There isn’t a tougher position to judge in hockey than goaltender. There are so many factors. How the team is playing in front of the goalie. How the goalie is feeling physically. His confidence.
As one goalie coach put it, so much of a goalie’s success is outside his control. It makes evaluation especially challenging.
Because of that, in compiling our annual goalie tiers, we’re relying on a wide range of opinions. For the second consecutive year, I asked 14 evaluators inside the game to rate each NHL starter on a scale of 1 to 5, with one being the best -- note that only one goalie received unanimous "1" votes.
The panel consisted of six NHL general managers and one assistant GM, three head coaches and four goalie coaches.