Top goalie in NHL in three seasons debated

NHL Network is spending the offseason presenting the best current NHL players at each position. On Sunday, the network's producers and analysts will reveal their top 10 goalies in a special program. To add to that conversation, we asked six NHL.com writers to pick who they think will be the best goalie in the NHL in three seasons. Here are their choices:

Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Vasilevskiy is the best goalie in the NHL now at age 28, and it's hard to imagine there being much slippage in his game three years from now when he's 31. He's been the backbone of a Lightning team that's reached the Stanley Cup Final three straight seasons, and whose core players are signed well into the future, providing him with championship-level support. Vasilevskiy's flexibility and athleticism separate him from other goalies, but his technical skills are excellent, which means he won't have to rely on pure athletic ability as much as he gets older. And 31 years old isn't traditionally old for a goalie; Dominik Hasek was 31 when 1996-97 started and he won the Vezina and Hart trophies; Martin Brodeur won the Vezina Trophy at 31 in 2003-04; and Patrick Roy led the NHL with 38 wins at age 31 in 1996-97. I would expect Vasilevskiy to be playing at a similar level three seasons from now, and possibly longer. -- Adam Kimelman, deputy managing editor

Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars
Oettinger showed the League what he's capable of in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season when he almost singlehandedly pushed the Calgary Flames to seven games in the Western Conference First Round before losing by stopping 272 of the 285 shots he faced for a 1.81 goals-against average, .954 save percentage and one shutout. That came after a solid regular season when he was 30-15-1 with a 2.53 GAA, .914 save percentage and one shutout to help the Stars earn the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. With two NHL seasons under his belt, Oettinger is already on the verge of establishing himself as one of the best goalies in the League and he's 23 years old. In another three years, that additional experience will help him reach his full potential at 26 and push past the rest of the competition.-- Tom Gulitti, staff writer

Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers
It's one thing to win the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie; it's another to do it in only your third season at 26 years old when you're just entering your prime. That's exactly what Shesterkin did last season with the New York Rangers. The numbers pretty much tell the story. He was 36-13-4 in 53 games (52 starts), leading the NHL in GAA (2.07) and save percentage (.935; minimum 20 games). He was third in shutouts (six), sixth in wins, and had a save percentage of at least .940 in 26 starts. It was a historical performance too when you consider his .935 save percentage was third all-time in a single season among goalies to play at least 50 games (Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins, .938 in 2010-11; Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres, .937 in 1998-99). Consider that he accomplished all that while dealing with the high expectations of succeeding fan favorite Henrik Lundqvist. If Shesterkin was this good so early in his NHL career, his ceiling three years down the road seems limitless. -- Mike Zeisberger, staff writer

Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders
Shesterkin rightfully deserves the attention that he currently receives, but I think all eyes will be on his countryman Sorokin in three years. The Islanders waited years for Sorokin, who was selected in the third round (No. 78) of the 2014 NHL Draft, to come to North America, and for good reason. The 27-year-old from Mezhdurechensk, Russia, was 26-18-8 in 52 games last season (all starts) with 2.40 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and seven shutouts. Only Shesterkin had a better save percentage (.935) among goalies who played a minimum of 25 games. Sorokin was second in shutouts behind Jacob Markstrom of the Calgary Flames (nine) and fourth in GAA behind Shesterkin (2.07), Frederik Andersen of the Carolina Hurricanes (2.17) and Markstrom (2.22). He proved himself a postseason performer as a rookie in 2021 when he became the first Islanders goalie to win each of his first four Stanley Cup Playoffs games, including a series-clinching 5-3 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the best-of-seven Stanley Cup First Round. A 2018 PyeongChang Olympics gold medalist, Sorokin is on a path to become one of the NHL's elite goalies. -- William Douglas, staff writer

Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks
I'm glad that Tom had the guts to go out a limb here a little bit with his pick, and I will too. Sure, Vasilevskiy and Shesterkin are the obvious picks and going into this season are clearly the two goalies. But again, we are talking three seasons down the road and that's why I'm going with Demko. First of all, the 26-year-old is a workhorse. He played in 64 games last season, which was third highest in the NHL behind Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets (66) and Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators (67). He had 33 wins on a team that won 40 games. His goals-against- average has dropped every season, it was 2.72 last season down from 2.85 in in 2020-21 and 3.06 in 2019-20. In his one taste of playoff experience, he stood on his head against the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2019-20 after Jacob Markstrom was injured. He led Vancouver to a 2-1 win in Game 5, a 4-0 win in Game 6, and allowed just one goal in a 3-0 loss in Game 7. In four games in that series, he allowed two goals on 130 shots. With a revamped front office and Bruce Boudreau as their coach, the Canucks are a team on the rise and Demko will be a big part of that.-- Bill Price, Editor-in-Chief

Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators
So the pick of Shesterkin is pretty much chalk as the reigning Vezina Trophy winner. You know who else was in that conversation? It wasn't Vasilevskiy, Oettinger or Demko. It was Saros, the unquestioned No. 1 for the Nashville Predators, who moved on seamlessly from Pekka Rinne because of Saros' apprenticeship. Now the 27-year-old in the prime of his career is making a legitimate case as the top goalie in the League, a case that will get stronger each season. In his six NHL seasons, he has never posted a save percentage of less than .914. His 38 wins last season were one fewer than Vasilevskiy and Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers. His four shutouts were tied for sixth in the League and his .918 save percentage was eighth among goalies who played at least 40 games last season. And let's not forget all he learned in his first season as a workhorse, lessons that will be applied this season to make Saros even better. Within the next three seasons, Saros will be the NHLs best and the first Vezina winner from Finland since Rinne claimed the Trophy in 2018. -- Shawn P. Roarke, senior director of editorial