A look at the league's workhorse goaltenders
We're now 2 1/2 months into the NHL season, and every team has played at least 30 games. But going into Sunday night's action, no NHL starting netminder has made 30 starts for his team.
Now that more than 40 percent of the season is in the books, it's worth looking at which teams are the most reliant on their respective starting netminders. Here's a table which does just that: it lists teams based on the percentage of starts their most frequently used starting goaltender has made this season:
| Team | Most Common Starter | Goaltender Start % | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose Sharks | Antti Niemi | 29 of 33 (87.9%) | 1,722:42 |
| Phoenix Coyotes | Mike Smith | 27 of 32 (84.4%) | 1,571:56 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Marc-Andre Fleury | 28 of 34 (82.4%) | 1,640:52 |
| Vancouver Canucks | Roberto Luongo | 29 of 35 (82.9%) | 1,696:23 |
| Winnipeg Jets | Ondrej Pavelec | 27 of 34 (79.4%) | 1,598:57 |
| Montreal Canadiens | Carey Price | 27 of 34 (79.4%) | 1,588:39 |
| Boston Bruins | Tuukka Rask | 26 of 33 (78.8%) | 1,549:24 |
| Dallas Stars | Kari Lehtonen | 24 of 31 (77.4%) | 1,399:29 |
| Washington Capitals | Braden Holtby | 25 of 33 (75.8%) | 1,360:26 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | Ben Bishop | 24 of 32 (75%) | 1,404:11 |
| St. Louis Blues | Jaroslav Halak | 23 of 31 (74.2%) | 1,319:13 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | Steve Mason | 24 of 33 (72.7%) | 1,429:03 |
| New York Rangers | Henrik Lundqvist | 24 of 33 (72.7%) | 1,350:52 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | Corey Crawford | 25 of 35 (71.4%) | 1,504:27 |
| Colorado Avalanche | Semyon Varlamov | 22 of 31 (71%) | 1,348:53 |
| Edmonton Oilers | Devan Dubnyk | 24 of 34 (70.6%) | 1,380:44 |
| Buffalo Sabres | Ryan Miller | 23 of 33 (69.7%) | 1,361:48 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Sergei Bobrovsky | 23 of 33 (69.7%) | 1,303:15 |
| Minnesota Wild | Josh Harding | 23 of 35 (65.7%) | 1,484:40 |
| Ottawa Senators | Craig Anderson | 22 of 34 (64.7%) | 1,194:34 |
| Florida Panthers | Tim Thomas | 21 of 33 (63.6%) | 1,176:33 |
| Anaheim Ducks | Jonas Hiller | 21 of 34 (61.8%) | 1,251:06 |
| Detroit Red Wings | Jimmy Howard | 21 of 34 (61.8%) | 1,242:50 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Jonathan Benier | 19 of 34 (55.9%) | 1,291:57 |
| New Jersey Devils | Martin Brodeur | 19 of 34 (55.9%) | 1,141:07 |
| Los Angeles Kings | Jonathan Quick | 16 of 33 (48.5%) | 945: 24 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Justin Peters | 16 of 34 (47.1%) | 1,027:39 |
| New York Islanders | Kevin Poulin | 15 of 34 (44.1%) | 924: 00 |
| Calgary Flames | Reto Berra | 13 of 32 (40.6%) | 753: 54 |
| Nashville Predators | Marek Mazanec | 13 of 33 (39.4%) | 788: 07 |
Here are some takeaways:
- Three of the five most heavily leaned on starting goaltenders (Smith, Luongo and Niemi) play in the Pacific Division, which is generally considered to be the deepest and toughest division in the NHL. Head coaches Dave Tippett, John Tortorella, and Todd McLellan seem to be very well aware of what sort of dogfight awaits them down the stretch this season.
- Los Angeles Kings starter Jonathan Quick hasn't played since Nov. 12th and is still the most commonly used Kings goaltender this season. Quick has played (or been on pace for) more than 60 starts in each of the past four seasons. If Quick had stayed healthy it seems very likely that four of the busiest netminders would be plying their trade in the Pacific Division.
- Despite his recent track record and Stanley Cup pedigree, Sharks starter Antti Niemi has virtually no history with the Finnish national hockey team. Niemi has three appearances for Finland, while Dallas' Kari Lehtonen has 60, Boston's Tuukka Rask has 32 and Nashville's Pekka Rinne has 14. That may factor into San Jose's decision to ride Niemi at an unprecedented rate in the early going this season.
- Of the ten goaltenders who start the highest proportion of their teams' games, Montreal's Carey Price has the highest save percentage (935). Winnipeg's Ondrej Pavelec has the lowest (.909).
- The Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils both have an identical split of starts, with Toronto's Jonathan Bernier and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur starting 55.9% of their teams' games. Brodeur and Bernier have something else in common as well: their frequently-used backups are starting a higher percentage of shots faced.
- New York Islanders goaltender Kevin Poulin made this list on the virtue of his ice-time, but both he and Evgeni Nabokov have started 15 games. Neither netminder has posted a save percentage above .900 in those starts.