Ranking Each NHL Team’s Starting Goaltender

CREDIT: War On Ice

NHL Goalie Power Rankings: The Worst Of The Bunch

Cam Ward has been the worst regular starting goalie over the past three seasons. It’s hard to believe that he led the Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup just nine years ago. His 91.44% even-strength save percentage is the worst among the NHL goalies who figure to be starters for their team. His 92.00% even-strength adjusted save percentage is also the worst.

Ondrej Pavelec is coming off by far the best season of his career. In 50 regular season games for the Jets in 2014-15, Pavelec sported a 93% even-strength save percentage and a 93.74% even-strength adjusted save percentage. Both were by a significant margin the best of his career. However, one-year sample sizes for goalies can be deceiving. His three-year sample size puts him among the worst in the NHL. His 91.59% even-strength save percentage and 92.36% even-strength adjusted save percentage both place him as the second worst goalie in the NHL over the past three seasons. Is he for real? Perhaps. But he hasn’t really proven himself. That’s something he’ll look to do in 2015. He could be a nice buy-low target in fantasy, but tread carefully and have a plan B!

Ryan Miller is a perfect example of a goaltender whose reputation outweighs his production. He has been the third worst goalie in the NHL over the past three years when you look at his even-strength save percentage (91.84%) and the sixth worst judging by even-strength adjusted save percentage (92.73%). The reason I have him here? He’s aging and he’s already declining.

Karri Ramo of the Calgary Flames figures to be a part of Calgary’s goalie rotation. However, he shouldn’t be trusted too much because while he is a respectable backup and probably worthy of being an NHL starter somewhere, Hiller is clearly better. Ramo has the fourth lowest even-strength save percentage (91.85%) and seventh worst even-strength adjusted save percentage (92.85%) over the past three seasons.

Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes had an awful season in 2014-15. Usually, I’d overlook it. However, there’s the concern about his age: he’s 33. That’s a bad age to be if you’re an NHL goalie. Plus, he has been mostly trending downwards since 2011-2012. Over the past three seasons, he ranks 25th in even-strength save percentage (92.03%) and 22nd in even-strength adjusted save percentage (92.86%).

Next: Tier 5: The Fine