NHL 24 Ratings Prediction - Goalies

Goalies are an interesting breed of athlete. From unique mid game antics, to styles of play that defy the conventional norm. From aged veterans to young rookies, from flexible and athletic to sturdy and conservative, you either love them or you think they’re weird as heck. Out of all the goalies in the NHL, who's the best of the best? Today we predict the 5 highest ranked goalies in NHL 24, and their ratings.

Just sneaking into our top 5 list is the Nashville Predators star goaltender Juuse Saros. The Finnish goaltender put up a 33-23-7 record in the 2022-2023 NHL season with a goals against average of 2.69. His .919 save percentage put him tied for 6th in the league, and this is why he sneaks into the top 5. He was on a Predators team that finished with a team goal differential of -9. They were far from a good team, and ended up trading away roster players like Mattias Ekholm and Tanner Jeannot. One of, if not the Predators were even able to win 42 games was because of Saros himself. If you're still not convinced that Saros deserves the 5 spot, he put up those numbers while facing 2,099 shots all season, the most of any goaltender and 116 shots more than the second place goaltender in that category John Gibson.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the king has been dethroned, and by some standard. Andrei Vasilevskiy by his standards had quite an awful season, and that's why we see him drop from being the top ranked goalie in NHL 23 to fourth in NHL 24 (we think). The Lightning's star goalie put up a 34-22-4 record with a 9.15 save percentage and a 2.65 goals against average. While these numbers put him in the top 10-15 of goaltenders, we kept him in the top 5 simply because of his track record. This may just be an off season for Andrei, and if so we can expect him to bounce back in a big way.

Another goalie who had a bit of a disappointing season, Igor Shesterkin finds himself dropping from 2nd in NHL 23 to 3rd this year. While he finished 3rd in Hart voting last year, he dropped off in the 2022-2023 season with a 37-13-8 record. While the total wins may seem like this rating is far too harsh, his save percentage of .916 and GAA of 2.48 put him 10th and 9th respectively in those categories. This could easily be another one off year similar to Vasilevskiy, but for now we have him in the 3 spot.

Now before you say anything, yes we know the Boston Bruins were awful in their first round matchup in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. However that doesn't take away from the sensational season Linus Ullmark had. He put up an incredible 40-6-1 record with a 1.89 goals against average, the only goalie under 2.00 GAA with a minimum of 25 games played. Combine that with his .938 save percentage, which was first amongst all goalies in the NHL with the same minimum games played as before, and you can see why he jumps into the top 5. The only reason he isn't higher is he need to prove that this wasn't a one off season, and that he's capable of playing at this caliber year in and year out.

When you finish as the top goalie in the Hart voting, beating the goalie who only lost six games that year, you know you're an elite goalie. The New York Islanders may struggle to score goals, but they definitely don't struggle to stop them with Ilya Sorokin between the pipes. In the 2022-2023 campaign he put up a 31-22-7 record, which wasn't amazing on his own but his other stats for the season pump him up. He had a .924 save percentage (3rd among NHL goalies), and a 2.34 GAA (6th amongst NHL goalies). The reason he's slightly higher than Ullmark and Saros is due to his pedigree, as he's consistently been one of the top 5 goalies the last two years.