Ranking Every NHL Starting Goalie Part Three: 10-1

This will be one of the most controversial rankings on this list, given how different people view Carey Price. Many, including current players, still see him as the best goalie in the entire world. However, his numbers the past few seasons haven’t backed that sentiment up.

In Price’s defence, he has had to play in front of a Canadiens roster that has had many flaws throughout his entire 13-year career. Still, at one point he was able to mask many of his teams deficiencies, something he has struggled to do the last few years. His talent is still very evident, as he is able to win games on his own, though not as often as before.

If he had a more competent team in front of him, he very well may still be regarded as the league’s best goalie, so his drop in play certainly isn’t just his fault.

However, given that Price is the NHL’s highest paid goalie with a cap hit of $10.5 million per season, he needs to play better than he has lately. The 2020-21 season is a big year for Carey Price to prove he is still one of the games best. If not, he will find himself lower on this list.

When healthy, Ben Bishop is one of the most dominant goaltenders in the entire league. Unfortunately, injuries are something he has struggled with throughout his eight-year NHL career. This was the case yet again this past year, as he was forced to miss the majority of his team’s postseason run in which they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.

Still, there is no denying Bishop’s talent. The NHL’s biggest goalie, standing at a massive six-foot-seven, has posted nothing but great numbers consistently each and every season during his NHL career. The scary thing going forward with him is his injury trouble paired with the fact he is 34-years-old, but until his play drops off it is nearly impossible to argue the fact that he is a top five goalie in the league.

The great news for Bishop and the Stars next season is that Anton Khudobin proved during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs that he is more than capable of being relied upon, meaning that Bishop can be given more rest in order to try and prevent injury. Their roster for the 2020-21 season is nearly the exact same as it was in 2019-20, which should allow for Bishop to continue posting great numbers.

No goaltender in the league had a better 2019-20 season than Connor Hellebuyck, and he was rewarded with that by winning the Vezina Trophy, the first of his career. Hellebuyck won that award thanks to some stellar numbers and performances, going 31-21-5 with a .922 Save Percentage, a 2.57 Goals Against Average and six shutouts, which led the entire NHL.

The Winnipeg Jets, who had been one of the best teams in the Western Conference for a number of years, lost many key blueliners from the 2018-19 season and were forced to go with a very inexperienced group.

The backend often struggled last season, but it went fairly unnoticed thanks to the great play of Hellebuyck. Had the Jets not had the 27-year-old netminder, they more than likely would have been a lottery team. As a result, many were discussing him being a potential Hart Trophy candidate, and though that never ended up being the case, it speaks to just how good he was last season.

Given that he is still just 27-years-old, Hellebuyck should continue to be one of the league’s very best goalies for a long time to come. The one problem facing him is that the Jets roster is in a bit of an odd spot. They have a ton of talent up front, but a very underwhelming blueline. If they are not able to address that for the 2020-21 season, it will be another season of struggles in the defensive end, though Connor Hellebuyck proved last season that he is more than good enough to overcome that.