NHL goalie week is a thing on social media to start the month of September. So, why not break down how the New York Rangers duo of Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick stacks up against the best goalie tandems in the League?
The Rangers will spend $13.05 million on their two veteran goalies in 2025-26. That's more than any team in the League and 13.7 percent of the $95.5 million salary cap .
Of course, most of that money goes to Shesterkin, who's in the first season of the richest contract for a goalie in NHL history. The soon-to-be 30-year-old makes $11.5 million annually on his massive eight-year, $92 million deal .
Long-regarded as one of the elite goalies in the world, it feels like Shesterkin will be held to an even higher standard moving forward because of his contract. That's even more so since he's coming off his first losing season with the Rangers and career-worst numbers across the board.
More on that later. But back to the money. What the Rangers pay Shesterkin and Quick is not so much more than the Bruins pay Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo ($11.25 million) or the Seattle Kraken pony up for Philipp Grubauer and Joey Daccord .
Of course, it's worth noting that the Rangers, Bruins and Kraken each failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
But we digress. The Florida Panthers , two-time defending Cup champs, dish out $11.05 million for Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov . Most of that is paid to Bobrovsky. And you'd agree it's money well spent.
Money does factor somewhat into our goalie tandem rankings. As does career success, recent history, and projections that, admittedly, can be one injury away from blowing up.
That said, let's break it down.
Related: Rangers concern meter: Weighing potential issues for 2025-26 season, including Jonathan Quick
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There are quite a few excellent goalie tandems that didn't crack the top-5 here. The Dallas Stars have a beef that somehow Jake Oettinger , one of the best in the game, and veteran Casey DeSmith don't fare better. And how about the Islanders ? They were No. 1 on our list a year ago, with Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov . They dropped out of the top-5 this time because of Varlamov's injury woes. Though third-stringer David Rittich is no slouch as No. 2 behind Sorokin in that case.
Keeping the Panthers out of the top tier is tough. Ditto for the Lightning . The Washington Capitals with Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren just missed the cut. Same with Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer of the St. Louis Blues .
And we really wanted to find a way to include Linus Ullmark and the up-and-coming Leevi Merilainen . But no dice.
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Demko was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2023-24 and Lankinen emerged as viable 1b option last season. That gives the Canucks a very solid 1-2 punch between the pipes. That is, if Demko can remain healthy. And that's a major "IF."
The 29-year-old only made one start in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs because of a knee injury. Then he missed most of last season due to injury. He's appeared in more than 35 games just twice in six NHL seasons. But when healthy, Demko (.910 career save percentage) is very good.
Lankinen played a career-high 51 games last season in Demko's absence and posted a solid 2.62 goals-against average, with a 25-15-10 record. Splitting the work load with Demko should work best for each goalie and the Canucks as a whole.
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Wait, what?! The Toronto Maple Leafs have a goalie tandem worthy of top-5 status in the NHL? What exactly is going on here?
Toronto allowed the eighth-most shots per game (29.3) last season, yet they surrendered the eighth-fewest goals (229). Stolarz saved 26.4 percent expected goals above average, tops in the NHL, per MoneyPuck . He had 25.8 goals saved above expected, fourth most in the NHL. Woll was 11th with 16.8.
Each had a career-best season a year ago. So, there is an element of: Show me again. But they look like the real deal. They're an excellent complement to one another and give the Maple Leafs their most reliable goaltending in quite some time.
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The Devils allowed 220 goals last season, fifth fewest in the League , with this veteran duo doing the heavy lifting. Markstrom (35) was limited to 49 games because of injury, but was really good when healthy (26-16-6, 2.50 GAA, .900 save percentage). Allen (35) had the ninth most goals saved above expected (18.4) in the NHL a year ago. His 19.3 percent expected goals saved above average was fifth in the League.
New Jersey will run it back for at least one more season with these vets. Markstrom can be a UFA at season's end. Allen signed an affordable five-year, $9 million contract to remain with the Devils this summer.
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The Rangers were abysmal defensively last season. As a result, Shesterkin and Quick — each brilliant to begin 2024-25 — wore down mentally and physically as the season progressed. Shesterkin started a career-high 61 games and faced more shots than any goalie in the NHL (1,751). But even though his GAA (2.86) and save percentage (.905) were the worst of his career, Shesterkin finished seventh in the League with 21.6 goals saved above expected, and tied for second with six shutouts.
With a new coach (Mike Sullivan) and new stud defender ( Vladislav Gavrikov ), the expectation is that the Rangers will play better in front of their goalies in 2025-26. If so, Shesterkin should return to his lofty status as an elite NHL goalie.
But is Father Time catching up to Quick? He'll turn 40 this season. So, was his resurgence in 2023-24 an outlier after a career downturn? Or is he more that goalie (18-6-2, 2.62 GAA, .911 save percentage) than last year's version (11-7-2, 3.17 GAA, .893 save percentage)? It figures to be somewhere between those two, which makes the three-time Stanley Cup winner a valuable and viable backup to Shesterkin.
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The Winnipeg Jets have the best goalie on the planet right now. Hellebuyck not only won the Vezina Trophy for the third time and second year in a row last season, but he was voted winner pf the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, too. So, yeah, the Jets could have anyone as their No. 2 goalie and that tandem likely would be the best in the League.
But Comrie was a solid complement last season. He had a 2.39 GAA, .914 save percentage and two shutouts in 20 starts, helping the Jets win the Presidents' Trophy. Yes, Hellebuyck is otherworldly ( League-best 2.00 GAA and whopping 39.6 goals saved above expected) but Comrie does his part to help the Jets land the No. 1 spot in our goalie tandem ranking.
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