Top 10 NHL Goaltenders

This list is in no particular order because I am no authority on goaltending and goaltending is much more than just save percentages and goals against averages. The stats used are from the 2008-09 season to the 2010-11 season. I didn't include this seasons stats because the season is still in progress. All stats were gathered from www.nhl.com.




Henrik Lundqvist

Over the past three seasons, Henrik Lundqvist is 109-79-22 with a .920 save percentage and a 2.36 goals against average.Those numbers are great considering he averaged 30 shots a game and plays for a team that over the past three years has had a hard time scoring goals. Lundqvist is an outstanding goaltender and has been his entire career with the Rangers. He won a gold medal with Sweden in during the 2006 Winter Olympics as well as two silver medals in the World Championships. Henrik has been invited to two All Star games (2009, 2011) and has been nominated for the Vezina Trophy 3 times, most recently in 2008. Henrik Lundqvist is King for a reason. He has been outstanding for the Rangers since he joined them and has been a big part of their success this season. It may not be long before he is raising the Stanley Cup above his head.

Tim Thomas

Tim Thomas had a long road to get to where he is today. He has played in Sweden, Finland, the AHL, and IHL. Tim Thomas has finally become an elite goaltender in this league, especially in the past couple of years. Since the 2008-09 season he is 88-40-24 with a .930 save percentage and a 2.18 goals against average. The only blemish in the past 3 years has been 2009-10 when he lost his starting job to back-up Tuukka Rask, but the next year he bounced back and lead his team to a Stanley Cup. Tim Thomas won a silver medal with USA in 2010, although he wasn't the starter. He has won the Williams M. Jennings Trophy, Vezina (twice) and the Conn Smythe and has been invited to 3 All Star games in his short NHL career and this year he has been great again for his Boston Bruins.

Marc-Andre Fleury

Number 1 draft pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. That pretty much says it all for the "Flower." Since 08' he is 108-59-8 with a .912 save percentage and a 2.55 goals against average. He has appeared in 2 Stanley Cup finals with the Penguins and won, one of them during the 2008-09 season. Fleury was one of the back-up goaltenders for Canada during the 2010 Winter Olympics in which they won the gold medal. Fleury is a very good goaltender behind a very good team. He plays a lot of minutes for the Penguins and is heavily relied on during the season. I'm sure the Penguins front office is very happy with what they got, picking him first overall in 2003.

Roberto Luongo

Say what you will about Luongo but he is a great goaltender. Since the 08' campaign, he is 111-50-18 with a .920 save percentage and a 2.34 goals against average. "Bobby Lou" has been great in net for the 'Nucks since he arrived from Florida. He has won the Williams  M. Jennings trophy as well as been voted to 4 All Star games. He also won a gold medal with team Canada last year as the starter after replacing Martin Brodeur.  The one thing Roberto has never won is a Stanley Cup. He lead his Vancouver Canucks to game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals against Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins but they ultimately fell short and lost. I think Luongo is a good goalie, but falls just short of elite mostly because he has yet to win a Vezina or a Stanley Cup.

Ilya Bryzgalov

Ilya Bryzgalov is probably one of the most interesting goalies on this list. Playing in Phoenix the last three years, he quietly put up great numbers. He was 104-71-22 with a .903 save percentage and a 2.57 goals against average with the 'Yotes leading them to 2 playoff appearances. He has won a Stanley Cup (as a back-up) as well as a Bronze medal for Russia in 2002. Bryzgalov has also been nominated for a Vezina in his NHL career. While his numbers may not jump off the page, remember that he played for a team that hadn't made the playoffs in quite a while in Phoenix and was heavily relied upon (He started 78% of Phoenix's games since 2007). The Flyers gave up a lot of assets to acquire him last season. Hopefully he will help a good Flyers team achieve greatness.

Carey Price

The Montreal Canadiens had high hopes for Carey Price when they drafted him 5th overall in 2005. Price is 74-64-21 with a .915 save percentage and a 2.80 goals against average. While those numbers are not amazing, Price has played in front of a Canadiens team that has been O.K for the past couple of years and faces almost 30 shots a night. Playing in Montreal is a very hard thing to do, especially for a young goaltender. I feel that Price will get better as he plays more and gets older.

Pekka Rinne 

Pekka Rinne has become an elite goaltender over the past couple of seasons. Since 2008, Rinne is 94-53-20 with a .921 save percentage and a 2.33 goals against average. The 6'5" netminder has helped Nashville make the playoffs the past two years and last year helped them get farther than the franchise has ever gone. Pekka Rinne is a big part of Nashville's future considering they just gave him a 7 year contract worth 49 million dollars. If Nashville is to consistently make the playoffs, Rinne is going to have to keep up his stellar play.




Jonathan Quick

Probably the most appropriate last name for a goalie, Quick has been very good for the Los Angeles Kings since 2008. Quick is  95-67-12 with a .912 save percentage and a 2.57 goals against average. On January 1, 2010, Quick was picked to be the 3rd string goaltender for the United States in the 2010 Winter Olympics. He and his team left Vancouver with a silver medal. Quick is heavily relied on in Los Angeles, averaging 59 starts a year, with his most amount of starts coming in 2009-10 with a whooping 72 starts (87% of the season)! Quick is having another great season this year and is clearly one of the best young goaltenders in the game.




Antti Niemi

Antti Niemi may not be an obvious choice, but his Stanley Cup ring is hard to look past. Since 08' he is 62-26-11 with a .916 save percentage and a 2.36 goals against average. Niemi has not been a starter for long, but his numbers are great. During the 2009-2010 season, he became the first Finnish goaltender to win the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks. The next year, the San Jose Sharks signed him to a contract after parting ways with Evgeni Nabokov. In his first season with the Sharks, he finished the season with a 35-18-6 record and a .920 save percentage and a 2.38 goals against average. He almost helped lead the the San Jose Sharks make it to the Stanley Cup Finals being beat by the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference Finals. Niemi is going to be a big part of getting San Jose their first ever Stanley Cup.


Ryan Miller

One of the best American goalies in the game today, Ryan Miller is a great goaltender. Since 2008, he is 109-58-22 with a .921 save percentage and a 2.44 goals against average. Ryan Miller is probably best known for his amazing play for the United States during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He lead the underdog United States to the gold medal game only to be beaten by Canada in overtime. He was named tournament MVP posting a  .946 save percentage and a 1.35 goals against average. Along with a silver medal, Miller was awarded the Vezina Trophy in 2010. Miller is a great goaltender and is probably not far away from winning the Stanley Cup with his Buffalo teammates.





Those are my choices, feel free to let me know who I missed or if you see any statistical errors.


-Colorado Cross Checker