How many true No. 1 goaltenders are in NHL?

For all the ways we can analyze and dissect hockey and its players these days, it’s still easy to throw your hands up and say we don’t know anything about goalies.

From the way their performance can vary year to year to climbing inside the mind of somebody who wants to dive in front of frozen rubber in the first place, the NHL’s masked men can still seem like a slightly unknowable group.

One thing we can say with some certainty, though, it sure seems like it’s getting harder and harder to play the position. The offensive exploits we’ve seen in the NHL the past couple of years may delight fans, but it’s doing no favours to the netminders tasked with stopping pucks that are coming off sticks with more zip and accuracy than ever, often after pre-shot movement that forces a goalie to fling himself from one side of the crease to another.

A decade ago, in the 2014-15 season, 16 goalies posted a save percentage of .920 or better while appearing in at least 35 games. This past season, a single stopper — Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets — met that criteria. Zoom out, and you’ll see that, from 2009-10 through 2018-19, an average of 9.6 goalies per season played 35 games and went over .920 in that decade-long stretch. In the past half-decade, beginning in 2019-20, that average drops to 3.6.

Couple that with the fact that even the top stoppers tend to find themselves in more of a crease share than ever before, and it’s clear our definition of what makes a true No. 1 goalie requires redefining from 10 years ago and certainly from the era just before that, when the likes of Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, and Henrik Lundqvist would routinely appear in upwards of 75 games for their clubs.

That raises two questions: What exactly constitutes a No. 1 stopper these days, and just how many of them are out there? To answer the first part of the question, we scoured sites like NHL.com, Hockey Reference, Moneypuck and Natural Stat Trick to cull stats both normie and fancy. Rather than set across-the-board bars that must be cleared in a number of disparate categories, we pulled a key stat or fact to make the case a certain guy was worthy of being designated a No. 1 goalie.

As for the second part of the equation, just remember that — as is the case with No. 1 centres and defencemen — just because there are 32 clubs in the league doesn’t mean there are that same number of real No. 1s.

With that in mind, here’s our list of nine goalies who get the No. 1 tag.

Key Stat: Goals-saved above average (GSAA) leader dating back to the start of the 2022-23 season (62.9)

Hellebuyck won his second career Vezina Trophy in 2024, and the Jets netminder has been a finalist for the award in each of the past two seasons and four times overall. The 31-year-old has played 190 games in the past three seasons, second only to Juuse Saros (195), and his 123 quality starts in that same timeframe are the best in the NHL. At six-foot-four and over 200 pounds, he’s probably on the poster for what you look for in a No. 1 man.

Key Stat: 921 career save percentage, best among active goalies

Shesterkin has not been able to match the numbers he posted while winning the 2022 Vezina — .935 save percentage, 2.07 goals-against average — but he remains one of the best in the business. His 79.5 GSAA in the past three seasons leads the NHL. In addition to his regular season success, Shesterkin’s .928 post-season save percentage is the best mark of any active goalie with at least 20 career playoff showings.

Key Stat: Games played leader (or co-leader) in each of the past three seasons

Saros is an innings-eater who hasn’t finished lower than sixth in Vezina voting in any of the past four seasons. At five-foot-11, he’s also basically singlehandedly proving that there’s still some place in the NHL world for goalies under six-feet. His 118 quality starts in the past three campaigns rank second only behind Hellebuyck (123).

Key Stat: .924 save percentage since the start of 2021-22, best in the league

The 2023 Vezina winner has been remarkably consistent. Ullmark’s GSAA in the past two years (62.3) is just a hair behind Connor Hellebuyck (62.9), which is pretty impressive given the former played 35 fewer games than the latter and, thus, had less opportunity to run up his number. Of course, if you are going to ding Ullmark, it’s for the fact he’s never played 50 games in a year and has played 41 — half his team’s games — on just two occasions.

Ullmark’s .919 career save percentage is second among active goalies with at least 200 contests behind Igor Shesterkin (.921). The 31-year-old Swede’s .848 high-danger save percentage since the start of 2022-23 is tops in the NHL.

Key Stat: .850 high-danger save percentage since the start of 2021-22, best in the NHL

Sorokin had a down year this past season, but don’t forget he was a fringy MVP candidate in 2022-23 when he was runnerup behind Linus Ullmark for the Vezina. The 28-year-old Russian has a career save percentage of .919 in 192 outings and last year’s .908 mark was the only time he’s dipped below .918 in four NHL seasons. His 76 quality starts in the past two seasons is second behind only Hellebuyck (84).

Key Stat: Sixth in GSAA from 2021-22 through 2022-23.

This is more than a legacy case, though it sure doesn’t hurt that he’s the most accomplished goalie on this list with two Cups, a Vezina and a Conn Smythe Trophy on his resume. Vasilevskiy underwent back surgery in training camp last year and didn’t debut until the end of November. You can’t throw out his most recent, underwhelming campaign (.900 save percentage in 2023-24), but you do have to place it in proper context. His underlying numbers were somewhere between good and fantastic in the two seasons before this past one. Having just turned 30 in July, ‘Big Cat’ has a great opportunity to prove whatever doubters are out there wrong with a full, healthy training camp to prepare for next season.

Key Stat: 28 quality playoff starts since the start of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, most in the league

The oldest guy on this list is more than 10 years removed from his first Vezina Trophy, but his work in the Panthers crease the past two springs shows ‘Bob’ can still be the man. Only four goalies had a better save percentage than Bobrovsky’s .915 mark this past season. There have been times in the second half of his career when Bobrovsky — one of only two active two-time Vezina winners along with Connor Hellebuyck — would have fallen way off this list. But the Russian has had a wonderful third act and — with his 36th birthday slated to hit just as training camps open — he’s shown that when he has time to rest, he can still be one of the best.

Key Stat: Ranked third in GSAA/60 minutes in each of the past two seasons

Swayman has only played 81 total games in the past two seasons, but he’s basically always good in them. His workload will increase this year with Linas Ullmark’s departure to Ottawa and that will give him ample opportunity to cement his status as a true No. 1 guy. With four months to go until his 26th birthday, he’s the second-youngest goalie on this list. His .933 save percentage in 12 Stanley Cup Playoff games this past spring is an incredibly encouraging showing in terms of the role he can play in Boston for a long time.

Key Stat: Ranks seventh in both GSAA and quality starts since the start of the 2021-22 season

It feels like this should be a more slam-dunk case for Oettinger because he’s clearly so talented. He also has the signature moment of nearly stealing a first-round series on his own versus the Calgary Flames in the 2022 playoffs. Oettinger is a month younger than Swayman, making him the junior member of this list. Given the Stars figure to be chasing titles for the next five years, Oettinger will have lots of time in the spotlight and a great opportunity to establish himself as a non-negotiable part of any discussion about the best goalies in the business.