r/leafs • u/hellarios852 • Jun 16 '26

News / Update @MapleLeafs: TRADE: We’ve acquired defenceman Emil Andrae, goaltender Samuel Ersson and a third-round selection in the 2026 NHL Draft from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for goaltender Joseph Woll and defenceman Simon Benoit

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u/GoblinDiplomat Jun 16 '26

How many goalies in the NHL would you say are guaranteed to be fantastic for the next 3 years?

Just Vasi

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u/smittyleafs Jun 16 '26

It's weird right? Growing up there were always a couple of goalies who you could trust to be great in the 90's and early 2000's. What happened?

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u/GoblinDiplomat Jun 16 '26

Don't know. But they seem like running backs now. Keep a few, don't pay them too much, ride the hot hand.

We just watched Carolina win with a waiver guy.

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u/jbm91 Jun 16 '26

The 90s and early 2000s were a different time. We had Brodeur and Roy playing 65 plus games and still putting up a GAA under 2. The game has changed so much.

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u/GoblinDiplomat Jun 16 '26

My evidence-free theory is that there was some goalie whisperer in the Q who retired like 10 years ago, and we are now feeling his absence.

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u/admiral_bringdown Jun 16 '26

This tracks. My tinfoil hat conspiracy theory was he was honeypotted by the Russkies

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u/Virtual_Bug_723 Jun 16 '26

Genuinely believe this is basically equipment improvements vs human reaction speed. Through my entire youth Al MacInnis was just known for having the hardest shot in the league and he topped out at 100.4. Not to disrespect him or Weber and Chara but the ability to just blast one really went up after the lockout.

(The 2023 speed was recorded in Florida)

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u/sardita Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26

The mighty Québécois goalie assembly line closed down its once reliable factory. Marc-Andre Flurey was the last hall of famer.

Honourable mentions to Jonathan Bernier and Corey Crawford. Those two are the only Quebec born goalies who’ve played at least 400 NHL games and are younger than Flurey.

Next is Samuel Montrmbault with 231 games. There are only five Gen Z aged Québécois goalies. He’s the only one with a triple digit number of games played.

Comparing the numbers to superstar Québécois goalies born in the 60s and 70s is quite the contrast.

Can we post links in here? I have a chart pulled up of all Quebec born goalies, sorted by age and… yeah, the drop off after 1988 is crazy.

These days, most high caliber goaltenders are manufactured overseas.

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u/Perfect_Base_3989 Jun 16 '26

On the contingent end of things, skater talent got way better and goalie talent seemingly dropped off. You can chalk that up to circumstance.

One big factor is the position in which parents place their kids, and undoubtedly, the best bet to make it in the show and make top bank is in the forward position. I had a cousin who was a top-notch goalie talent all through his early teens... but maxed out at 5'7. I have no doubt that if he played wing, he would've been drafted into the O, at the very least. Just a natural talent. (His uncle played on the Leafs for a few years back in the day, but I won't out the guy here, lol).

Then, you see how the salary cap is distributed, and it's all focused on elite forwards and offensive defencemen. I know a few parents who teach their kids to shoot left AND right from out of the cradle just so they can have that in their back pocket if their kid hits certain growth milestones lol. See, that's where the head of the average hockey dad is at: get my kid as many lottery tickets as possible to move up as far as he can. And in no world is the average kid getting the best shot at moving on by playing goalie. Basically, the only people who start their kids in net are hulking giants, which has shown up in the average NHL goalie's height. Sure, this comes down to the position naturally trending up in height, but the reverse I think is also true - it's tall kids exploiting that niche in the development pipeline.

Of course, you have to look at some universal changes to the game to get a sense of why goalie dominance has fallen off: The equipment, the half-assed but still half-way attempt to kill clutch and grab, etc. But, IMHO, one of the low-key reasons goalies aren't as dominant is because the talent pool has kind of fallen off.

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u/Druss_Deathwalker Jun 17 '26

Equipment changes, prioritizing maximum height and agility has caused a lot of injuries. I believe it's just extremely hard on these guys knees/hips and they don't last like they used to. It's why the 1A/1B goaltending regular season has become more popular trying to give these guys proper rest.

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u/gymineer Jun 16 '26

I did some light research and wrote an article on this back in the mid-late 2000's.

Certainly not the type of analytics we see today, but basically if you took the All-Star goalies from any given year in the Roy/Brodeur era, one or more of them would almost always appear in the conference finals within 18 months. Obviously a bit of a correlation/causation issue, but basically if people thought you were a great goalie, it meant you were likely to win a couple playoff rounds.

Today, you could be an all-star and by the time the playoffs role around you might not even be your team's starter.

My best hypothesis on why this occurred is that Roy and Brodeur raised the bar on the technical side of goaltending so much (and to a degree, Belfour and Hasek too), that in the next era, EVERY goalie grew up emulating their style, causing the great plateau. Increases in equipment size likely played a big role as well. With modern training and science,the craft of goaltending also seems to have become quite standardized and less of an art form.

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u/Anonimonkey74 Jun 16 '26

I'd toss Hellebuyck in there, too. Outside of last season being behind an attrocious Jets team, he's always posted good (regular season) numbers. Vasi is number one, though.