .927 save percentage and 2.34 GAA. These stats were even better than his regular season stats with a .913 save percentage and 2.58 GAA.
The Rangers were by far one of the most dangerous teams in the league during the 2024-25 season due to their high offensive skill and ability to work cleanly in their defensive zone. But even when they weren’t “clean”, they had an elite goaltender that had the ability to stop everything that he was able to see.
Shesterkin is extremely consistent, and it will be important for him to continue this consistency throughout the 2024-25 season if the Rangers want to be dangerous and go on a deep playoff run yet again. They have the offense and goaltending that it takes to be a Stanley Cup caliber team, so if they are able to lessen the amount of penalties they take and really clean up their transitions, there’s no reason that Shesterkin can’t help lead them to a Stanley Cup championship.
Thatcher Demko - Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks were easily one of the most surprising teams of the 2023-24 NHL season. After finishing towards the end of the standings during the 2022-23 season, they were able to skyrocket in the standings and even made their way to the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This success was largely due to the amazing goaltending of Thatcher Demko. He had quite the breakthrough year and finished the regular season with a .918 save percentage and 2.45 GAA. Because of his rapid success, he was also named a Vezina trophy finalist at the end of the season.
Unfortunately for Canucks fans, they weren’t able to see his success continue into the playoffs very long, as Demko was injured in game one of round one against the Nashville Predators. In game one, he posted a .917 save percentage and 2.00 GAA. He was injured for the remainder of the Canucks’ run in the playoffs.
Part of the reason the Canucks were so successful is they figured out how to play well defensively in front of Demko, but Demko was also able to stop these high danger chances when the defense wasn’t able to.
This will be a massive “prove it” season for the Demko and the rest of the Canucks. They will need to prove that last season wasn’t a fluke and that they are capable of making a deep playoff run if they can manage to stay healthy. It will be a huge test for the entire team, but they’ve faced adversity before, and they can definitely do it again.
Andrei Vasilevskiy - Tampa Bay Lightning
Courtesy of Frank Gunn via The Canadian Press
Andrei Vasilevskiy is one of the most consistent and well developed goaltenders in the league. He helped the Tampa Bay Lighting secure back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, and has proved time and time again that he is up for any challenge, no matter who he is playing against.
In both 2021 and 2018, Vasilevskiy finished the regular season with a .925 save percentage, which is an amazing statistic to be able to carry through an entire season.
This past season, Vasilevskiy had the struggle of coming back from a lumbar disk herniation which required him to get surgery in September of 2023. He did see a drop-off in his statistics, as he finished the regular season with a .900 save percentage and a 2.9 GAA. The drop-off in the playoffs was even more severe, with a .897 save percentage and a 3.22 GAA.
This unfortunately led to the Lightning getting eliminated in round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers.
Although this season was far from perfect for the usually consistent goaltender, he has proved that when healthy and well-conditioned that he is capable of carrying his team to great success. This season, it will be important for Vasilevskiy to produce at the level that he was during their championship seasons, especially after the drastic movement that the Lightning roster has gone through over the past few months.
Sergei Bobrovsky - Florida Panthers
It’s impossible to mention current elite goaltenders without talking about two-time Vezina Trophy winner and new Stanley Cup Champion, Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky was able to lead the Panthers to a Stanley Cup Final appearance during the 2023 playoffs, but the team ended up falling just short of victory against the Vegas Golden Knights. But this season, Bobrovsky came back again with a vengeance, and the team was able to accomplish their goal of becoming Stanley Cup Champions.
Bobrovsky finished the regular season with a .915 save percentage and 2.37 GAA. He continued his hot streak into the playoffs and posted a .906 save percentage and only 2.32 GAA.
The Florida Panthers were so successful this season because they were such a well-rounded team and were able to produce offensively while also playing extremely well in front of Bobrovsky. They were shot blocking machines during the playoffs, but even when the pucks were making their way through the defensemen, Bobrovsky was there to stop them.
If the Panthers want to repeat another successful season, it will be important that Bobrovsky finds a way to steal some games that they shouldn’t necessarily win, especially with Florida losing lots of players during free agency due to cap restrictions.
Juuse Saros - Nashville Predators
Courtesy of Chris O’Meara via AP photo
The Nashville Predators put the National Hockey League on notice during free agency with the signings of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. A lot of people were wondering how they were able to secure so many high level players, but Stamkos made his feelings about the team very clear. He stated in an interview that there are several components that make a team successful: elite forwards, an elite defenseman, and finally, elite goaltending. All of which he thinks the Predators have.
Predators goaltender Juuse Saros recently signed a massive eight-year deal with the team. The front office staff made it clear that they think Saros could be an exciting and beneficial franchise goaltender for the team and are confident that he is up for the task. With the new signings during the off season, the Predators are now expected to go on a deep Stanley Cup Playoff run, and Saros is certainly up for the task of making sure that he can do anything possible to get the team where it needs to be.
Coming in a 5’10”, Saros is the shortest goaltender in the NHL by a longshot. But he has proven that the way he sees the game is what makes him so great. He is able to see plays happen before they actually do, and is famous for some very acrobatic saves to make up for his size. During the 2023-24 season, Saros stole several games where the Predators were extremely outshot and should have lost. If he can do this again during the 2024-25 season, the Predators will certainly go on to do some amazing things.
Edited by Rachel Bowlin
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