Several goalies made strong cases last season, but when you stack the league’s best netminders side by side, the list for the 2026-27 season still starts with proven stars who have already carried heavy loads and delivered big results.
At No. 1, Igor Shesterkin sits alone.
The Rangers made the biggest goalie commitment in NHL history when they signed him, and that deal was built on the kind of numbers he keeps posting. Last season, Shesterkin won 25 games in 51 appearances and added one shutout.
His .912 save percentage tied for third in the league, and he did it while working behind a New York defense that didn’t exactly make life easy. The Rangers finished with a 79.9% PK and allowed the 15th most goals.
Right behind him is Andrei Vasilevskiy, who keeps piling up elite seasons for Tampa Bay. He delivered back-to-back strong campaigns, finished with nearly 40 wins in both of those seasons, and picked up 8 shutouts over the past two years. His goals-against average rose this season and his save percentage dropped by 9 points, but he still belongs near the top because he continues to make difficult stops look routine.
Connor Hellebuyck comes in at No. 3, and the case for him is built on consistency more than anything else. He has posted a .920 SV% in each of the last three seasons before his down year in 2025.
Winnipeg’s team performance dipped, and Hellebuyck’s numbers followed, as he finished with a .895 SV%. Even so, he remains one of the league’s most trusted goalies because he can handle volume and has logged multiple seasons of 60-plus games in his career.
Ilya Sorokin takes the No. 4 spot and brings a different kind of résumé. He has already established himself as one of the league’s premier goalies, and his shutout total jumps off the page: 26 shutouts in 286 games over the past five seasons, the most in the NHL during that span.
Logan Thompson rounds out the top five, and there’s a real argument that he could be even higher if not for the names ahead of him. He led the NHL in goals saved above expected and was outstanding even though Washington missed the playoffs. Thompson was one of the league’s best shot stoppers last season, but the team in front of him simply didn’t do enough to get into the postseason.
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Jets Line Projection Puts Pressure On One Lingering Top Six Problem
The Jets projected opening-night picture for 2026-27 starts with a familiar foundation up front, where Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi still look like the kind of first line that can drive a contender. Beyond that, the rest of the roster forecast leans on continuity in the defensive group and a couple of recent additions, giving the roster the feel of a team trying to preserve its identity while waiting for the next wave to settle in.
The real pressure point is the one that keeps hanging over the top six, because a lineup can look sturdy on paper and still leave one important spot less settled than the others. Winnipeg has prospects in the mix and enough talent to make the projection work, but the second-line center question remains the kind of issue that can shape everything from matchups to ice time once the season actually arrives. [Read more 🡒]