“The dog ate my no. 1 goalie” is no longer an excuse for not winning a championship

Due to the lack of defensive structure in hockey for the longest time it felt like the only way to win a championship at any level was having an elite goalie. If you had a very good no. 2 then you still stood a chance but usually once your no. 1 goalie went down that was it. Call the season, playoffs, tournament over as you just could not win enough with the no. 2 goalie. Just look at the NHL Stanley Cup winners from 1990 to pre-full season lockout. Grant Fuhr, Patrick Roy, Ed Belfour, Martin Brodeur, Tom Barrasso, Dominik Hasek are all Hockey Hall of Famers and account for 11/14 of the Stanley Cups won from 1990 to 2004. Post lock-out how many Hockey Hall of Famers or probable future ones have won Cups as the no. 1 goalie? In that time the goalies to have won are Cam Ward, Jean-Sebastian Giguere, Marc-Andre Fleury, Antti Niemi, Tim Thomas, Corey Crawford, Jonathan Quick, Matt Murray, Braden Holtby, Jordan Binnington, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Darcy Kuemper, and Adin Hill. No current Hockey Hall of Famers in that group and arguably only 3 or 4 of those goalies are going to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Far cry from the previous pre-full lockout era.

What this shows is a shift towards your no. 1 goalie only needing to be good on average and maybe get hot when need be but mostly just be good. Having a Hockey Hall of Fame goalie never hurts your chances at winning but it’s far from being needed. Now coaches and players have always been getting better in terms of team defensive play but in 2016 is where proof of concept showed up in a big way in that the proper defensive system/play can help a goalie reach elite levels of production. The Penguins repeat playing a similar offense suffocating defensive style that insulates Matt Murray fresh off an injury. Then the Blues win by insulating Jordan Binnington whose incredible hot streak had cooled considerably by the playoffs but still was good enough for the team to win their first ever Cup. Of course after that we see Andrei Vasilevskiy earn his Hockey Hall of Fame spot. The last two Cups are back to the new norm where we see a one-eyed Darcy Kuemper and Adin Hill thrive behind great defensive play. So far the only point proven is that with the right defensive structure/play and a goalie that fits you can win a Cup without needing that HHOFer. The point that this piece is trying to prove though is that goalie depth matters so how does this principle apply going back to 2016? To start with Matt Murray only had 13 regular season starts in the first Cup run. Marc-Andre Fleury was injured and in comes Murray who started the season as the no. 3 goalie. During the 2016 Cup win Fleury has to come in and be the no. 1 goalie after a season in which he was only given ~40% of the starts. Fleury gets the team to the 3rd round where after he falters Murray takes over again and the Penguins have repeated. Depth once again matters in 2018 where after Holtby starts to stumble in the regular season Philip Grubauer takes over which allows Holtby to rest up for a great playoff run that starts in relief of Grubauer in game two of the playoffs. 2019 is the story that everyone knows as Jordan Binnington comes from the AHL to play a big part in saving the Blues season which puts them in the playoffs and the Blues just roll from there. Contrary to popular belief though Binnington was the team’s no. 3 goalie not the no. 5 goalie.

After that we get two years of Andrei Vasilevskiy reminding us of days of old as he makes any goalie below him on the depth chart irrelevant and becomes the first goalie to win a Cup with a cap hit % over 10%. Depth though once again becomes important in 2022 as Darcy Kuemper takes a stick to the eye in game 3. The no. 2 in Pavel Francouz comes in relief to finish off the series but that wasn’t the only time as Kuemper’s eye issue comes up again in the Conference Final vs the Edmonton Oilers so in comes Francouz who helps the Avalanche sweep the Oilers enroute to the Stanley Cup. Lastly of course comes this year’s Cup winning Vegas Golden Knights and their never ending goalie depth. Vegas just always had a goalie to go out there and not lose games for them. Both Logan Thompson and Adin Hill in season met expectations considering their xGA/60 workload while all together putting up respectable average numbers with no. 1 goalie Robin Lehner done before the season began. The typical no. 2 in Laurent Brossoit also started the season injured and was snuck down to the AHL where he’d later come back to the team taking them to the 2nd round of the playoffs with the new no. 1 goalie in Thompson injured and keeping Hill at the no. 2 spot. Finally Hill got his opportunity and provided very solid goaltending to win a Stanley Cup for the 2nd newest NHL franchise.

All but two Stanley Cups in the past 8 years have needed their goalie depth to play a meaningful part. This is the new reality of high level pro sports. These examples are all men’s hockey though so does depth matter in the women’s game? Whether it’s the SDHL, PHF, or PWHPA their seasons are significantly shorter than almost any men's pro league plus most of the games take place back-to-back on the weekends leaving a lot of time between games. It’s a lot more tempting to run with a no. 1 goalie than rely on other goalies down the depth chart. Not to mention due the lack of funding in the women’s game the disparity between teams can be quite noticeable. There are examples though that I think are meaningful. I’ve mentioned this many times before so stop me if you’ve heard this one but Team USA has essentially a rotating cast of no. 1 goalies on the roster that they’re comfortable putting in. However the defence is looking and whatever goalie is looking the best gets the job whereas most countries have their no. 1 for years and roll with that.

If you want to continue looking at the national teams you have Czechia who turned to Blanka Skodova who pulled an Adin Hill before Hill did. Was a very good fit for the defensive structure to help Czechia to a second straight Bronze Medal. Team Sweden’s no. 1 goalie has been Sara Grahn since Kim Martin retired and then they go to Soderberg who nearly upsets Team Canada. That’s all small sample size stuff though so let’s switch our focus to the domestic leagues. There’s the 21/22 Isobel Cup champions the Boston Pride who despite already having 19/20 Goalie of the Year Lovisa Selander bring Katie Burt back. Selander just never finds consistency and struggles all season long so the tandem turns into Burt taking the no. 1 role which in turn becomes an Isobel Cup. Sticking with the PHF arguably lack of depth cost the Boston Pride a chance at least at the Isobel Cup as Schroeder started all but two games then in the playoffs wasn’t anywhere close to her regular season self. Boston had no option but to stay with Schroeder as the no. 2 was Selander who had struggled now for two straight years.

The SDHL is the PHF on steroids one could argue when it comes to team disparity. Lulea has won 6 out of the last 7 championships and has Sara Grahn who has given top 3 results for Lulea every season she’s been there. Don’t really need depth when you just bring in a top 3 goalie because you can afford it though this season they did start giving Grahn more rest as she only started 18/32 games. The team Lulea played this year in the Final though did see depth prove to be valuable. Brynas was pretty close to a mirror of the Vegas Golden Knights. They’re no. 1 goalie had her season ended 9 games in and their no. 2 was a rookie, though to Felicia Frank’s credit a very good one. Just like Vegas, Brynas just started adding goalies to the roster almost non stop acquiring Loryn Pearson Porter and Amanda Johansson. Porter and Frank would be the tandem for essentially the rest of the season with Johansson coming in right at the end. While Frank would be the no. 1 goalie for Brynas, Johansson played an important role. In the quarter-final vs Linkoping Johansson would come in relief of Frank to win Game 2 ending the series for Brynas. In the semi-final Johansson was given game 2 after game 1 went into OT with Frank. Johansson stopped 29/31 to give Brynas the win and a 2-0 series lead which became a 3-0 series win. Johansson was also given game 1 against Lulea in the SDHL Final where she stopped 30/34. While Brynas was ultimately a victim of the Lulea powerhouse without goalie depth it’s highly possible they don’t get here as 18yo Felicia Frank had a very good season with Amanda Johansson being a calming presence in the playoffs. If you’re working for a NHL team and have input at least on hockey positions this is just further proof of a growing trend in the NHL where you need depth, you need goalies as far down as the no. 3 position who can play at the NHL level to still give your team a chance. More than ever the NHL is learning you’re not out of contention even if you go to the no. 3 goalie. If you’re working for a PWHL team and are looking at the history of women’s hockey you’ll see the lack of a need for more than just the best no. 1 goalie possible and probably wonder what this piece has to do with women’s hockey/PWHL. It’s fair point which I’d like to counter with the whole point of the PWHL is it’s different than the past of women’s hockey domestic leagues. Every league that’s been tried had/has a severe disparity issue. The goal of the PWHL is with having one ownership group funding the league and a very close together salary cap/floor this should be a league with the most parity we’ve seen in a while which puts it closer to NHL situations compared to the CWHL/NWHL/PHF/SDHL. To put it bluntly the PWHL teams that look to solidify their goalie depth will see more success than the one’s who don’t. Now of course a team with a pure, old school no. 1 goalie can still win the championship as we’ve seen with Tampa winning two in a row with Andrei Vasilevskiy but as we’ve shown above it’s not a common situation. Even in the PWHPA this past season Team Scotiabank was running a Kristen Campbell/Emerance Maschmeyer tandem and in the semi-final Mashmeyer came in relief for Campbell helping the team to a comeback win. With how close goalie talent is to each other in both the men’s and women’s game the difference between goalies isn’t a whole lot. Once you get into the Tier 3 and 4 goalies what’s separating the two is the team strength in front of them essentially. In regards to the PWHL there’s only a combined four Tier 1 and 2 goalies with only one Tier 1 goalie. Only one team has the luxury of knowing they don’t really have to stack up on goalies if they don’t want to. Montreal can let the no. 2 and no. 3 goalie roles be filled by goalies in training camp if they really want to. The other 5/6 teams are going to need to leave the draft with two goalies to ensure they have the best tandem possible. Not to mention a no. 2 goalie is more important than an extra forward or defender that you’d get in training camp anyways.

If you divided the NHL into tiers, tiers 4-5 would of course be the huge clump going from way below average to a bit above average. Those goalies are the majority of your no. 2 and no. 3 goalies. How do you ensure your no. 2 and no. 3 goalies end like Pavel Francouz/Jonas Johansson and not like Eric Comrie/Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen? It’s about finding the right goalie to fit your defensive structure. That’s how someone like Jonas Johansson who a Sabres beat reporter described as the worst goalie he’s ever seen became a very serviceable no. 3 goalie who is now going to start the season as the no. 2 goalie in Tampa. PWHL GM’s are going to have it a bit easier than their NHL counterparts and NHL GM’s should be jealous of the talent pool available. There are nine Tier 1-Tier 3 goalies which means 3/6 PWHL teams are going to be able to put together a tandem of two goalies who have a good chance at putting up good no. 1 goalie type numbers. The other three PWHL teams are going to need to put a bit more effort into finding a Tier 4 goalie that fits their team defensive structure.

Here's the other advantage these PWHL GM’s will have over their NHL counterparts, a PWHL no. 3 goalie doesn’t have to be on waivers. With the 23-player mandatory roster PWHL GM’s can carry a 3rd goalie and should carry a 3rd goalie. For one as far as I can tell there’s no Emergency Back-Up Goalie (EBUG) position in the CBA. Also due to the fact there’s only six teams that means there’s only 12 mandatory goalie spots in the PWHL and with there being 15 Tier 1-Tier 4 goalies you can have a Tier 4 goalie as a no. 3 goalie. This creates opportunity and really diminishes the feeling of being worried about goalie injuries. Unfortunately injuries do happen though as we saw last year with Kassidy Sauve/Klara Peslarova both losing a whole year to injury. If the injury isn’t on your team you can flip your top 15 goalie that’s a no. 3 on your depth chart to the team with an injury to help fill in holes up front if need be or for whatever futures teams are allowed to trade for. Here's the other opportunity. The opportunity to develop a young, recently graduated goalie who can focus on their development because at the very least they’re getting the minimum salary and can hopefully just focus on hockey. With how short term the vast majority of the league is and how much movement will happen next off-season having a no. 3 goalie that can move into the no. 2 spot next season where you know how well of a fit they are already makes the job infinitely easier. If the idea is this league is going to stay and this is the future then GM’s need to think about the future especially at the goaltending position. Goaltending is a frustrating position because a great team can render it largely ineffective in terms of game impact but as much as a goalie can help you win they can also really tank your chances. It’s the one position in all of sports where if you don’t have it, you’re losing and there’s very little you can do about it so why leave it to chance. NHL GM’s are finally realizing this fact over a hundred years of the NHL existing. PWHL GM’s shouldn’t be waiting to learn a lesson that’s already been taught.