This article is part of our Crashing the Crease series.
With a new year here and World Juniors well underway, now seems like a good time to take a look at the future of NHL goaltending on display in the tournament.
The standout performer in goal at the WJC has been an unexpected one: Veini Vehvilainen, who's started all six games for Finland, delivering a spectacular 1.51 GAA and .931 save percentage. Just 19 years old (until next month, anyway), Vehvilainen wasn't drafted when eligible in 2015 and 2016 despite being Central Scouting's sixth-ranked international goaltender coming into the latter draft. He's bounced between Finland's SM-liiga (the top pro level) and Mestis (comparable to the AHL) this year, actually posting better numbers for the big team. This tournament performance should launch him into a big spring and an NHL contract sometime in the coming months.
Russia's Ilya Samsonov is a much better-known name, as he's probably the best goalie prospect in hockey right now. Samsonov has sparkled in four outings of his own, posting two shutouts and a .922 composite save mark; he's only given up four even-strength goals. The 19-year-old from Magnitogorsk has been absolutely incredible playing against much older competition in the KHL this year, compiling a .936 save mark to go with a 12-1-3 record for Metallurg.
Sweden's Felix Sandstrom – a third-round pick by the Flyers in 2015 – has been an even-strength brick wall as well, giving up only three such goals over four contests (as well as four power-play tallies), leading to a
With a new year here and World Juniors well underway, now seems like a good time to take a look at the future of NHL goaltending on display in the tournament.
The standout performer in goal at the WJC has been an unexpected one: Veini Vehvilainen, who's started all six games for Finland, delivering a spectacular 1.51 GAA and .931 save percentage. Just 19 years old (until next month, anyway), Vehvilainen wasn't drafted when eligible in 2015 and 2016 despite being Central Scouting's sixth-ranked international goaltender coming into the latter draft. He's bounced between Finland's SM-liiga (the top pro level) and Mestis (comparable to the AHL) this year, actually posting better numbers for the big team. This tournament performance should launch him into a big spring and an NHL contract sometime in the coming months.
Russia's Ilya Samsonov is a much better-known name, as he's probably the best goalie prospect in hockey right now. Samsonov has sparkled in four outings of his own, posting two shutouts and a .922 composite save mark; he's only given up four even-strength goals. The 19-year-old from Magnitogorsk has been absolutely incredible playing against much older competition in the KHL this year, compiling a .936 save mark to go with a 12-1-3 record for Metallurg.
Sweden's Felix Sandstrom – a third-round pick by the Flyers in 2015 – has been an even-strength brick wall as well, giving up only three such goals over four contests (as well as four power-play tallies), leading to a 1.75 GAA and .917 save mark. That's not the same spectacular figure we've gotten from the two guys on top, but it's still one of the tournament's finest marks, and Sandstrom's the kind of guy you can still pick up for nothing in a lot of keeper/dynasty formats. He's shown major improvement while playing pro hockey in Sweden this year, putting up a 2.00 GAA and .918 save mark for Brynas IF.
Finally, let's give some credit to the Americans: Tyler Parsons and Joseph Woll have split Team USA's five games, and both of them have been outstanding. Woll's been the better one despite getting the short end of the starts, stopping 43 of 46 shots over two games for a .935 save mark and 1.50 GAA; that takes nothing away from Parsons, who has a .917 save mark and 1.67 GAA of his own. Both these guys have likely NHL futures: Parsons was a second-round pick by the Flames in 2016 and is playing well in the OHL (11-2-2, .916 save mark), while Woll was the Leafs' 2016 third-rounder and is excelling at Boston College as a freshman (10-6-1, .917 save mark).
Alright, now let's discuss the big boys.
Top Performers
John Gibson, ANA – Gibson's 51-save New Year's Eve performance against the Flyers was plenty enough to make us forget that he'd lost three of his prior four starts, and hey, he took all those games to overtime before being defeated. Over his last six outings, Gibson has a 2.26 GAA and .926 save mark.
Ryan Miller, VAN – Miller took home one of those OT wins against Gibson, part of a three-game winning streak over the last week in which he posted a 1.63 GAA and .944 save mark. It's been a rocky season for the veteran, and it's still hard to recommend him as a fantasy starter, but he's capable of putting together strong stretches here and there.
Tuukka Rask, BOS – The Finn went through an inconsistent December, at one point posting five sub-.900 save marks in a span of 10 games, but he's gotten it together over his past three starts, going 2-1-0 with a 1.67 GAA and .941 save mark. Thanks to his white-hot early run, Rask still owns some of the league's top netminding stats – he's tied for second in wins (19), alone in third in GAA (1.93), and sixth in save percentage (.928).
Three Rising
Cory Schneider, NJD – After taking a pair of losses against the Penguins and then getting protected from two starts against the Capitals, Schneider got back out there for both ends of a back-to-back set Monday and Tuesday, stopping a composite 51 of 52 shots en route to wins over the Bruins and Hurricanes. Is this the turnaround we've been waiting for? It's hard to say for sure, but perhaps the turn of the calendar has allowed Schneider to himself turn the page and return to his typical dominant ways. After all, we're talking about a guy who's posted save marks of .921 or better for six straight seasons. I wouldn't bet against him making it seven even if he's at .908 right now.
Kari Lehtonen, DAL – The Stars' netminding situation is finally starting to resolve itself thanks to Lehtonen, who'll draw his fourth start in five games against Montreal on Wednesday. He appeared in the other one to relieve Antti Niemi, stopping all 18 shots he faced – part of a composite .950 save mark over the past four contests. The two goalies do still have fairly comparable stats, so this probably won't be the last swing in playing time we see here.
Juuse Saros, NAS – This one's a hunch. Saros shut the Blues out Friday, continuing a strong start to his NHL career – he's 3-2-1 with a 1.16 GAA and .957 save percentage. Those are sick numbers even in a small sample, and they come at an interesting time, as Pekka Rinne is 34 years old and has been highly inconsistent, including an .886 save mark over his past 11 games.
Three Falling
Henrik Lundqvist, NYR – After retaking his net in the aftermath of Antti Raanta's four-start stretch with three spectacular efforts in a row, Lundqvist has fallen off the wagon again. He's allowed 10 goals on just 59 shots in his last three starts, leaving his numbers still lagging behind Raanta's. It'll likely be the Finnish backup starting Wednesday in Philadelphia.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TAM – This was supposed to be Vasilevskiy's time to make Ben Bishop look disposable while out with an injury, but it hasn't been working out that way. The young Russian's last five starts have seen him go 2-2-1 with a 3.31 GAA and .887 save percentage – and if you take it back 12 starts, the stats get even uglier. His hot start seems like a distant memory.
Calvin Pickard, COL – I mentioned both Vasilevskiy and Pickard when I filled in here last month as guys who were failing to take advantage of their opportunities to carve out additional playing time – even starter's minutes. Well, they're still both in the same boat – Semyon Varlamov is hurt and Pickard is starting for the Avs, but it's not going well. He's lost four straight, putting up an .856 save mark in that time, and Colorado looks like the worst team in the league.
