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In this edition of the hotstove, we rank the top-5 goaltenders in the Eastern Conference.
Todd Cordell
1. Sergei Bobrovsky
Last season he led Eastern Conference goaltenders with a 93.71 save percentage at 5v5, which was 2.11% higher than his Expected Save Percentage of 91.53%. That gap was by far the largest in the league with John Gibson (+.97%) finishing 2nd. I don't think Bobrovsky received enough credit for how good he was.
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy
Vasilevskiy ranks 5th among 22 eligible goaltenders (6,000+ minutes) in save percentage over the last two seasons and he's yet to enter his prime.
3. Braden Holtby
His play was surprisingly underwhelming during the regular season but he looked like his usual self in the playoffs while leading the Capitals to a Stanley Cup. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume his save percentage will be back in the .920 range moving forward.
4. Henrik Lundqvist
The Rangers were an absolute tire fire defensively last season and Lundqvist still managed to post respectable numbers. He has some gas left in the tank.
5. Frederik Andersen
He seemed to wear out a bit down the stretch but, overall, had a really strong season playing behind a young, run-and-gun team that gave up plenty of chances in front of him.
Honorable mention: Carey Price. Though he was absolutely horrendous last season, I still think he can be one of the league's best goaltenders if he's healthy.
James Tanner
1. Sergei Bobrovsky. I think he's the best goalie in the world.
2. Carey Price. He's had a couple bad years, but when healthy, he's one of the most talented players to ever play the position. I predict a rebound and a surprisingly strong season from the Habs in general.
3. Braden Holtby - He almost single-handedly won his team a Stanley Cup, putting up some of the best playoff numbers of all-time. It's only because the Capitals were good for so long that their underdog performance last season goes unreported. Ovechkin gets the press and Holtby deserves it. You could rank him #1 and I wouldn't argue.
4. Andrei Vasilesvskiy - The numbers speak for themselves, and he's on one of the NHL's best teams. The order of these guys is pretty arbitrary, anyone of them could win the Vezina and Cup next year.
5. Frederik Andersen - His numbers don't really reflect just how brutal the Leafs defense was last year. Matthews missed 25% of the season and they were bottom five in shots against, yet somehow Andersen led them to a tie for sixth place overall. Maybe he doesn't look as good doing as the guys above him, but if he has another season like last year he's going to have to get elevated in these kinds of rankings.
Peter Tessier
Here they are the indisputable top 5 eastern conference goalies:
1. Bobrovsky- 65 games played 5 shutouts and a .921 gets my nod as number one.
2. Anderssen- 66 games played and 5 shutouts and .918. There's an argument to be made that he had the best season last year based on the calamity of the Leafs defense.
3. Vasilevsky- the 8 shutouts is impressive but with that defense and firepower up front does he have an advantage the other two don't?
4. Luongo- this might surprise many but he played in 35 games and had a .929 save %, imagine if he was healthy all year!
5. Rask- he had a good season with 34 wins in 53 starts and a .917 and that's worth being in the top five given the competition.
Honourable mention to Lundqvist, Kinkaid, and Holtby
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