Ranking the Metropolitan Goalies

I woke up this morning excited. Excited because hockey is seemingly returning in just over a month and with excitement comes rankings, right? I’m not sure why but ranking things just feels good, especially when your team has a guy who could be at the top of these particular rankings for a long, long time.

Before we get to the actual ranking of the goalies, can we talk about how absolutely and insanely stacked the goaltending talent is in the Metropolitan division? Has there ever been a time when one single division had this many promising, top tier, workhorse goalies? If there has been, feel free to discuss in the comments, but for now let’s get to our rankings.

#1: Carter Hart (Philadelphia Flyers)

Wow shocker right? Well not if you’re a fan of the Philadelphia Flyers. Carter Hart is a dream, he sometimes seems too good to be true. Say it with me, “The Flyers have a franchise goalie”. Doesn’t feel right does it? But they do and he’s glorious.

At just 20 years old Hart became the youngest goalie to win his first start in the Flyers storied franchise history and the youngest goalie to win his first start in the NHL since his childhood idol, Carey Price.

During the 2020 playoffs, Hart’s first taste of playoff hockey, he recorded back to back shutouts at the ripe age of 22 years old and became just the 3rd goalie in Flyers franchise history to do so along with all-time Flyers great Bernie Parent and Michael Leighton.

The future is certainly bright for Carter Hart but from what we’ve seen in just 74 games as an NHL goalie, the future could be now.

#2: Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders)

Yeah I know he’s yet to play a game in the NHL but this guy is 100% scary good. As many Flyer fans may know by now, Sorokin was taken by the New York Islanders with one of the picks the Flyers traded for Andrew MacDonald. Woof. Another reason to thank God for Carter Hart.

Back to Sorokin. The guy has been an absolute machine back in mother Russia having not recorded a save percentage less than .929 since the 2014-15 season…WHAT!? Yes, he really is that good and he’ll be playing behind an already fantastic defensive system incorporated by one of the best head coaches in the NHL in Barry Trotz.

He’ll make his NHL debut at 25 years old so he’ll join the league presumably in his prime years. The slight disadvantage could be that he’ll have to adjust to the size and new angles of the NHL rink but one would assume a goalie of his caliber will figure this out rather quickly.

So Metro division teams and fans can expect to see a lot of this for years to come:

#3: Igor Shestyrkin (New York Rangers)

Another New York team and another Russian phenom goaltender. This guy is an absolute stud. Like Sorokin, Shestyrkin crushed it in the KHL, racking up season after season of success and peaking in 2018-19 as he registered an unimaginable 1.11 GAA and a .953 save percentage!…HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE…

Shestyrkin made his debut with the Rangers last season and seemingly did not miss a beat as he went on to record averages of 2.52 GAA and .932 sv% in 12 games played. Sure, that’s a small sample size but if you consider the Rangers were not a great overall team defensively those numbers tend to be a bit more impressive.

Shestyrkin, also like Sorokin, will be 25 as the 2021 season begins and you can bet we’ll see a lot more saves like this:

#4: Ilya Samsonov (Washington Capitals)

The way Russia has been churning out goaltenders recently is incredible. In just the Metro division alone we’re on our 3rd phenomenal Russian player in Ilya Samsonov. In his debut season for the Washington Capitals, Samsonov split time with Brayden Holtby who is now in Vancouver. In his 26 games played Samsonov was able to notch his first career shutout behind a not so great defensively Capitals team and went on to record a total of 16 wins while registering a sv% of .913.

Samsonov will enter his 2nd and presumably 1st “full” season as the starting goalie for Washington and he’ll have former New York Ranger legend Henrik Lundqvist backing him up. Entering the season at 23 years old, Samsonov will turn 24 in February and will be expected to perform to the high expectations new bench boss, Peter Laviolette will be sure to set.

#5: Mackenzie Blackwood (New Jersey Devils)

OK this is where things sort of get a little cloudy for me. The top 4 were no brainers in my opinion and if you disagree, great, it’s a free country, let me know in the comments. I chose Blackwood at 5 because mainly I think the other guys are better and they play for better teams and therefore will have more success in their careers. This isn’t so much a slight to Blackwood as it is the other guys being fortunate.

It’s not Blackwood’s fault he plays for the Devils. Having just turned 24 today, 12/9 (Happy Birthday Mackenzie), Blackwood enters his 3rd season in New Jersey and has put up relatively good numbers given his circumstances. Through 70 NHL games he owns a 2.72 GAA and a .916 sv% and a whopping 5 shutouts.

Rounding out the rankings:

6. Jonas Korpisalo (Columbus Blue Jackets)

7. Elvis Mrzlikins (Columbus Blue Jackets)

8. Tristan Jarry (Pittsburgh Penguins)

9. Alexander Georgiev (New York Rangers)

10. Alex Nedeljkovic (Carolina Hurricanes

Follow me on Twitter @JimIkeHW

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov