The Pacific Division was the worst in the NHL for 2025-26 when it came to quality goaltending. Who are the three best candidates to lead them back to league average in 2026-27?
One of the biggest criticisms certain teams around the league faced this past season was that they feasted on the Pacific Division.
The Pacific was, in many ways, the most underwhelming division in the league, and a lot of that boils down to the fact that even its name-brand goaltenders had almost universally bad seasons.
Backups like Calgary Flames' Devin Cooley and Los Angeles Kings' Anton Forsberg had much better campaigns - albeit in limited action - than starters like Dustin Wolf and Darcy Kuemper. Plus, there was whatever happened in the crease of the Edmonton Oilers. In all, the eight Pacific teams used 30 goaltenders, and they had a collective save percentage of around .890. The league average was .896, the lowest in more than 30 years.
Are there any goalies who can turn it around and become the clear, best netminders in the division? Definitionally, someone has to be the top goaltender, even in a division largely devoid of game-breaking talent between the pipes, and these are the guys most likely to be that going into 2026-27.
1. Lukas Dostal, Anaheim Ducks
The Pacific team that feels perhaps best positioned to get good goaltending this season didn't get it in 2025-26.
The Anaheim Ducks were not a particularly good defensive team, allowing the fourth-most goals in the league. But Dostal did not help bail them out much, as that was the offense.
Dostal, 26, is still pretty young for a starting goalie. He's coming off his first-ever playoff appearance, and Anaheim's core will have another year of growth and development. It's also easy to chalk up this past season, his first below a .900 SP, as a blip until proven otherwise. The track record here is strong, and the team is pretty good. Easy to see Dostal bouncing back.
2. Joey Daccord, Seattle Kraken
Speaking of goalies who had unexpectedly bad seasons, Daccord was right around the league average for SP, but that was a big drop from the previous two years.
Like Dostal, it's easy to see him getting back to that level because he's used to being the MVP on a below-average team. But the Seattle Kraken haven't really done anything this summer to insulate him from further risk as he approaches his 30th birthday in mid-August.
Daccord not getting much help, especially on the penalty kill, is nothing new. It's up to him to determine whether that catches up with him once again. That said, even if he's average for another season, the prospect of not being subpar in this division probably lands you at least in the top half of the Pacific's starters.
3. Yaroslav Askarov, San Jose Sharks
At No. 3, this pick is between almost nothing but bad options and speculative-at-best optimistic picks. Askarov is coming off a bad season, but that's with the understanding that the San Jose Sharks basically had three NHL-caliber defensemen on the roster.
They moved to address that this summer — whether they did so successfully is another question — and the continued growth of their extremely young core feels like there's still plenty for the 24-year-old Askarov to give.
The Sharks will need him on his game to build on, but the pedigree and trajectory at least give some confidence he can get above the league average if things go well.
But if it's not Askarov that emerges as a top-three goalie in the Pacific, who else is it?
Carter Hart might seem like an obvious candidate, but he was also below average last season and completely collapsed as the playoffs wore on with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Beyond Hart, who's even worth bringing up? Wolf behind a continued Calgary rebuild?
Thatcher Demko, who might not even be healthy for the start of training camp, behind a tanking Vancouver Canucks team?
Maybe 36-year-old Kuemper, who is behind the oldest team in the league and coming off one of the worst seasons of his career? Whatever's going on in Edmonton?
In the Pacific Division this year, the team with the average goalie might just be the best one.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
