Monday Ramblings

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, fine folks. It's just past the halfway mark of the 2024-25 NHL season and goalies have stayed true to form being nearly impossible to predict. But here at Goaliepost, our jobs are to make the impossible possible for you. I’m going to break down goalies into a tier list and explain why certain guys fall into certain categories if you need a quick little guide on how things stand for a player or tandem now and going forward for the rest of the season. These rankings are not for anything but planning the rest of your year. Keep in mind, these are rough numbers and lists so I am open for discussion and your feelings on where I may have guys misplaced.

Tier 1-A

This tier is pretty self explanatory so we won’t spend a ton of time here. It is netminders who get the most starts and pay you back with great numbers.

Connor Hellebuyck / WPG - Hellebuyck is self explanatory, if you didn’t take him early in drafts and laughed at the guy who did take him in the first round, you’re cringing like me currently. Hellebuyck has a 28.2 GSAE. Unreal.

Tier 1-B

This tier is essentially a bunch of guys with high capability, and who are getting the bulk of starts with limited competition and some solid teams in front of them.

Jacob Markstrom / NJD - Markstrom has been solid for the Devils since coming over this offseason from Calgary and the only reason he hasn’t been placed in 1A is well, Hellebuyck is an alien.

Mackenzie Blackwood / COL - Blackwood was waiting for this move for years, and he was seemingly always touted to be more than he was outputting while backstopping San Jose through some of the roughest years of their franchise. Those of you who got Blackwood off of the wire are laughing all the way to a bunch of wins these next few months.

Igor Shesterkin / NYR - Igor, Igor, Igor. This guy is making me look like a genius for moving on from him after his slow start last year. It’s unnerving as a fantasy owner for a team like New York that has been a fantasy juggernaut for years to be coming apart at the seams this year. Not sure if it turns around in time for the Rangers to keep Shesterkin in 1-B rest of the season but it's impossible to bet against this guy for me considering this is New York's floor performance we’ve been seeing so far.

Jake Oettinger / DAL - Oettinger was in a similar boat as Shesterkin this season with the Stars top line being completely invisible for 4 months. They have turned it up a notch since then and their stars are beginning to chip in every game to turn it around. Oettinger has only started four of the last seven games but I expect him to get at least a 70-30 split the rest of the way, especially if they are still fighting for a spot.

Logan Thompson / WSH - Just an insane run for Thompson as of late. He has literally blown Charlie Lindgren out of the water this year, making him look like an AHL veteran when you compare their numbers side by side. The only thing holding Logan back and his .931 with 12 wins out of his last 15 GP is the teams need to keep him rested. Great numbers, less great work load in the back half, but this will happen or continue to be the trend for most teams.

Andrei Vasilevskiy / TBL - Vasilevskiy has been in tier 1-B this year on lots of pre draft lists and it's apparent that the 1-A guy is still in there somewhere. Vasilevskiy is tied with four guys for the second most games played this season and that’s not going to change. With a bit of a drop off in save percentage last year posting a .900 it’s great to see him back around his career numbers with a .915 so far this season.

Stuart Skinner / EDM - Skinner is the point of much contention in oil city. He started the season colder than the pigeon that was frozen solid on my porch the other day (RIP). He has done some work in the past few months to drag his save percentage back to a .902. This is the same guy as last year who went on one of the craziest half season goalie runs I have ever seen, so he is capable of saving your stats in the back half of the season, but there's no guarantees here.

Tier 2

Moving on to tier 2, I will list the last crop of guys at the top of the league that will be worth rostering for the rest of the season.

Linus Ullmark / OTT - Now I know Leevi Merilainen has been a stud for the last few weeks in Ottawa but the job is Ullmarks to lose. Big contract, big minutes. It may be difficult for the Senators to send Merilainen down after this torrid pace of his but Ullmark was the best performing goalie in the league for a month before he went down with injury. You could do worse than Ullmark as your second or third guy.

Darcy Kuemper / LAK - Kuemper is currently riding his highest save percentage since 2021-22 with Colorado, as he sits at a .920 through 23 games played this season. The Kings are gearing up for a run to the playoffs and Kuemper has been more than capable as of late. A good trade target for the last half who is heating up.

Filip Gustavsson / MIN - Gus had a mind boggling first half of the season, and if the Wild had one single healthy defenseman it may still be chugging along. I have faith that this team will once again flip it around when Kirill Kaprizov gets going and they get a few defenders back.

Juuse Saros / NSH - Nashville has been underperforming for most of this season but Saros has begun to turn it on as of late and so have the Predators. Juuse will be getting the starts to try and salvage the Preds' season so bulk is no issue. Save percentage is the scary stat here as he has pulled back up to a .904, but we’ve seen the worst this team has to give in the first half so it's up to them to continue helping him out a bit.
Dustin Wolf / CGY - In his first full season in the NHL, Wolf has been living up to expectations after torching the AHL for years. With a .916 save percentage and 16 wins in 25 games played, he has been more than Flames fans could have asked for this season. The sky's the limit for Wolf, but unfortunately his team's ceiling is far lower than his currently.

Joseph Woll + Anthony Stolarz / TOR - This was the tandem to covet before Stolarz went down over a month ago. Stolarz has had a career year and Woll has taken over since his absence without losing a step. Both can be relied upon when Stolarz returns but the starts will no doubt be split.

Tier 3 - The rest

Adin Hill + Ilya Samsonov / VGK - Vegas has been a great team for Zero G guys, considering they have rotated starters for years while winning tons of games. These two goalies have been great. Hill has the edge in starts and just about every stat, but Samsonov just finished a 7-0 run with a shutout mixed in. Hill is the safer bet here but wouldn’t be an awful play to run the stack.

Joey Daccord / SEA - Daccord has been a solid starter for Seattle and will continue to do so with Grubauer polishing his .870 save percentage all year.

Kevin Lankinen + Thatcher Demko / VAN - With the telenovela going on between their stars up front in Vancouver, there is major reason for worry on the back end as well. Demko’s injury is still unclear on what it exactly means for him going forward, it's not looking very good for him at all since his return. Lankinen has stood in there and held the load well for a while but the dam burst recently while missing a chunk of their lineup, most importantly Quinn Hughes. If Hughes is out of the lineup, I would fade either gentleman that evening.

Sergei Bobrovsky + Spencer Knight / FLA - The Florida Panthers have been on vacation for the better part of the last month (not actually) and you can see the wear and tear of the last few long playoff seasons for them. Bobrovsky has 18 wins in 31 games but sits well below his career save percentage this year at a paltry .896. Knight has fared slightly better but similar with a .906 and nine wins in 16 starts. Florida has more to give.

There are 20-25 more goalies to discuss near the middle to bottom of the league, so join me back here in two weeks to dive into that.

As always everybody thank you all for reading and please give me a follow over on Twitter/X @LOGoalz. I am usually quick to respond to people for any advice and/or banter you’d like to throw my way. Have a great week everyone.