TAMPA, Fla. — The hosts of the Locked on NHL podcast recently voted on the top five players at each position, and it's time to look at the goalie rankings.
Here's the top 5:
- Andrei Vasilevskiy - Tampa Bay Lightning
- Igor Shesterkin - New York Rangers
- Connor Hellebuyck - Winnipeg Jets
- Juuse Saros - Nashville Predators
- Ilya Sorokin - New York Islanders
Hunter Hodies of Locked on Penguins argues Sorokin is criminally underrated here.
"(Sorokin) is a top three goalie in this league," Hodies states. "He is an absolute machine. He's the biggest reason the Islanders made the playoffs last season. If he did not have the season he had, they'd be closer to a lottery team."
Jay Forster of Locked on Blue Jackets would have put Shesterkin and Sorokin at the top, calling him "more ordinary" over the past few seasons.
What immediately jumps off the page here is a lack of Linus Ullmark, who just won the Vezina Trophy with the Boston Bruins.
That seems to be a function of overall team success for the Bruins in 2022-23 and a belief that he'll be in line for some regression this season, as will the team as a whole.
Here's how the rest of the goalie voting went:
6. Linus Ullmark
7. Jake Oettinger
8. Alex Georgiev
9. Filip Gustavsson
10. Stuart Skinner
11. Sergei Bobrovsky
12. Jacob Markstrom
13. Jeremy Swayman
14. Carter Hart
Bobrovsky clearly got a bump from his spectacular playoff performance that took the Florida Panthers all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, while Markstrom may be a bit of a legacy vote after a fairly disappointing season for the Calgary Flames.
Carter Hart is also an interesting case as his promising trajectory has been stalled by injury issues and as a result of playing for a rather abysmal Philadelphia Flyers team over the past few years.
Don't forget this, either: Hellebuyck could be a free agent next summer. What a prize signing that would be.