Updated September 16, 2026
An elite starting goalie can carry an NHL team a long way. But over an 84-game regular season, the player behind him matters too.
Some teams enter 2026–27 with a clear No. 1 and dependable backup. Others have true tandems, open competitions or three goalies fighting for two jobs.
Here is how all 32 NHL goalie situations stack up entering the season, based primarily on the quality of the starter, the reliability of the No. 2 and how much confidence the team should have in the crease as a whole.
Rank | Team | No. 1 | No. 2 | Other Option |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Winnipeg Jets | Connor Hellebuyck | Stuart Skinner | — |
2 | Washington Capitals | Logan Thompson | Charlie Lindgren | — |
3 | Dallas Stars | Jake Oettinger | Casey DeSmith | Remi Poirier |
4 | Colorado Avalanche | Scott Wedgewood | Mackenzie Blackwood | Ilya Nabokov |
5 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Andrei Vasilevskiy | Dennis Hildeby | — |
6 | New York Rangers | Igor Shesterkin | Joonas Korpisalo | Dylan Garand |
7 | Buffalo Sabres | Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | Alex Lyon | Colten Ellis |
8 | Boston Bruins | Jeremy Swayman | Michael DiPietro | — |
9 | New York Islanders | Ilya Sorokin | Semyon Varlamov | Vitek Vanecek |
10 | St. Louis Blues | Joel Hofer | Jordan Binnington | — |
11 | Montreal Canadiens | Jakub Dobes | Sam Montembeault | Jacob Fowler |
12 | Minnesota Wild | Jesper Wallstedt | Calvin Pickard | Filip Gustavsson |
13 | Ottawa Senators | Linus Ullmark | Samuel Ersson | Leevi Merilainen |
14 | Los Angeles Kings | Darcy Kuemper | Anton Forsberg | Erik Portillo |
15 | Utah Mammoth | Karel Vejmelka | Sebastian Cossa | — |
16 | Philadelphia Flyers | Dan Vladar | Joseph Woll | — |
17 | Vegas Golden Knights | Carter Hart | Adin Hill | — |
18 | Carolina Hurricanes | Brandon Bussi | Pyotr Kochetkov | — |
19 | Florida Panthers | Jacob Markstrom | Akira Schmid | — |
20 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Sergei Bobrovsky | Anthony Stolarz | — |
21 | Anaheim Ducks | Lukas Dostal | Ville Husso | Laurent Brossoit |
22 | Nashville Predators | Juuse Saros | Justus Annunen | — |
23 | Vancouver Canucks | Thatcher Demko | Kevin Lankinen | Nikita Tolopilo |
24 | Chicago Blackhawks | Spencer Knight | Arvid Soderblom | — |
25 | Columbus Blue Jackets | Jet Greaves | Pheonix Copley | Elvis Merzlikins |
26 | San Jose Sharks | Yaroslav Askarov | Alex Nedeljkovic | Eric Comrie |
27 | Detroit Red Wings | John Gibson | Daniil Tarasov | Trey Augustine |
28 | Seattle Kraken | Joey Daccord | Philipp Grubauer | — |
29 | Calgary Flames | Dustin Wolf | Devin Cooley | Arsenii Sergeev |
30 | Edmonton Oilers | Frederik Andersen | Tristan Jarry | Devon Levi |
31 | New Jersey Devils | Jake Allen | Nico Daws | David Rittich |
32 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Arturs Silovs | Sergei Murashov | Joel Blomqvist |
This is not a ranking of the NHL's 32 best starting goalies.
Three things matter most:
No. 1 quality: How much confidence should a team have in its lead goalie over a full season and, ideally, a playoff run?
No. 2 quality: Can the second goalie actually carry a meaningful workload when the starter rests, struggles or gets hurt?
Stability: Recent performance, health, workload and credible alternatives all matter.
That means a team with a top-five starter can rank below a team with two strong options.
No. 1: Hellebuyck remains one of the safest bets in hockey. Over the past four seasons, he leads NHL goalies in wins and owns a .916 save percentage across 244 games.
No. 2: Skinner arrives after going 23-17-9 last season. His .888 save percentage wasn't good enough, but he has handled starter-level workloads and gives Winnipeg considerably more experience behind Hellebuyck.
The situation: This ranking starts with the best combination of elite starter quality and proven insurance. The uncertainty around Hellebuyck's longer-term future is worth watching, but as currently constructed, Winnipeg has the strongest crease. As it stands now, Hellebuyck won't show up for training camp, so ranking them no. 1 is perhaps a weird one. But we're ranking tandems here and looking at strictly the players, then this is the strongest tandem as we enter the season (but whether Connor Hellebuyck will play another single game for the Jets is a different story).
No. 1: Thompson has moved firmly into the elite tier. He went 31-21-6 with a .912 save percentage last season and finished fourth in Vezina voting for the second straight year.
No. 2: Lindgren gives Washington an experienced backup who already knows the system and is projected for a meaningful workload again.
The situation: Thompson is no longer merely outperforming expectations. He's one of the NHL's best goalies, and Washington doesn't have a major question behind him.
Oettinger's .899 save percentage last season was the worst of his career, but that shouldn't erase the larger body of work. He still won 35 games and remains a high-end starter entering his age-27 season.
The interesting part is DeSmith. He actually outperformed Oettinger statistically last year, going 15-8-6 with a 2.43 GAA and .907 save percentage.That makes Dallas unusually well protected if Oettinger has another inconsistent stretch. Remi Poirier also gives the organization another option after a strong AHL season.
This might be the most surprising ranking on the list.
Wedgewood and Blackwood shared the Jennings Trophy after Colorado allowed the fewest goals in the NHL. Wedgewood led qualifying goalies with a 2.02 GAA and .921 save percentage, while Blackwood returned from injury to post the best GAA of his NHL career.
The obvious question is repeatability. Neither entered last season carrying the reputation of an elite NHL starter. Based on what they actually did in 2025–26, however, it's difficult to justify ranking this tandem much lower.
Vasilevskiy won his second Vezina Trophy after going 39-15-4 with a 2.31 GAA and .912 save percentage.
That's enough to put Tampa near the top by itself.
The reason the Lightning aren't higher is the drop behind him. Hildeby is the new backup and doesn't carry anything close to the track record of Skinner, DeSmith or Colorado's second goalie.
Tampa has one of the NHL's best answers to “Who starts Game 7?” The question is how much support Vasilevskiy gets over 84 games.
Even during another poor Rangers season, Shesterkin posted a .912 save percentage and remained among the NHL's best goalies at 5-on-5.
Korpisalo replaces Jonathan Quick as the likely backup after going 14-9-6 with an .894 save percentage for Boston last season. Dylan Garand could challenge him.
The difference between Shesterkin and his backup is significant, but an elite No. 1 covers a lot of problems. New York's biggest question is everything in front of him, not Shesterkin himself.
Buffalo's goaltending quietly became a major strength last season.
Luukkonen, Lyon and Colten Ellis combined to give the Sabres the NHL's third-best team save percentage, while Luukkonen finished with a .910 mark in 34 starts.
The playoffs weren't nearly as convincing, and Lindy Ruff rotated his goalies as Buffalo struggled against Montreal. But unlike several teams below them, the Sabres have three credible options rather than one goalie carrying the entire position.
Swayman's bounce-back season did a lot to change the picture in Boston. He was a Vezina finalist after going 31-18-4 and led the NHL with 38 quality starts.
Behind him is the question.
Michael DiPietro is currently projected as the backup following Korpisalo's departure. That makes this much more reliant on Swayman than some of the tandems above it.
Boston has a genuine high-end No. 1. It doesn't yet have the same certainty at No. 2.
Sorokin remains one of the league's best despite posting a career-low .906 save percentage last season. He still led the NHL with seven shutouts and finished second in Vezina voting.
The concern is Varlamov, who had both knees replaced and carries obvious health uncertainty. Vitek Vanecek was signed as insurance.
If Varlamov is healthy, this ranking could be too low. If he isn't, Sorokin may again be asked to carry a very heavy burden.
This isn't automatically Binnington's crease anymore.
Hofer went 12-2-2 with a 2.04 GAA and .933 save percentage after the Olympic break and enters the season with a legitimate chance to establish himself as St. Louis' No. 1.
Binnington still gives the Blues a highly experienced second option.
The result is exactly what a tandem ranking should reward: St. Louis doesn't necessarily have a top-five individual goalie, but it has two players the coaching staff can realistically trust.
Dobes went from backup to playoff starter during a remarkable rookie season, winning 29 games before starting all 19 of Montreal's postseason games.
Now comes the harder part: proving he can do it again.
Montembeault gives Montreal an experienced second option, while top prospect Jacob Fowler is close enough to the NHL that he could enter the picture quickly.
The Canadiens don't yet have a proven elite starter, but they may have one of the deepest collections of viable goalie options in the league.
This ranking would probably be higher if Filip Gustavsson were healthy.
Wallstedt had a .916 save percentage in 35 games as a rookie and then started 10 of Minnesota's 11 playoff games. That's an exceptional first full NHL season.
Gustavsson is expected to miss the start of the year following hip surgery, leaving Pickard as the immediate backup.
Long term, Wallstedt/Gustavsson could become one of the NHL's best tandems. Entering opening night, the injury pushes Minnesota down.
Ullmark remains the clear No. 1 in Ottawa, while Ersson arrives from Philadelphia to replace the previous backup structure.
This is a fairly conventional tandem: an established starter and a younger goalie capable of handling a meaningful number of games.
There isn't the upside of Colorado's two-goalie setup or Montreal's prospect depth, but there also isn't an obvious crisis. Ottawa should feel reasonably comfortable here.
Twelve months ago this was simple: Kuemper was the starter and Forsberg was the backup.
Last season changed that.
Forsberg posted a .910 save percentage and then started every Kings playoff game, while Kuemper's performance dropped significantly following an injury.
The Kings now have an actual competition rather than a fixed hierarchy. That's not necessarily bad. Both have proven they can play NHL starter minutes, and Forsberg's 2025–26 season gives Los Angeles a legitimate alternative if Kuemper doesn't rebound.
Vejmelka has quietly developed into a reliable NHL workhorse and is projected for one of the league's larger workloads again.
Cossa is the interesting part.
The former first-round pick now has an opportunity to establish himself at the NHL level after Utah reshaped its goalie situation. He doesn't need to take Vejmelka's job immediately. He needs to prove he can become the long-term answer.
That gives Utah a good current starter and significantly more upside behind him than several teams below.
Vladar was one of last season's biggest goalie surprises. In his first year as a full-time starter, he went 29-18-4 and finished third among goalies with at least 30 appearances with a 2.42 GAA.
Philadelphia then traded for Woll to strengthen the position further.
Woll's .899 save percentage wasn't impressive, but the Flyers don't need him to carry the crease. They need him to be more dependable than the alternatives behind Vladar last season.
This could quietly become one of the league's better true tandems.
Vegas enters the season planning to use both goalies.
Hart finished last season strongly and is projected as the No. 1, while Hill has started at least 25 games in four consecutive seasons with Vegas.
There is enough experience here to make the tandem credible, but neither goalie enters 2026–27 with the same certainty as the elite starters near the top of this list.
Vegas doesn't necessarily need one goalie to dominate the workload. It needs one of them to get hot when the games matter most.
The defending Stanley Cup champions have one of the most interesting goalie questions in the NHL.
Bussi went 31-6-2 as a rookie and then produced a .931 save percentage after taking over during the Cup Final. That's a remarkable start to a career.
But his regular-season save percentage was only .895, and now Frederik Andersen is gone.
Kochetkov has flashed starter-level ability but played only nine NHL games last season because of injury.
There is upside everywhere. There just isn't much certainty yet.
Florida completely rebuilt its crease after Sergei Bobrovsky left for Toronto.
Markstrom brings the track record, but he is coming off a difficult season in New Jersey. Schmid produced the better goal differential last year and gives Florida a younger alternative.
Neither goalie was above the NHL average in high-danger save percentage last season.
Florida's defensive environment should help, but this is far more of a projection than the Panthers were accustomed to during the Bobrovsky years.
And speaking of which... this Toronto tandem may be one of the harder tandem to rank.
Bobrovsky is a two-time Vezina winner and immediately becomes Toronto's No. 1 after signing a three-year deal. He's also 37 and coming off a season in which he posted a 3.07 GAA and .877 save percentage.
Stolarz gives Toronto a credible second option and prevents this from becoming an all-or-nothing bet on Bobrovsky.
The pedigree says this should rank higher. The most recent results say caution is warranted.
Dostal is now firmly Anaheim's goalie.
The Ducks made the playoffs last season, and Dostal enters 2026–27 projected for another large workload. NHL.com has him inside its top 25 goalie rankings entering the year.
Husso provides veteran insurance, with Laurent Brossoit another possibility.
Anaheim's trajectory is encouraging, but this is still primarily a bet on Dostal continuing to develop into an above-average NHL starter.
Saros is the interesting contradiction here.
He remains one of the NHL's biggest workhorses and led the league with 1,519 saves last season. But he has now finished below .900 in save percentage in consecutive seasons.
Annunen provides the backup option, but Nashville's ranking is primarily tied to one question:
Can Saros get back to being the goalie who spent years among the NHL's most reliable starters?
If he does, No. 22 will look much too low.
At their best, this tandem belongs much higher.
Demko was a Vezina finalist in 2023–24. The problem is getting him onto the ice. He has played only 43 games over the past two seasons and underwent hip surgery in January.
Lankinen is precisely why Vancouver can survive that uncertainty. He has already shown he can handle a bigger role when Demko isn't available.
The talent isn't the concern. But availability is a different story.
Knight gives Chicago a legitimate young starter as its rebuild begins to turn toward competing.
Soderblom returns behind him, giving the Blackhawks continuity rather than forcing another young goalie into the NHL.
This is a difficult pair to rank because Chicago's team environment has made evaluating its goalies difficult for years.
Knight has enough talent to push this group upward. For now, there isn't enough high-level performance to move it into the top half.
Greaves earned the No. 1 job last season.
After entering the year with only 21 NHL games behind him, he played 55 and finished 26-19-9 with a .908 save percentage.
That's encouraging.
The problem is what comes behind him. Elvis Merzlikins is out indefinitely following shoulder surgery, leaving veteran Pheonix Copley as the immediate backup.
Greaves may be the answer. Columbus just doesn't have much insulation if he isn't.
This is almost entirely about what Askarov becomes.
San Jose finally has a young team capable of taking a significant step, and the former first-round goalie now gets an opportunity to establish himself as the clear No. 1.
Nedeljkovic provides experienced backup support, with Eric Comrie another possibility.
The long-term outlook could be excellent. The current ranking reflects how much of Askarov's NHL résumé still has to be written.
Gibson actually gave Detroit a reasonably solid first season, playing 57 games, winning 29 and recording 27 quality starts.
That makes this ranking more about the overall ceiling than a disastrous No. 1 situation.
Tarasov arrives as the second option, while highly regarded prospect Trey Augustine remains part of the longer-term picture.
Detroit can survive with this tandem. The question is whether merely surviving in goal is enough for a team still trying to end a decade-long playoff drought.
Daccord has become the clear positive here.
He has posted three straight seasons with more than 45 appearances and owns a .907 save percentage over the past three seasons.
The problem is that Seattle still hasn't developed an especially convincing overall goalie situation behind him. Grubauer remains the second option, but the Kraken increasingly need Daccord to carry the position.
He's good enough to do that. The tandem as a whole remains difficult to rank much higher.
Wolf's second full NHL season was significantly more difficult than his first.
After posting a .910 save percentage as a rookie and finishing as a Calder finalist, he slipped to .899 last season while making 55 starts.
That isn't enough to abandon the long-term outlook. Wolf is still only entering his mid-20s and remains Calgary's clear answer in goal.
The concern is that Devin Cooley gives the Flames very little proven NHL insulation behind him. Calgary needs Wolf to rebound.
Edmonton made another attempt to solve its goalie problem by signing Andersen.
The results last season were bizarre. Andersen posted an .874 save percentage during the regular season for Carolina and then went 13-2 with a .910 save percentage during the Hurricanes' Stanley Cup run.
He also enters the season with an injury concern and turns 37 in October.
Tristan Jarry is currently projected behind him, with Devon Levi also in the organization.
There's experience here. There is very little certainty.
New Jersey traded Jacob Markstrom and turned one of its most important positions into an open competition.
Allen, 36, is expected to open the season as the starter. Daws finally gets a meaningful opportunity to prove he can become more than a prospect, while David Rittich provides veteran insurance.
There isn't an obvious high-end No. 1 here.
If Daws breaks out, this could work. If he doesn't, the Devils may find themselves trying to solve the position again during the season.
Pittsburgh might have the least proven crease in the league.
Silovs is currently projected as the starter after signing a new one-year deal, while rookie Sergei Murashov is projected behind him. Joel Blomqvist remains another young option.
There is upside in the group, particularly with Murashov, but almost everything is projection.
For a Penguins team still built around Sidney Crosby, that makes goaltending one of the biggest variables entering 2026–27.
The best starter doesn't automatically create the best tandem. Vasilevskiy, Shesterkin and Sorokin remain among hockey's elite, but the uncertainty behind them matters when we're ranking the whole crease rather than one player.
Colorado might have the NHL's most interesting tandem. Wedgewood and Blackwood entered last season without superstar billing and finished with the Jennings Trophy after Colorado allowed the fewest goals in hockey.
Young goalies are starting to take over. Wallstedt, Dobes, Greaves, Askarov, Knight, Wolf, Dostal and Cossa all have a chance to significantly change these rankings over the next couple of seasons.
Several contenders are taking real risks in goal. Carolina lost Andersen after winning the Stanley Cup, Florida replaced Bobrovsky with Markstrom and Schmid, and Edmonton is betting on a 37-year-old Andersen after another offseason overhaul.
