Will we ever see goalies play 70+ games again?

[Felidae]

In the history of hockey, there has been 113 goalies that have played 70 or more games in a season.

Only 10 of those seasons were past 2010, and since 2015 there's only been 1 goalie to play 70+ games

Will we ever see goalies play 70+ games again, or at least with some frequency?

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[Sticksandsun]

No reason to burn out a goalie, as elite as he may be, in the regular season anymore.
60-65 seems like the max ceiling the top 10 goalies will hit.
I'd prefer to have 55ish/30ish split with your tandem and then ride your #1 in playoffs unless injured or subpar play.

 

[kk]

Was just chatting with a hockey buddy about this the other day. It seems like it's not likely. Reliable if-not-better backups are extremely valuable and even more so for playoff contending teams.

 

[Jericho111091]

"Ever" is a long time, so probably. That said, the game would likely have to change a good deal

 

[BallardEra]

No.

Just like baseball with starting pitchers.

 

[1989]

I doubt it. It's a combination of workload management facilitated by general improvement of backup-quality goalies, and injury reduction (I believe butterfly does lend itself to more lower body/groin injuries over a career, anecdotally, but I don't have numbers.)

It basically guarantees, IMO, that the best goalies of this generation won't make all-time top-10 lists of GOATenders because they would need a much better trophy cabinet.

Records like most games won, most shutouts in a season, etc. aren't up for grabs anymore if they're playing 65 or fewer games per season in a career. In previous eras you needed to be great and a workhorse but not necessarily collect hardware because you could aggregate stats more. Goalies now kind of have to crush the competition with a couple Vezinas and a Cup, and with at least one Hart/Lindsay/Smythe trophy as well to be considered a top goalie all-time.

 

[shello]

Meh, probably. Should we? That’s a different answer

 

[Pablo El Perro]

No. Tampa should with their backup, but still a no.

 

[Section 104]

I wouldn’t be surprised if we see at least one in the next 10 years but I don’t think it will be common . Last year Saros played 64, Georgiev 63 and Hellebuck 60. Is a few more games to reach 70 played that unrealistic?

 

[BruinsFan37]

As long as the NHL keeps scheduling back-to-back games, not very likely. Not impossible though.

And even if they did stop scheduling b2b games, I still don't think it's likely with changes in workload management/health.