Breaking Down The Net, Part 1

The goaltender is the single most important player on a hockey team. You spend the entire game protecting your goaltender from the puck, and when you can’t protect him, he had better be able to protect it more times than he doesn’t. The outcome of the entire game is solely based upon either team’s goaltender coming to play.

A few goalies just got themselves a nice pay raise this last season and this summer. Jimmy Howard, Corey Crawford, and Mike Smith all got nice contracts recently and will be coming into the season with a number to live up to.

I’m going to go ahead and dive into all 30 teams and their situations in net going into the season. I’m going to break this up into three posts and do ten at a time. And just to keep thing interesting, I’ll put them in order of who I believe to have the strongest nets in the league.

1. First we’ll start off in New York. Henrik Lundqvist is looking for a new deal after this season, and I expect him to be on top of his game, and would not be surprised to see the King hit numbers like he did in 2011-2012 when he won the Vezina. Lundqvist anchored the net in 43 of the 48 regular season games, and played in all 12 playoff games.

Lundqvist put up great numbers this season posting a 2.05 goals against average, a save percentage of .926%, and held a record of 24-16-3. Despite playing so well in the playoffs, the Rangers offense wasn’t in key and they fell in the second round to the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins.

Lundqvist has done his job well in New York, and he’s looking for a new contract when the season is over. I expect him to nearly perfect this season. With Martin Biron behind him on the bench, he has shown he can play well, but his ice time was cut short last season.

2. Jonathan Quick started off his season a little bit slower than many expected last season. Coming off of back surgery in the offseason, and having to deal with the lockout issues. I expect Quick to bounce back and be just fine this season. Quick showed us all in the playoffs last year that his regular season stats were nothing to be worried about.

I’ve gone over this before, but Quick is by far the most clutch goaltender in the NHL today. He’s capable of putting any game on his shoulders and carrying the entire team to the finish line. Quick put up great numbers in 2011-2012, possibly better numbers than Lundqvist who won the Vezina that season.

Last year looked a bit different for Quick on the stat sheet. Quick posted a goals against average of 2.46, a save percentage of .901%, and a record of 18-13-4. Jonathan Bernier is gone from Los Angeles, and Ben Scrivens is in to back up Quick this season. Scrivens had a decent season last year in Toronto, and he’ll look to have a solid season this year, to make sure he gets the contract he wants next summer.

The Kings won’t have any issues in net this season with a healthy Jonathan Quick. Scrivens is a more than capable back up and the Kings will look to use him to spell Quick as often as possible.

3. It’s too early to rank Tuukka Rask among the elite goalies you say? No, I don’t believe it’s too early at all to say that Rask has stamped his name in the “elite” category. Rask stepped in for Tim Thomas when Thomas abruptly turned and ran from everything hockey, and Boston never even missed a beat.

Rask put up outstanding numbers last season, and was nearly unbeatable throughout most of the playoffs. Rask posted a record of 19-10-5 with 5 shutouts in his first tour of duty as the Bruins #1. It was a shortened season, but either way, Rask put up great numbers and proved he’s ready to take the reigns in Boston. Rask’s save percentage of .929% was outstanding, and his goals against average of a flat 2.00 just bolsters the resume he’s building.

Boston obviously has faith in him after this season. He got himself a nice long term contract with the Bruins worth $56 million over 8 seasons. Rask is going to continue to get better, and the Bruins have a lot invested in him to do so. Rask is backed up by Chad Johnson, Niklas Svedberg, and Malcolm Subban. The three will battle for the number two spot on the Bruins roster during camp and the preseason.

5. Sergei Bobrovsky got his first taste of being the number one goalie this last season in Columbus, and he came up bigger than anyone expected. Bobrovsky earned his first Vezina Trophy with a record of 21-11-6 and 4 shutouts. He posted a goals against average of 2.00 and a save percentage of .932.

Bobrovsky’s excellent positioning and athleticism make him one of the best in the games. He nearly carried the Blue Jackets into the playoffs. Columbus won 8 of their last 9 games, during that stretch, Bobrovsky surrendered only 3 goals only twice. The Blue Jackets traded Steve Mason to the Flyers and brought in Michael Leighton. Leighton went to free agency after the season, and the back up position is assumed to be left to Curtis McElhinney.

Bobrovsky will be looking to have another great season, and push the Blue Jackets into the playoffs. He has earned his two year deal that will pay him $5 million this season, and $6.25 million next season.

6. Roberto Luongo may have been a big ball of drama for the last few seasons, but there’s no denying what he can do on the ice. Now that the Canucks have gotten rid of Cory Schneider, Luongo can go back to being the undisputed number one goalie for the Canucks. Remember the Luongo from his prime when he was the one and only.

Luongo has struggled in the playoffs, but there’s no saying the entire team has never played up to the challenge in the playoffs. Luongo has the ability to anchor a team and carry them through the game. Last season was a bit of an odd year for Luongo, his numbers fell. His save percentage was .907% and he held a goals against average of 2.56.

The Canucks have given the net to Luongo now, and hopefully Luongo can bounce back from last season. It was only a 48 game season. Lunogo has the ability, and I expect him to bounce back well this season and answer the call.

Eddie Lack looks to be the back up for the coming season. Lack has a goals against average of 2.36 and a save percentage of .923% in his 112 games in the AHL over 3 seasons.

7. Jimmy Howard proved last season that he was among the NHL elites. The loss of Brad Stuart to San Jose, the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom, the loss on Detroit’s blue line was devastating. The Red Wings played a lot of youth on the blue line this season and it showed, but Jimmy stood to the challenge and played well all season long.

Howard’s a competitor, his numbers show what he can do. He practically carried Detroit through last season. A true workhorse, Howard played in 42 games this season. He posted a record of 21-13-7 including 5 shut outs. Howard had a goals against average of 2.13 last season, and held a .923& save percentage. He was impressive all season long, and played great through the playoffs.

The Red Wings hoped signing Jonas Gustavsson would solve the problem of not having a steady back up, but lingering groin issues limited his playing time. He’s entering the final year of his contract and if he wants to stay in Detroit he needs to play well and needs to earn another contract. Peter Mrzak is the starting goalie for the Red Wings AHL affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins, and he has been impressing a lot of people and will likely be bidding for the back up spot next season.

8. Antti Niemi is as solid as they come. He’s consistent and makes saves when they need to be made. Niemi was a finalist for the Vezina this season, and posted a record of 24-23-6 with 4 shutouts, a goals against average of 2.16, and a save percentage of .924%.

He won a Stanley Cup in Chicago, and I always thought Chicago made the wrong decision when they let Niemi go. These things happen in the sports world though, and Niemi has flourished in San Jose. The Sharks just can’t find their way through the playoffs in recent years, but Niemi isn’t to blame for it. Last year in the playoffs he put up a save percentage 9f .930%.

The back up job is up in the air at this point, it’s between Alex Stallock and Harri Sateri. The two will be tested in the preseason and the choice will be made soon. But the Sharks won’t have much to worry about in net, Niemi carried the load last season starting in 43 of the 48 games.

9. Mike Smith is one of the quiet goalies in the league, but his big body makes it that much easier for him to get in the way of the puck. He puts up numbers, and knows how to win. He’s played well in the playoffs as well. The Coyotes slipped out of the playoffs last season, but with a few additions this offseason, they have a good chance of sneaking in one of the bottom spots as long as Smith can keep up the level of play that’s going to be expected of him after he signed his 6 year, $34 million contract this summer.

Smith went 15-12-5 last season but put up 5 shutouts. His numbers dipped a bit from 2011-2012 when he went 38-18-10 with a goals against average of 2.21, and a save percentage of .930%. His numbers fell to a goals against average of 2.58, and a save percentage of .910 this season, but the defense in Phoenix is young, and they will continue to get better, and the better the defense the better the goalie.

The Coyotes went out and signed Thomas Greiss this summer after Jason Labarbera left to back up Devan Dubnyk in Edmonton. Greiss is a solid number two, and with the amount of games that Mike Smith is capable of playing, they may be able to get away with not playing as much as they did Labarbera.

10. Carey Price has been the man in Montreal for a while now, and he’s proven to be a netminder they can lean on. The only thing keeping Price this low is his inability to play well down the stretch. It showed even last season, and we were only granted 48 regular season games. The Canadiens collapse at the end of the season extended into the playoffs where they were knocked out in the first round.

Price put up a record of 21-13-4 with 3 shutouts. He held a save percentage of .905%, not nearly as pretty to look at as his last few seasons. Price’s goals against average was another average looking number at 2.59. The Canadiens will be in a tough division this season, and will look for Price to be at the top of his game. He’s shown the ability to play big, and the Canadiens are going to need him to do just that.

Price is backed up by Peter Budaj. Budaj had a decent year last year by the numbers. He earned himself a two year deal this offseason worth $2.8 million. Budaj is a solid back up that they can depend on to play well in relief of Price every so often.