Is Canada's Goalie Crisis Exaggerated?

[Nucks2001]

I get it. There is no Brodeur, Roy, Luongo or Price equivalent right now. BUT:

-33 Canadian goalies started at least 1 NHL game last season, the most of any other country.
-Capable and Reliable starters in Binnington, Skinner, Hill, Thompson, Jarry, Ingram, Montembeault.
-Good pool of prospects in Levi, Hofer, Cossa, Ivankovic, George.
*I seriously think Binnington is a top 10 goalie if you watch him play and look at his advanced stats.

The Russians and Americans are clearly in leagues of their own when it comes to goalies, but if it weren't for Ullmark (SWE) and Saros (FIN) I genuinely think that Canada would be the 3rd best nation in the tendy department. Of course goaltending development needs a serious and obvious revamp in Canada, but I think the Hockey World is being so hard on Canadian goaltending because it was seen as an obvious strength over other nations in the past. I think it's only a matter of time for an elite Canadian goalie to come around again.

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[BigRangy]

The thing with goaltending is, when the stakes are maximized, you only really need one guy.

Canada does not have that one guy right now.

Depth is fine but it’s not going to be the reason you win medals.

 

[JackSlater]

No, not exaggerated at all. With all of Canada's players and with all the infrastructure and money in hockey, it's difficult to believe that the country cannot produce an elite goaltender. Since Price there really hasn't even been one elite Canadian goaltender with any staying power, and honestly there was a gap before Price too. There are periods of strength (50s, 90s and 2000s) for Canadian goaltending, but I cannot think of a similarly fallow period.

This will become a big talking point the next time Canada loses a best on best tournament, as there is already a fair bit of talk heading into it. I don't think that the 4 Nationals tournament is at that level, but should Canada lose at the 2026 Olympics it will be a huge talking point.

 

[CuuuJooo]

All of the other "big" countries have at least three goalies that you'd feel extraordinarily comfortable with if you had to put them between the pipes in a game with everything on the line. I agree with @BigRangy that we do not have that guy -- and right now, I'm not convinced we have that guy waiting in the wings either (like the Russians do with Askarov or the Swedes with Wallstedt). Just for fun, I googled "top NHL goalie prospects," and the highest Canadian on the list was Devon Levi, who is... fine, I guess?

And I do not believe that Binnington is a top 10 goalie, at least not on the international stage. His performance at the Worlds was seriously underwhelming.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

It's notable that Canada doesn't have any top NHL goaltenders at the moment, but I don't think it's so bad that it can't be overcome at the best-on-best international level.

 

[Czechboy]

Pretty sure Canada could have 3 starters that have won a Stanley Cup if they wanted by 2026. Skinner, Binnington and Kuemper.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Well it depends on what context you are looking at.

30 seasons ago, if you look at the top Goaltender wins stat, you'd have 8 Canadian Goaltenders in the Top 10 and 17 Canadian Goaltenders in the top 20.

If you are considering the state of the overall position now compared to how it used to be, it is quite dramatic.

If you just mean, is there somebody they can throw in there that would cause them to still otherwise be the overall favorite? Then yes, it's not so "dire".

 

[WarriorofTime]

Pretty sure Canada could have 3 starters that have won a Stanley Cup if they wanted by 2026. Skinner, Binnington and Kuemper.

Adin Hill.. Skinner/Oilers haven't won a Cup yet.

 

[Czechboy]

Adin Hill.. Skinner/Oilers haven't won a Cup yet.

I said 2026.. he will have 2 by then!

 

[Mathieukferland]

It’s concerning in the fact we produce the best players at every other position yet somehow fail to produce top goaltenders. Is this a CHL problem? A minor hockey problem? A Québec problem? I’m not sure. But at least the options available for a best on best have either all won or been in a cup final, and have played well on the big stage.



That being said, George, Ivankovic, and Ravensburg all look like talented players who can become NHL number 1s one day, hopefully one of them can hit.


Instead of organising summits to focus on intersectionality and stakeholder representation, Hockey Canada needs to hold a summit to figure out the goaltending issue in this country

 

[MeHateHe]

We have not developed a ton of great goalies recently, but we have lots of good goalies, and I maintain that good goaltending is likely good enough in the near term. Goaltending was not the key to winning gold in 2002, 2010 or 2014. This is not to say that Brodeur, Luongo and Price weren't good in those tournaments, but solid defence and the ability to put the puck in the opposition net mattered more.

Instead of organising summits to focus on intersectionality and stakeholder representation, Hockey Canada needs to hold a summit to figure out the goaltending issue in this country

To begin with, if you want the best athletes to play a sport, the sport needs to make them feel welcome. It's 2024 and that's just how the world is.

Having said all that, there's nothing in efforts at being inclusive that excludes putting more effort into developing skills. Walking and chewing gum can be simultaneous activities.

I will agree that there has not been a ton of urgency shown to the problem by Hockey Canada, and we absolutely should be developing more top-end goaltending. The decision to allow foreign goalies in the CHL again after banning them was a mistake that needs to be revisited, although it does seem that the number of Euro goalies in the three major junior leagues is down this year.

 

[the valiant effort]

It will certainly not improve without intervention. Cost of equipment and supplemental skill training obviously plays a big role, and an extension of that, anecdotally, is the segment of parents not willing to spare those expenses for a position that has only 2 openings on a team is growing fast.

 

[WarriorofTime]

You know how most NHL fanbases and some orgs have a philosophy of "never draft a goaltender before the third round.. never commit big cap dollars to a goaltender... just cross your fingers someone good enough emerges randomly through the system with no proactive effort".

That is pretty analogous to Hockey Canada and how they view goaltending

 

[jj cale]

It's notable that Canada doesn't have any top NHL goaltenders at the moment, but I don't think it's so bad that it can't be overcome at the best-on-best international level.

Maybe with a team and defense like 2014 it could be overcome but I'm not seeing it with this gang when you take in the quality of the opposition bearing down on them this time.

I think they are in deep shit for the 4 nations and the olympics, we have some rebuilding ahead of us and it needs to start ASAP and goaltending has to be given special attention first.

As was mentioned above, as it stands we really don't have a single guy, we just have "up and down o.k" ones.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Maybe with a team and defense like 2014 it could be overcome but I'm not seeing it with this gang when you take in the quality of the opposition bearing down on them this time.

I think they are in deep shit for the 4 nations and the olympics, we have some rebuilding ahead of us and it needs to start ASAP and goaltending has to be given special attention first.

As was mentioned above, as it stands we really don't have a single guy, we just have "up and down o.k" ones.

Team Canada can win with a guy like Stuart Skinner.

 

[jj cale]

Skinner...oh no, please.

He can't be our best option yet he probably is, what world are we living in?

 

[SantosHalper]

Cossa will be your guy in the future, he is being coached by a finnish goalie coach.

 

[JackSlater]

You know how most NHL fanbases and some orgs have a philosophy of "never draft a goaltender before the third round.. never commit big cap dollars to a goaltender... just cross your fingers someone good enough emerges randomly through the system with no proactive effort".

That is pretty analogous to Hockey Canada and how they view goaltending

I think that's true. Likely to be followed by an overreaction when Canada loses a big tournament. Canada hasn't had any legitimate superstar goaltending talents come through since Price and Luongo, and that's nearly 20 and 30 years ago. Sometimes you get an elite goaltender come out of the woodwork like Belfour or Joseph did, but it's even longer since that happened.

 

[peconcan]

I think we were just spoiled and got too used to having guys like Brodeur Lulongo Roy Price. We don’t have any elite options but there’s still plenty of options out there

 

[JackSlater]

I think we were just spoiled and got too used to having guys like Brodeur Lulongo Roy Price. We don’t have any elite options but there’s still plenty of options out there

It's not really getting spoiled when Canada has had excellent goaltending pretty consistently throughout hockey history... until the last several years. There have been the odd lull periods but not this low.

 

[JianYang]

Just like some goalies who have won the cup, you don't need a superstar goalie as a necessity if you have a great surrounding cast. You just need someone who won't lose you the game on their own.

Canada no longer has a superstar goalie for the first time since.... forever, so that gives everyone a shock, but when you take a step back and assess the situation, that's not necessarily a bad thing because Canada is not a nation that needs a guy to stand on his head.

The requirement for Canada is a goalie that doesn't play incompetently, and that alone should give them a good chance to be the best or 2nd best team in a major tournament.