Which NHL teams are best at drafting goalies?

Goalie, goaler, keeper. Whatever you call it, it’s the most important and most unpredictable position in hockey.

The teams that have the best goaltenders almost always acquired them through the draft but finding that player is one of the most difficult tasks general managers face.

That’s why our final piece looking at draft trends is all about goalies.

We will continue to look at the drafts from 2010 to 2019. We will define a successful draft pick as a goalie who has appeared in 75 games. That covers roughly three years for both starters and backups.

The Kraken and Golden Knights were not included in this project as their draft records did not line up with the sample.

From 2010 to 2019 there were 211 goaltenders drafted, but only 43 have reached the 75-game mark so far. Of that group, 27 goalies were selected in Round 3 or later.

It’s a hard puzzle to crack. Let’s take a look at how well teams have done.

Tier 1: Three goalies with 75 GP

Only four teams have a 50 per cent or better success rate drafting goalies and three of them were contenders for most of the decade.

The Penguins had Marc-Andre Fleury manning the net for 13 years so they didn’t need to draft many goalies. But of the four they chose, three of them developed into full-time starters: Matt Murray, Tristan Jarry and Fleury’s current tandemmate in Minnesota, Filip Gustavsson.

The Bruins had an uninterrupted run of incredible play in net from Vezina winners Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask. For that reason, Dan Vladar and Malcolm Subban had to move on to other teams before breaking through. However, with Rask now retired, 2017 fourth-round pick Jeremy Swayman has picked up the mantle and will assume full-time starting duties this season (once he signs a new deal).

As mentioned in the other parts of this series, Buffalo’s best picks tend to have their best seasons after being traded away from the Sabres. That extends to goalies too, as Linus Ullmark (2012, sixth-round) won a Vezina Trophy in his second year with the Bruins. Current Sabres starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (second-round, 2017) is now tasked with helping the Sabres snap their playoff drought.

The Capitals can count Philipp Grubauer, Vitek Vanecek and 2015 first-round pick Ilya Samsonov as successful selections, even though all three seemingly lost their primary starting jobs last season.

Columbus is tied with a bunch of teams for the third-most goalies picked. Their group includes Joonas Korpisalo, who backstopped them to the only playoff series win in franchise history, veteran backup Anton Forsberg and current Columbus starter Elvis Merzlikins.

Tier 2: Two goalies with 75 GP

Drafting a true No. 1 can set a team up for a long time and the Ducks, Stars, Lightning, Blues and Predators managed to do that with John Gibson, Jake Oettinger, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jordan Binnington and Jusse Saros. New Jersey, Utah, Philadelphia and Carolina, on the other hand, have featured a turnstile of goalies for a while now as they auditioned a bunch of guys to be the full-time starters.

Another notable fact about this tier of teams is that both the Ducks and Hurricanes can claim Frederik Andersen as a success story. The Hurricanes took Andersen in the seventh round in 2010 but, after he didn’t sign with the team, the Danish goalie re-entered the draft in 2012 and was selected by the Ducks in the third.

Andersen made his debut with the Ducks less than two years later and, after a successful stint in Toronto, now finds himself entering his fourth season as Carolina’s starter. Truly full circle.

Tier 3: One goalie with 75 GP

Sometimes it only takes one. The Islanders, Rangers, Canucks, Jets and Oilers should be perfectly happy with their goaltending situations even though they only hit on one of their picks during the decade, so far.

The Rangers and Jets both secured a Vezina Trophy winner in the draft with Igor Shesterkin (2014, fourth round) and Connor Hellebuyck (2012, fifth round). The Canucks and Islanders did nearly as well, taking goalies who have been Vezina finalists in Ilya Sorokin (2014, third round) and Thatcher Demko (2014, second round). Vancouver may yet add another 75-game goalie from this window with Arturs Silovs on the rise. And the Oilers came within one win of the Stanley Cup this spring with Stuart Skinner (2017, third round) locking things down in net.

The Flames and Panthers opted to pursue experienced veterans on long-term contracts to patch their goaltending holes with Jacob Markstrom and Sergei Bobrovsky. Calgary’s lone goalie prospect to reach 75 games to date is veteran backup Laurent Brossoit while for Florida it is current Canadiens starter Samuel Montembeault. Top prospects Dustin Wolf and Spencer Knight, both 2019 draft picks, appear poised to one day become regulars for these two teams but that hasn’t happened yet.

The Red Wings had Jimmy Howard as their primary starter during most of the decade while the Avalanche had Semyon Varlamov. In both cases, goalie prospects weren’t able to overtake them as starters. For that reason, Petr Mrazek (Detroit) and Calvin Pickard (Colorado) have had to bounce around the league as serviceable backups to extend their careers.

Tier 4: Zero goalies with 75 games

Six teams struck out when drafting goalies this decade.

The Canadiens had Carey Price and the Kings had Jonathan Quick so there was little incentive to graduate younger goalies. Cayden Primeau (44 games) is the most accomplished Canadiens pick while goalies drafted by the Kings have combined to make 18 NHL appearances.

The Maple Leafs and Sharks didn’t draft many goalies at all during this time and had to get creative in trades and free agency to fill the net. The Maple Leafs are confident prospect Joseph Woll (2016, third round) can eventually be their go-to guy but, to date, he has only appeared in 36 games.

The Blackhawks and Senators certainly tried to find goalies with plenty of picks but so far none have stuck. In Ottawa’s case, five of the seven goalies they selected have appeared in at least one NHL game but for the Blackhawks, only two of their nine picks have.