With the Olympics around the corner, there are some interesting positional battles heating up, but perhaps the most important and heated will be for the team USA net.
Going into the season it looked pretty set that Connor Hellebuyck would be the natural choice, but this season so far has seen two other American netminders steal the stage. John Gibson and my top pick Jack Campbell….
Why Campbell?
Have you seen him play this season?
Without Campbell the Maple Leafs would be a complete mess right now, and he has shown an ability to not only play great positional goal, but also make huge momentum changing saves with his quickness..
The goals against averages so far of the top contenders….
Hellebuyck 2.87 Gibson 2.49 Campbell 1.82
But this goes far deeper than the numbers…While Connor Hellebuyck is the most solid positionally of the three, and Gibson may be the most acrobatic, its Campbell who combines both traits and and has shown an ability to make bigger saves versus higher opportunity shots. Campbell reminds me more of previous American netminders Ryan Miller and Jon Quick.
Who is your starter?