They say it’s the toughest job in sports.
100 mile-per-hour shots flying at your skull. Sprawling on all fours amidst a flurry of metal blades. Heavy gear weighing your body down. Audible boos when you slip up.
In an evolving role in an evolving sport with evolving skill, tactics, and technology, it’s a position where unpredictable play is increasingly common. Stanley Cup hero Sergei Bobrovsky, for example, lost his job to journeyman Alex Lyon as recently as the 2023 playoffs. Life in between the pipes comes at you fast. Few goaltenders keep the starter’s crease for long without hiccups, injuries, or wild swings in performance.
In our third and final instalment of the data-driven High Noon series — hockey’s version of the individual world golf or tennis rankings — we’re ranking the top 25 masked men at their craft.
If you missed Part 1 (forwards) or Part 2 (defensemen) of the series, be sure to catch up first.
Ahead of the rankings, here’s a summary on how High Noon handles goaltenders:
High Noon doesn’t project results — it’s based solely on past performance, regardless of age.
Any goaltender with a strong save percentage will thrive in High Noon. But the methodology has a slight lean to reward goaltenders facing a high shot count. Should two goaltenders perform at the same level in save percentage, the more peppered one ranks higher, adding more value to his team.
The third and final instalment in our series: the 25 best goaltenders in the NHL today…
How to Read these Rankings: Andrei Vasilevskiy’s score in the High Noon system is 9.7, making him the #8 goaltender in the NHL right now. In 2022, he was ranked #3; in 2023, he dropped to #6. The Change column is his decrease of -2 spots from #6 to #8 in the last year. Vasilevskiy’s peak — his High Noon — is #1, which is the highest spot he’s ever been ranked (two times: 2019 and 2021).
Did the Boston Bruins trade the NHL’s best goaltender?
It may be unexpected to see Linus Ullmark hang onto the #1 spot a year after his breakout Vezina season. Ullmark’s standing speaks to a few things: how sensational he was in 2022-23; that his encore was rock solid if not spectacular; and that the methodology doesn’t punish goalies that split the crease as long as they reach the games requirement. With Connor Hellebuyck (11.9), Ilya Sorokin (11.7) and Igor Shesterkin (11.2) all within 0.9 of his leading score of 12.1, Ullmark will need to thrive in Ottawa to keep his crown.
If we look at last year in isolation, Ullmark would be #4, trailing Hellebuyck, Thatcher Demko, and polarizing hot dog Jordan Binnington. But that’s exactly why these rankings take a multi-year approach. NHL goaltending today is fickle and heavily influenced by a team’s play. Labeling Binnington the league’s #3 goaltender would be a stretch — he hadn’t provided league average goal prevention since 2020-21.
How rare is it for a goalie to hold the top spot in consecutive years? In the salary cap era, it’s happened three other times: Roberto Luongo (2006, 2007); Tim Thomas (2011, 2012); and Carey Price (2015-2017). Ullmark’s burst is in sensational company among some of the finest modern guardians of the gazebo.
When it comes to dominance, every goalie in NHL history unsurprisingly looks up at the guy they called ‘The Dominator.’ Dominik Hasek’s seven years at #1 are not just the all-time record but were achieved in succession (1995-2001). A mystifying run of excellence and consistency unheard of today.
What a long and wild ride it’s been for Marc-Andre Fleury — the mischievous acrobat, forever young, turns 40 in November. A fossil by sports standards. Should he get into 25 games this season, Fleury will tie Martin Brodeur for most years qualified for High Noon with 19. Earlier this year, I’d written that Fleury could be the last 500-game winner, but he’s much more likely to be the last 1,000-game goalie.
But what you may notice in the graphic above is that Fleury was never at the very top of the NHL. Sure, he won a Vezina at 36 (in an abbreviated season) and, yes, he played in five Cup finals. His High Noon, however, is #7. Other goalies peaking at #7 include current Penguin Tristan Jarry, and Cup winners Antti Niemi and Bill Ranford. Solid careers, but not Hall of Fame locks like the affable Flower.
But Fleury’s brilliance is this… at age 21, he was the #16 goalie in the NHL. Impressive. By 23, he cracked the top 10. At age 30, he was still #14. At 33 and again at 36, his High Noon at #7 was reached. Even approaching middle age, he’s holding on at #22. An evolving, enduring survivor at the sport’s least sustainable position for over two decades. A fossil maybe, but a rare one that belongs in a museum one day.
Follow @AdjustedHockey on X; Data from Hockey-Reference.com
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