In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on the most underrated goaltenders in the Western Conference.
Todd Cordell
I have two choices.
Up first is John Gibson. Most people realize he is quite good but I think he's developed into a high, high-end goaltender and still doesn't get enough credit for what he's done in Anaheim. Among goaltenders with 60+ starts since the beginning of 2016-17, only Sergei Bobrovsky and Andrei Vasilevskiy have higher save percentages than Gibson. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact he's spent the majority of the year playing behind an injury-battered Ducks team and has them in the playoffs in large part due to singlehandedly winning them a handful of games with 50, 49, 40 and 39 save performances. He's incredible.
My more under-the-radar choice is Aaron Dell. The sample size is small (34 games) but he owns a .931 save percentage for his career and has really made the most of the opportunities he's been given. He deserves some more work and is probably capable of taking the reigns and starting for a team in need of goaltending help.
Peter Tessier
For me, this is a toss-up between Carter Hutton and Aaron Dell, neither of whom is the starter for their teams but have played a decent number of games and have excelled.
Hutton leads the league in save percentage at .946 in 12 GP while Dell has a .931 in 14 games played.
At 5v5 Dell has a decent impressive .923 while Hutton has a .942. You can take either of these guys and say they are underrated but that's a bit unfair considering they are backups. Not so much if you realize that they have great records of 6-3-0(Hutton) and 7-3-0(Dell) which is what most coaches can hope for from back-ups.
However, the winner in my book is Malcolm Subban who has essentially come out of nowhere to help the Golden Knights. at 10-2-0 with a.922 the rookie keeper acquired on waivers has to be the biggest surprise and most underrated- he certainly was by his former team.
…‹…‹Recent posts