At the end of 2008 some goalies were struggling and newcomers were making a name for themselves. This is a projection based listing of which goalies may perform the best for your fanasty hockey team down the strech this season. It is not merely a listing of who has been the best so far but who will do the best in the second half.
1. Evgeni Nabokov
Nabby only has four total regulation losses thus far. Four. out of 30 games started, that is pretty fantastic. He’s got 4 overtime losses but 22 wins on top of them. Although his GAA and SV% are still pretty good, they’re not way at the top of the league. Look for Nabokov and the Sharks to continue to steamroll most of their matches for the rest of the season. Nabby should end up toward the top of the league in number of wins again.
2. Tim Thomas
The Bruins have been one of the best teams in the NHL so far in 2008-2009, if not the very best. The only drawback to having Thomas is the fact that he has to share time with Manny Fernandez, who is putting up good numbers himself. Thomas is second in the league in save percentage with a shiny .933, only behind newcomer Steve Mason who leads the NHL. The Bruins should continue to move at a brisk pace for the rest of the season and into the playoffs, even though they recently lost a key component in Patrice Bergeron. Their other young guys have stepped in rather nicely so far and even before Bergeron went down, guys like Lucic, Krejci, and even Wheeler have been really coming into their own.
3. Miikka Kiprusoff
Kipper has only suffered three total regulation losses since the end of November! The Flames have quietly turned it on lately and are on a tear. Kiprusoff leads the league with 25 total wins as of this moment and they’re looking good right now. Although Kipper’s other numbers aren’t elite, he certainly isn’t hurting anyone in the wins or losses department. Ride Kipper for your wins and perhaps look elsewhere for your GAA and save statistics.
4. Steve Mason
Rookie Steve Mason has taken the NHL by storm. He sports fantastic numbers so far with a 1.75 GAA and also a 0.938 save percentage along with a league leading 6 shutouts in 25 games played. Mason was only thought of as a prospect when he was called up but now it looks like he’s solidified his position as Columbus’ goalie of the future right now. Bad news for Leclaire owners. Mason would be higher if not for the weakness of the team behind him. At the moment, Rick Nash is on IR, which certainly doesn’t help the team overall. In the coming years, though, Columbus could finally prove to be a playoff team with other young guns Brassard, Voracek, and now Filatov. The future looks bright for the Jackets.
5. Carey Price
Price missed the end of 2008 and so far has missed much of 2009. Halak has done a decent job of filling in, but not great. It is evident that Price, once he returns, will surely be the unquestioned number one goalie again. Price is having a pretty solid year aside from the injuries, though. Once Montreal can get back up to speed and have some of their underachieving guys get going along with other players returning from injury, they’re certainly going to try to take a run at Boston to try to take first in the East. It will be a tall task because they’re quite far behind but stranger things have happened.
6. Roberto Luongo
Even though Luongo’s been out for a while now, he’s still a stud and when he does return (which could be in the next week) he will likely pick up where he left off. At the time, he had amassad a league leading 5 shutouts in 19 games played. He has since been surpassed and also tied by other netminders but Luongo will come back to a stronger Canucks team with the addition of Mats Sundin. Look for the ‘Nucks to make a strong push up the standings and try to challenge for the division title. He would be MUCH higher if it was certain that he wouldn’t get re-injured; groin area injuries tend to be nagging and can limit production down the stretch.
7. Henrik Lundqvist
Seems odd for Lundy to be so very low on the list (along with Luongo) but he really hasn’t been elite the past several weeks. Especially in December, where he had a very forgettable record of 4-5-1. Not that King Henrik is having a bad year, he still is the unquestioned Rangers starter and is 3rd in wins behind only Kipper and Nabby. His GAA and SV% could be much better though as they’re not as good as Lundy owners have expected them to be this season. Also, last season he had 10 shutouts to lead the NHL but this season he’s only got two total and both came last week. Hopefully for Lundqvist owners he starts getting his numbers up more but he’s still one of the most solid goalies out there.
8. Ryan Miller
After an incredible start to the season, the Sabres cooled off. However, they’re starting to get hot again. Miller has been one of the most steady goalies in the NHL this season. Although the knock against him is that he tends to give up the odd bad goal at really inopportune times, that hasn’t been the case this season. Miller’s been relatively solid in almost every game and when the Sabres can back him up with goals, they are winning a high percentage of their games. The Sabres lineup has been hit with injuries throughout the season so it’s unclear how steady they’ll be down the stretch. However, highly talented but very injury prone Tim Connolly has returned and could alleviate some pressure off of guys like Vanek and Roy. Look for the Sabres to possibly string together some win streaks in the second half.
9. Niklas Backstrom
The Wild sure could use some more firepower, as they’ve slowed down from their torrid pace at the beginning of the season. At this time, they’re on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. This is unfamiliar territory for Minnesota. Unless Minny can get their scoring up, they may have trouble down the stretch. Gaborik isn’t set to return until towards the very end of the season and certainly after the trade deadline. This could pose a problem for Backstrom who has really sharp numbers individually, especially his 927 sv% and 5 shutouts.
10. Ty Conklin
With Osgood missing games due to injury, Conklin has been leading the Red Wings to lots of wins while putting up some good stats. The Wings are battling the Sharks for top position in the Western Conference and the struggle won’t end until the final day of the regular season. Conklin would be in a better position if he didn’t have to still compete with Osgood for starts but when he does play, expect Conklin to win a very high percentage of his games while also helping with all the other relevant goalie categories.
Notables: JS Giguere, Martin Brodeur
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