[News] NHL.com: Top 10 Goalies

[FanIn80]

Just to finish off the series I've been posting here. No Flames connection at all in this list.

Enjoy tearing Demko apart!

10. Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks

Demko was 14-14-4 with a 3.16 goals-against average, .901 save percentage and one shutout in 32 games last season, missing significant time due to injury. In 2021-22, he was among the NHL leaders in games (third) and wins (ninth), going 33-22-7 with a 2.72 GAA, .915 save percentage and one shutout in 64 games (61 starts). The 27-year-old is 81-67-15 with a 2.90 GAA and .910 save percentage in 168 NHL games (162 starts).

"I think he's going to just get better and better," said NHL Network analyst Bruce Boudreau, who coached Demko the previous two seasons. "He started out slow last year but I don't think he got a chance to train all summer because he was injured (in 2021-22) and when he started to get going after his injury midseason, then he became the Thatcher Demko that you want to see. ... He's got all the tools to make a really good goaltender."

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-current...es/c-345652978

[activeStick]

Demko is interesting. His best season is a 0.915 save percentage which is okay but not elite, however most Canuck fans speak of him like he's an elite goalie. I think he's good, but will never be a Vezina-calibre guy consistently. He's an over-rated goalie to me.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Demko is interesting. His best season is a 0.915 save percentage which is okay but not elite, however most Canuck fans speak of him like he's an elite goalie. I think he's good, but will never be a Vezina-calibre guy consistently. He's an over-rated goalie to me.

I've never looked at his advanced stats, but maybe he gets a ton of high danger shots or something. It would be interesting to see him on a team like Carolina or Boston (err is Boston even Boston anymore though without Bergeron and Krejci).

[mrdonkey]

Mason McDonald.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Demko is interesting. His best season is a 0.915 save percentage which is okay but not elite, however most Canuck fans speak of him like he's an elite goalie. I think he's good, but will never be a Vezina-calibre guy consistently. He's an over-rated goalie to me.

Guy, like Markstrom before him, is the only reason the team even competes in games, let alone wins. He sees high danger chances and stops them regularly while not giving up many soft goals. With an even slightly better team in front of him, his numbers would be unreal. His time hurt last year showed exactly how important he is.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

I've never looked at his advanced stats, but maybe he gets a ton of high danger shots or something. It would be interesting to see him on a team like Carolina or Boston (err is Boston even Boston anymore though without Bergeron and Krejci).

The year before last I believe he was near the top

Last year he was bad early but it seemed injury related, when he came back he was very good

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Yeah Demko had a good season 2 years ago. Not sure that and the belief of Canucks fans is enough to solidify him in the top 10.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Hard to believe Demko is already 27. A few more years and I'll hopefully forget about the other guy.

[redmile04]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Demko is interesting. His best season is a 0.915 save percentage which is okay but not elite, however most Canuck fans speak of him like he's an elite goalie. I think he's good, but will never be a Vezina-calibre guy consistently. He's an over-rated goalie to me.

Really bad defense and generally bad coaching though... look at Kipper stats under Keenan vs Sutter's ( both Darryl, Brent) years for example...

[Locke]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Just to finish off the series I've been posting here. No Flames connection at all in this list.

Uh...no kidding?

We had the worst goaltending in the League last season.

Top 10? If you start counting backups we werent even in the top 30.

[Samonadreau]

Canucks have been a tire fire defensively. Demko probably has better stats on 25 other teams in the nhl.

[GioforPM]

Once again, a "top in the NHL" list that looks at one year's work for a lot of guys.

But Demko? Hell, Skinner was better. Or Hill/Thompson. Or Jarry. Denko only played 32 games FFS.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Once again, a "top in the NHL" list that looks at one year's work.

Putting aside the fact that the list literally states this:

"NHL Network producers and analysts chose the top 10 goalies in the League right now..."

and that "last season" is almost always the best predictor of "this season"...

If they were only looking at "one year's work," then which year were they looking at? If you look at a joint ranking of wins + sav%, Vasliesky was 6th last year, but he's first on this list. Demko was 39th last year, but he's 10th on this list. Skinner was 10th last year, but he's nowhere near this list at all. Ulmark was 1st last year, 6th on this list.

Then if you reverse it to rank by sav% + wins, it's a whole different list. Ulmark still at #1 (so weird that the list only cares about one year, yet the best goalie in the NHL last year is only the 6th best on this list). Demko moves up to 23rd (10th on the list). Vasilesky drops completely out of the top 10, but he's still #1 on this list.

I guess I'm just confused. Like, if was to ask you which specific "one year's work" this list is focus on, which one would you have me look at?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Putting aside the fact that the list literally states this:

and that "last season" is almost always the best predictor of "this season"...

If they were only looking at "one year's work," then which year were they looking at? If you look at a joint ranking of wins + sav%, Vasliesky was 6th last year, but he's first on this list. Demko was 39th last year, but he's 10th on this list. Skinner was 10th last year, but he's nowhere near this list at all. Ulmark was 1st last year, 6th on this list.

Then if you reverse it to rank by sav% + wins, it's a whole different list. Ulmark still at #1 (so weird that the list only cares about one year, yet the best goalie in the NHL last year is only the 6th best on this list). Demko moves up to 23rd (10th on the list). Vasilesky drops completely out of the top 10, but he's still #1 on this list.

I guess I'm just confused. Like, if was to ask you which specific "one year's work" this list is focus on, which one would you have me look at?

IMO best goalie "right now" means - if you are starting a team, who do you pick as your goalie. So yes, I realize they sometimes look at more than one year, but to me it's too heavily weighted on one year's performance.

Demko being on the list is a mystery either way though.

[Oil Stain]

If you look at guys who played 90 games over the last three years you got this ranked by save %:

1.Linus Ullmark
2.Ilya Sorokin
3.Igor Shesterkin
4.Juuse Saros
5.Semyon Varlamov
6.Andrei Vasilevskiy
7.Jake Oettinger
8.Connor Hellebuyck
9.Darcy Kuemper
10.Tristan Jarry
11.Marc-Andre Fleury
12.Thatcher Demko
13.Alexandar Georgiev
14.Frederik Andersen
15.Vitek Vanecek
16.Cam Talbot
17.Jacob Markstrom
18.Alex Nedeljkovic
19.Sergei Bobrovsky
20.Ilya Samsonov

Ranked by goals saved above average:
1 Juuse Saros
2 Igor Shesterkin
3 Ilya Sorokin
4 Linus Ullmark
5 Andrei Vasilevskiy
6 Connor Hellebuyck
7 Jake Oettinger
8 Semyon Varlamov
9 Darcy Kuemper
10 Tristan Jarry
11 Marc-Andre Fleury
12 Thatcher Demko
13 Alexandar Georgiev
14 Frederik Andersen
15 Vitek Vanecek
16 Cam Talbot
17 Jacob Markstrom
18 Alex Nedeljkovic
19 Sergei Bobrovsky
20 Jack Campbell

Varlamov gets the shaft here.

[GioforPM]

Varlamov gets the shaft because he’s not the 1G on his team.

[Bingo]

Three years, goalies with 3500+ min

Goals Saved Above Average / 60

1 Linus Ullmark
2 Juuse Saros
3 Ilya Sorokin
4 Igor Shesterkin
5 Jeremy Swayman
6 Thatcher Demko
7 Andrei Vasilevskiy
8 Connor Hellebuyck
9 Alexandar Georgiev
10 Semyon Varlamov
11 Marc-Andre Fleury
12 Jake Oettinger
13 Tristan Jarry
14 Vitek Vanecek
15 Alex Nedeljkovic
16 Frederik Andersen
17 Darcy Kuemper
18 Casey DeSmith
19 Anton Forsberg
20 Cam Talbot
21 Sergei Bobrovsky
22 Kevin Lankinen
23 Jacob Markstrom
24 Ilya Samsonov
25 Ville Husso
26 Carter Hart
27 Jack Campbell
28 Thomas Greiss
29 Cal Petersen
30 Jordan Binnington

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

Canucks have been a tire fire defensively. Demko probably has better stats on 25 other teams in the nhl.

This. The Canucks will always drag down his numbers so long as he remains there. Few teams are worse at defending. Hughes is the worst-defending top pairing defender I've seen in some time. He should've been a forward like his brother.

Sometimes the team in front can hold a goalie back. Even the best goalie not in the NHL Dustin Wolf couldn't overcome the absence of D exhibited by the Wranglers in the playoffs.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Three years, goalies with 3500+ min

Goals Saved Above Average / 60

1 Linus Ullmark
2 Juuse Saros
3 Ilya Sorokin
4 Igor Shesterkin
5 Jeremy Swayman
6 Thatcher Demko
7 Andrei Vasilevskiy
8 Connor Hellebuyck
9 Alexandar Georgiev
10 Semyon Varlamov
11 Marc-Andre Fleury
12 Jake Oettinger
13 Tristan Jarry
14 Vitek Vanecek
15 Alex Nedeljkovic
16 Frederik Andersen
17 Darcy Kuemper
18 Casey DeSmith
19 Anton Forsberg
20 Cam Talbot
21 Sergei Bobrovsky
22 Kevin Lankinen
23 Jacob Markstrom
24 Ilya Samsonov
25 Ville Husso
26 Carter Hart
27 Jack Campbell
28 Thomas Greiss
29 Cal Petersen
30 Jordan Binnington

Maybe the Flames should have just stuck with Talbot. Markstrom hasn't really been an upgrade.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Maybe the Flames should have just stuck with Talbot. Markstrom hasn't really been an upgrade.

Talbot has never been in the Vezina conversation, so I'd argue his ceiling isn't as high.

But when it comes to save per dollar you would certainly have a point.